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Please
send comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
NATIONAL
News and Notes
IMPORTANT
DATES:
Your invitation has arrived! Our VOTF “Disciples
in Action” Convention 2007, October 19-21 in Providence
RI is unfolding and our Convention-dedicated
page is ready for its close-up! VOTF president Mary Pat
Fox says, “‘Disciples in Action’ will
be a time of sharing, collaborating, and celebrating
as we move forward engaged in action to rebuild our Church.” 
- See
your invitation
here.
- Please
start thinking about the priests and lay people whose
ministries you value. National VOTF is gathering nominations
for the 2007 Catherine of Siena Distinguished
Lay Person Award and the 2007
Priest of Integrity Award. Both awards will be presented
at the convention. Some background, templates, criteria
and contact information for these awards are on the 2007
Convention page.
- Watch
for upcoming details on workshops, keynote speakers and
everything else you will need to be a “disciple
in action.”
REMINDER:
SNAP’s annual convention, Washington DC, July
20-22. For details, click
here.
Long
Island NY Regional Conference June 14,
2007: “Electing Bishops – How the
Catholic Church Should Choose Its Leaders” with
Joseph O’Callaghan of VOTF Bridgeport CT (Joe’s
new book is now available in book stores, at rowmanlittlefield.com,
and at www.amazon.com.) Look
for Electing our Bishops: How the Catholic Church Should
Choose its Leaders. Joe is past president of VOTF
Bridgeport CT, professor emeritus of Medieval History
at Fordham University, former Director of the Center
for Medieval Studies at Fordham, and past president of
the American Catholic Historical Association. For additional
information about the conference, click
here.
Worth
Noting:
Judge Michael R. Merz, of Dayton, Ohio, has been named chair of the National
Review Board (NRB) by Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Read
more.
VOTF
Campaign for Accountability: The Campaign that
grew out of the 2005 Indianapolis leadership convocation
continues to work its way toward greater protection for
children in state legislatures; and financial accountability
in our parishes and dioceses. Be sure to check
in on
updates and new actions planned around this two-part
Accountability initiative.
| Congratulations
to Fr. Tom Doyle, A.W.R. Sipe and Patrick J. Wall!
Sex, Priests and Secret Codes has won first prize,
the Gold Award, from the Independent Publishers Book
Awards. The winners of the 11th Annual IPPY
Awards (Independent Publishers Book Awards) competed against
3,378 titles of national and regional entries combined.
Silver and Bronze awards went to Searching for
Mary Magdalene by Jane Lahr (Welcome Books) and A
Republic of Mind and Spirit, by Catherine L. Albanese (Yale
University Press).
AND
congratulations to VOTF secretary Gaile Pohlhaus!
Dr. Gaile Pohlhaus received the Presidential Award
for Service from the College Theology Society.
Dr. Anne Clifford
of Duquesne University presented the award at the annual
convention held at the University of Dayton. Dr. Pohlhaus
has been an active member of the society over the past
three decades. Among her contributions were helping
to establish the Women's Caucus, establishing a
convention
session on marriage, and designing and administrating
the pre-convention teaching workshops for over ten
years.
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EDITOR’s
note: For the first time in five years, I
am tearing myself away from this “vineyard” for
the months of July and August. In the Vineyard will
be covered by VOTF National vice president Sally Vance-Trembath,
alongside our long-serving web consultant Eileen Powers.
Following the June 28 issue of the Vineyard and
until September, please direct your inquiries, comments,
and concerns to Sally at svancetrembath@votf.org.
I wish all of our readers a summer rich in community
and reflection (my
own Summer ’07 ambition!) and I wish Sally the
same rewarding experience I have known from editing
these pages. Peggie Thorp
Office
Note: Looking for meaningful volunteer work? The VOTF National
office can help! We have a menu of opportunities.
Please call Millie Seaborn at 617-558-5252 or email at mseaborn@votf.org.
DIOCESE/State Watch: See
updates on the Darien CT parish experience
with the high-living Fr. Fay; Boston Archdiocese administrative
offices moving to suburbs (see VOTF Boston press
statement here); VOTF Bridgeport CT contribution
makes news; VOTF St. Louis supports
new archdiocesan wellness program for priests; Los
Angeles CA judge notes misrepresentation by
Cardinal Mahoney; VOTF Greater Hartford and
Farmington Valley met recently with their
bishop; good-news update from Delaware.
Rockville
Centre NY diocese found negligent: “A
jury found the nation’s sixth-largest Roman Catholic
diocese and a church parish negligent yesterday in a
case involving a youth minister who repeatedly raped
and sodomized teenagers in his care.” See Associated
Press coverage and New
York Times coverage is
available. Also see zwire.com.
Cleveland
OH: “Fourteen Catholic priests accused
of sexually abusing minors remain in administrative limbo
more than five years after some of them were suspended
by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.” See the Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
- Also
in Ohio, the Enquirer notes, “Victim
advocates blasted the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on
Monday for failing to notify parishioners about a national ‘clergy
alert’ involving two priests accused of abusing
children.” Read
more.
- Note
VOTF Ohio members’ published letters under SITE-Seeing,
Etc.
SITE-Seeing,
Etc.
VOTF Council Representative Bob Schwiderski found a link for Prevent
Child Abuse America and a cost
analysis on their web site.
A broad
coalition of Catholic Church justice organizations has
completed a Report Card initiative on the status of women
in the Catholic Church. The report card indicates more
than one A. Read
more.
Another
faith’s response to sexual abuse in their community
has drawn considerable attention and praise. To read the
letter written to Baltimore’s Orthodox Community
on April 11 from the Vaad Harabbonim, the Rabbinical Council
of Greater Baltimore, click
here. The letter appeared in the Baltimore
Jewish Times.
The Catholic
Book Club newsletter, part of America magazine,
is an e-announcement that recommends a book a month. To
sign up, click
here.
A recent
poll finds many Catholics unaware of church steps to prevent
abuse. Read
more.
An excerpt
from a letter written by Tom O’Brien of VOTF SW Florida
is worth
reading in full.
- VOTF
members (W. Litzler of St. Christopher’s and
L. Shenk of Cleveland/Akron) had letters published
on Cleveland.com with regard to due process for priests
and victims of clergy sexual abuse. Read
more.
Thinking
Fall? Boston College is: See where you
might fit in this summer
or Fall.
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