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Please send
comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
“Quick from the dead, my Risen
Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.”
J. M. C. Crum verse from “Now the green blade
riseth”
HIGHLIGHTS in this
issue:
The
VOTF National Representative Council is
finalizing the agenda for its semi-annual Council
meeting (slated for June 2-4 in Chicago); beginning
discussions on potential new strategic and
policy issues; and voting on four formal policy
statements dealing with statutes of limitation
and windows reform associated with protecting
children from sexual abuse through legislation. See
NRC Update.
National
Catholic Reporter asks, rightly, “How
did it come to this?”
If you or someone you know has never read a
grand jury report on sexual abuse by clergy;
if you
know someone who still doesn’t believe
the survivors’ stories; if you know someone
who is swayed by Denver Archbishop Chaput’s
scaremongering (see Diocese/State
Watch),
consider the tragic tale told in the April 26
issue of National Catholic Reporter “Shining
light on a cover-up.” And if anyone doubts
the desperate need for Church reform, that story
and the editorial in the same issue “A
look into a hidden culture” will dispel
any uncertainty. See Diocese/State
Watch (Phila., PA).
Accountability Now Campaign - Focus committees
have been established to help guide each of our
two campaigns; also, VOTF will keep Pentecost
2006 (June 4) true to its earliest
meanings – first
fruits. See Accountability Now Campaign
Update. AFFILIATE
Updates – VOTF Northern
Virginia:
Frequently, several members from all over the
US will identify/pass along the same particular
news item. This time it’s the tragic story
of an abused priest and the cost to him of telling
the truth. VOTF affiliates and Fr. James Moran
speak for themselves. See Commentary – “Case
Study: Punishing the Victim”; the VOTF
Bridgeport, CT conference on bishop
election was a resounding success. Notre Dame
theology
professor Fr. Richard McBrien in his address
to over 200 attendees noted, “In fact,
the church elected its bishops, including the
Bishop of Rome for much of its history." For
more, go to the Bridgeport, CT web
site;
cautious optimism in NH after March 30 results
of independent audit (Vineyard April
6) alarmed many. See more in Diocese/State
Watch and additional
updates from Pa., Ohio, Mass., N.Y., and Colo.
What
brings a Special Mention to Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz
(see Special Mention)
and Member Recognition
to VOTF Tennessee members Linda and Jim Zralek?
(See Commentary – “VOTF Member Recognition:
Linda and Jim Zralek, VOTF Tennessee”).
Fr.
Tom Doyle on “Dialogue with Bishops” – Part
II
In the NEXT ISSUE of In
the Vineyard 5/18: VOTF
Northern Virginia performed their own diocesan
audit (Arlington Diocese) on the implementation
of the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children
and Young People. Their findings and observations
were noted in a letter to Bishop Loverde.
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NATIONAL/International News
VOTF
Ireland web site is launched: Mary Ann Keyes planted
and nurtured this seed over
a year ago and
VOTF Ireland’s Sean O’Conaill took it from
there. We encourage our readers to visit the site and
share the address at http://www.votfi.com with all
of your “friends and relations” in Ireland.
VOTF is inviting nominations to our Board
of Trustees.
See details
here. The Board of Trustees in consultation
with the Officers and the NRC has been working on new
by-laws that provide for the election of trustees.
The new by-laws are in their final cycle of review
by the lawyers and will be posted on our web site as
soon as possible.
SITE-Seeing, Etc.
SPECIAL Mention April 2006: Lincoln, Nebraska Bishop
Fabian Bruskewitz embodies a rare good news/bad news
profile. The good news is that he is an exception
in the USCCB; the bad news is that he is an exception
in the USCCB. The Bishop has managed this achievement
by being the only bishop in the US to refuse last
year’s diocesan auditors as called for by the
USCCB’s own National Review Board. Click here.
Publication Alert: US
Catholic, May 2006 – “Let’s
pray, pay, and have our say” confirms what VOTF
members already know and includes four proposals for
how consultation with the laity might work. Let us
know what you think at pthorp.ed@votf.org.
Visit the US Catholic web
site.
Yet
another learning opportunity provided by Boston
College and you don’t have to leave
your desk. To explore the four Gospel passion narratives, click
here for an online self-paced
tutorial, written and narrated by Philip A. Cunningham,
Executive Director of the
Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College.
It is a collaborative project of C21
Online and the
Center.
BOOK
Alert: Sex, Priests, and Secret
Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2,000-year Paper
Trail of Sexual Abuse by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.R.
Sipe and
Patrick J. Wall, Volt
Press. For review, see May
5 posting in NCR.
QUOTES for our time: “The
world of hierarchy has come to an end. Don't fight
with it. Let it disintegrate.” Eugene
Kennedy, professor emeritus at Loyola University of
Chicago, at the third annual convention of VOTF Long
Island on April 22. "This is an ancient, rigid, secretive, top-down,
all-male monarchy. It always has been. It always will
be. The answer is not to reform them, but to go around
them and to contain them." SNAP’s
national director David Clohessy at the third annual
convention
of VOTF Long Island, April 22.
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