Council Minutes

Voice of the Faithful Representative Council Meeting Thursday, April 22, 2004,
St. Pius V Church, Lynn, MA

Acting Moderator Frances O'Leary opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. and thanked the St. Pius V community, especially Jack Whalen and his committee, for their hospitality. For the opening prayer, Jack read a reflection from Michael Novak's book Tell Me Why.

President's Report

In the absence of Jim Post who had a teaching commitment, Vice President Kris Ward presented a report. After thanking the host community, she noted her admiration for Jim Post's leadership of and commitment to Voice of the Faithful. She also mentioned that she will be attending meetings of leadership groups throughout her stay in Boston until Tuesday, April 27.

Kris announced that the Governance Committee had met in February and began addressing issues of the relationship among the various levels of governance, working toward a "checks and balances" model.

Kris spoke about the two-day conference held at the University of San Francisco. There were 500 people in attendance, including 120 VOTF members. Jim Post was the keynote speaker.

Looking to the future, Kris said that she believes that parish and diocesan issues of financial responsibility and use of discretionary funds may be among the next areas of concern for VOTF to address. She also said that there has been support for the possibility that the Robert Bennett/National Review Board Report includes areas for action by VOTF affiliates.

Kris turned to Mary Ann Keyes for two announcements: 1) Randi Simons has joined the parish voice affiliate office team; and 2) the 200th affiliate, Midland, Michigan, has just been formed.

Treasurer's Report

Ann Carroll said that she plans to report at the Council meeting on a quarterly basis, and to all Council members through email, then report on the website.

She announced that outside auditors are very close to finishing their work, and, when it is completed, the Fiscal '03 report will be posted on the website. We have also filed our first tax return, as required, although we pay no taxes as a nonprofit.

Executive Director's Report

Steve Krueger said he had met with VOTF leaders in Minnesota on a statute of limitations issue, before traveling to California. While in Los Angeles, he met with the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times, as well as with the communications director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

He spoke about the recent development campaign. Direct mail, including a copy of the petition first published in the New York Times on February 29, was sent to 30,000 subscribers to the National Catholic Reporter and to 15,000 VOTF members. The responses continue to come in.

A major donor who read Keep the Faith, Change the Church called Steve to remark on the "fine people" involved in VOTF, as described in the book. He asked that we identify 1,000 people who "oppose or do not understand VOTF," and he will underwrite the cost of distributing copies of the book to them.

Steve said that a process for reviewing the Handbook for Action has been established. The Handbook is a living document, and its purpose is to serve the needs of the parish voice affiliates. It will be distributed when the review process is completed.

Affiliate News

Bob Morris of the St. Eulalia affiliate, Winchester, announced that planning is underway for a conference to be held at the Worcester Centrum Convention Center on November 13, 2004. Organizing meetings are ongoing, and Bob asked Council attendees to sign up to work on the event. The working title is "It's Not History."

Jack Whalen described the week of prayerful petitioning now taking place at Holy Family, Lynn, appealing for compassionate and insightful decision making in the closing of Archdiocesan parishes. VOTF staffed the prayer room on April 20. The vigil was to conclude with an outdoor Mass on Sunday, April 25. [See "Before Your Parish Closes" in this issue of In the Vineyard]

Update on Goal #2

Svea Fraser distributed copies of her presentation on Goal #2. The purpose was to get a "sense of the meeting" as to whether the wording - To support priests of integrity - should be kept or changed. Svea reviewed the process to date and the pros and cons regarding a change of wording. Discussion followed, and the "sense of the meeting" was taken, with the result of a nearly unanimous affirmation of the present wording. There were many comments that explanatory wording should be developed around our meaning of "integrity," much the same as has been done with the structural change goal.

Announcements

April and early May events at St. Albert's in Weymouth and St. Eulalia's in Winchester were announced.

May 13 - Holy Family Parish, Sacred Heart Lower Hall, Amesbury, 7:00 p.m. James E. Post, "Being Catholic in a Time of Crisis."[see "Events" in this issue]

May 18 - St. John the Evangelist, Wellesley, 7:30 p.m. "Reclaiming and Rebuilding Our Parishes, After the Suppression Step in Reconfiguration" - a plenary meeting for all five regions, followed by working groups. [See "Events" in this issue]

Frances O'Leary announced the names of those elected to the Representative Council Steering Committee, in alphabetical order: Henry Dinger, Ron DuBois, Elia Marnik, Gaile Pohlhaus, Anne Southwood.

The next Council meeting will be held on Saturday, May 22, at St. Timothy Parish, West Hartford, CT: Coffee at 9:30 a.m., with speaker David Gibson at 10:00 a.m. followed by our meeting from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

The closing prayer was a reflection attributed to Oscar Romero, read by John Moynihan. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

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