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It
Has Been an Honor
Executive Director Ray Joyce bids a fond farewell to his
position at VOTF
As some of you know we lost a wonderful volunteer
to cancer earlier this week. Dot Winslow dedicated
two days a week to helping out at the VOTF national
office ever since there was an office. Her smile,
enthusiasm and no-nonsense approach helped us manage
a myriad of details. She will be sorely missed. It
has been an honor to serve Dot and the many committed
VOTF members these past 21 months. While I leave
VOTF as Executive Director today, I bring with me
the enduring gift of having known people like Dot
and the many with whom I have had the great privilege
to work - in person, by phone and online.
I’m pleased to have been able to assist with
the national convocation in 2005 and the resulting
Campaign for Accountability; some improvements in
communications to our membership such as FOCUS and
Voice Matters; a more balanced budget; sound elections
of the NRC and Officers; and better database and
IT support to help the NRC and affiliate leaders
connect with members in their areas. Within the next
month the redesigned website will be live and our
annual report will follow shortly. More important,
I’ve so much enjoyed working with a tiny but
powerful staff, indefatigable office volunteers,
and a dedicated group of VOTF volunteer leaders including
Officers, Trustees, NRC representatives Working Group
members, and local affiliate heads. As you know,
VOTF is 99% volunteer driven and you’ve accomplished
so much in 5 short years: increased awareness of
survivors and the childhoods they lost, lay education
on our rights and responsibilities as laity, reform
of sexual abuse laws, and greater financial accountability,
just to name a few. Of course, we all want to see
more progress more quickly given the state of our
Church, but I’m confident VOTF’s success
will continue given the solid foundation you’ve
provided.
Although my understanding of the institutional Church
has been forever changed by my experiences here,
my faith in God has been strengthened in what I’ve
seen of God’s work in your hands, the hands
of the laity - working on justice for survivors,
working to support priests of integrity, working
for true reform in our beloved Church.
I depart with two quotes that I try to live out
each day. One is from Henri Nouwen’s The
Inner Voice of Love: “Dare to love and to be a real
friend. The love you give and receive is a reality
that will lead you closer and closer to God as well
as those whom God had given you to love.” The
other is from St. Augustine: "Nothing conquers
except truth and the victory of truth is love.”
Peace,
Ray
Ray Joyce
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