In this Issue:

WORKING GROUP and NATIONAL NEWS

  • VOTF at the bishops’ conference in Denver, CO called for recommitment by bishops to the Dallas Charter. After months of what appeared to be backtracking, there’s good news to share in the bishop’s decision to move ahead with a second round of audits. Read more in National News. Read press releases, SNAP statements and background information on our special section of our web site.

  • “It is in your presence here, and at symposiums, conferences and Voice of the Faithful affiliate meetings throughout the country, that we are emboldened by your courage, stirred by your leadership, and humbled by the tender tenacity in your bonds, which underpins this journey to justice.” VOTF vice president Kris Ward delivers a VOTF statement to the SNAP conference in Denver, CO. Read the full text

  • Decades-long survivor advocate, Isaack Hecker award winner, VOTF Priest of Integrity (to name three of his “stripes”) and former military chaplain Fr. Tom Doyle addresses the state of our Church in the context of ongoing setbacks. Also, read VOTF president Jim Post’s statement on Fr. Doyle’s dismissal from his military chaplaincy.

  • Maria Cleary is envisioning the VOTF 2005 national convention. See Affiliate News and share your own vision at leaderpub@voiceofthefaithful.org. Ann Carroll kicked off a convention planning campaign last month and she’s back this month, so you can read it again!

  • Principles for Diocesan Finance Councils was unanimously adopted by the National Representative Council in May. See Council minutes in this issue. Read the full document on our web site.

  • What do the bishops of Peoria, IL Palm Beach County, FL, Tucson, AZ and Hartford, CT have in common? They are talking with VOTF. Read affiliate reports from these areas and note Greater Hartford, CT developments reported in the Council minutes. Let us know your own good news in your diocese. Read Affiliate News.

  • The Voice of Renewal Working Group is kicking off a virtual study group, beginning with Peter Steinfels book A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America. Read how to participate

National News

  • VOTF National has compiled a special web page dealing with the Boston, MA parish and school closings. Readers are encouraged to consider the information provided in the unfortunate reality that parish closings are being discussed in your own parish or in a parish near you. This is not a Boston, MA problem – it is Church-wide. Be informed and visit our web page.

  • Again, on parish closings – is your diocese operating under an “at will” definition of employment (such that terminated employees do not receive unemployment)? For those churches and schools built, repaired and renovated with parishioners’ contributions, what becomes of their investment once the properties are vacated and sold? Tell your story at leaderpub@voiceofthefaithful.org.

  • Parishioners of churches slated for closing are experiencing a broad range of impressions about Church decision making and the message the Church seems to be sending; Knights of Columbus member responds to last month’s K of C letter to the editor. See Letters to the Editor. What Do You Think? Send your thoughts to leaderpub@voiceofthefaithful.org.

  • The genesis story of Voice of the Faithful Keep the Faith, Change the Church is on a roll - two anonymous donors are underwriting the distribution of 1000 copies apiece. Having read the Muller/Kenney book, both want to get the word out to as many as possible. (If you don't have your copy yet, it's not too late. Rose Walsh in the National office is waiting for you, or click here to purchase online.)

EVENTS, ETC.

  • VOTF will attend the sixth annual Common Ground Initiative lecture at Catholic University, Washington, DC. This year’s speaker is John Allen, National Catholic Reporter Rome correspondent and CNN Vatican analyst. Read more. Watch for the publication of John Allen’s new book All the Pope’s Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Works.
  • Don’t miss out on the new look at National Catholic Reporter. More important, its global coverage of Catholicism at work remains outstanding. Invaluable is John Allen’s much-read column “The Word from Rome” and you will always find a good homily in "The Peace Pulpit: Homilies by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton," a free service of the National Catholic Reporter at www.natcath.org. Readers have also asked for the following information:
    • Commonweal Magazine, an independent magazine published by Catholic lay people since 1924. Check it out at www.commonwealmagazine.org;
    • America is the weekly magazine founded by Jesuits of the United States in 1909. www.americamagazine.org. Andrew Greeley writes about “Children of the Council.”
  • Reports From the Field: Donna Doucette continues her serialized coverage of the Boston College program, “Leadership Issues in The Church Today: Educating for Collaboration and Group Decision Making in a Redefined Church” with Parts 3 and 4. (See the May Vineyard for Parts 1 and 2) AND Ronna Devincenzi reports her take on the May 14, 2004 gathering at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA. Read Reports from the Field
  • If you missed the tri-state conference in New York City, NY last month, here are the texts of the remarks delivered by Justice Anne Burke, NRB member Pamela Hayes and Fordham University president emeritus Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. Photos in this issue’s Affiliate News from New Jersey.
  • VOTF Annual Report to be ready for mailing soon. Member and contributing photographer Phil Gilson offers his thoughts on a preview of the report.
  • Sing a new song! Neil Blunt from Kentucky has written a VOTF song. A Vineyard first, we will publish the lyrics and score next month. Are there more VOTF songs out there? Send them along and please include your score or reference to a familiar tune as well as permission to publish. Send your work to leaderpub@voiceofthefaithful.org
  • Donate

  • Join

  • The VOTF postal address is P.O. Box 423, Newton Upper Falls, MA 02464-0002

  • Please send comments and inquiries to leaderpub@voiceofthefaithful.org

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In the Vineyard
June 2004
Volume 3, Issue 6
Printer Friendly Version
(WORD Document)

 

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1

As Voice of the Faithful moved toward witness at yet another US bishops' gathering this week in Denver, Colorado, one might wonder why we bother. After all, Catholics have spent the past few months in shocked disbelief as one bishop after another began a clerical backslide on their own words as articulated in their commitment to all Catholics in the Dallas Charter. If what our bishops say one year "is history" the next, what can VOTF hope to gain by our presence?

Part of the answer lies in an e-mail exchange this past week. It came from VOTF Delaware coordinator Liz Cinquino who is a parishioner at one of the churches to be closed in the Archdiocese of Boston.

As many of you have seen in the local Boston papers and on TV my beloved church community, St. Mary's of the Angels, located in the Egleston Square neighborhood of Roxbury, is on the list of parishes to be closed. Many of you may have heard about our unique multi-cultural, multi-lingual community where we worship as one family of God. The church has played a key role in ridding Egleston Square of crime and violence. In fact, we are celebrating the 14th anniversary of this role, along with neighbors and community activists, in taking back Egleston Square from the drug dealers. In this spirit and with great pride, I ask your support. Please join me in our Campaign to Save the Community of St. Mary's of the Angels.

What struck me in this message was the distinction Liz makes, perhaps inadvertently, between saving the parish and saving the community. While nothing might save the parish (a geographical definition) at this point, we look at the community. The community exists with or without the parish and its buildings. When we say "We are the Church," we mean it. No matter where we are, we are there as the community that is the Church. We are called to be present to Presence, whether at a rally, a silent vigil, a bishops' conference, a healing Mass, a courtroom, a legislature or a parish closing. As Liz and others similarly engaged make clear, Presence is synonymous with Justice and all that is good and right among us.

That's why VOTF vice president Kris Ward addressed the SNAP conference in Denver, Colorado last weekend and that's why Steve Krueger joined Kris in Denver during the course of the bishops' meeting - to witness. VOTF has found a place on the pavement at every USCCB conference since 2002. This time, the news is good.

Another witness of astounding proportions is the recent posting by BishopAccountability.org of 1500 pages of Boston archdiocesan documents as well as an easy-to-read sample "What's in a Diocesan Archive?" The aim of sharing this much material is to help other communities appreciate just what makes up a bishop's files. This, too, is witness - being present to Presence is having our eyes open (as well as diocesan files.) Remember Emmaus in Luke 24 - the disciples only recognized Jesus when He broke the bread with them "…and their eyes were opened."

Witness is effected in a variety of ways - for example, read the Paulist Center/Boston response to the parish closings in the Archdiocese of Boston and remember that closings are a Church-wide challenge.

Gaile Pohlhaus retrieved a great Henry Nouwen quote that is broadly apropos of the point: "Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are…. Be patient and trust that the treasure you are looking for is hidden in the ground on which you stand."

We are not asked to measure our success, count our "winnings," win a race - we are asked to be present. So we are.

Peggie L. Thorp, Ed.