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Please send
comments and inquiries to pthorp.ed@votf.org.
“The
Rosary, reclaimed in its full meaning, goes to the
very heart of Christian life; it offers a familiar
yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity
for personal contemplation, the formation of the People
of God, and the new evangelization.” Apostolic
Letter of Pope John Paul II “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” October
16, 2002 (Click
here for full text.)
In
this Issue:
NATIONAL
News:
Fall
Actions in the Campaign for Accountability offer
something for everyone. It isn’t too late
to join one or all of these
efforts. Read
the petition for accountability and sign
on! Rosary meditations are available
here. Contact your local
affiliate for details on how you can get
even more involved.
- One
of the Fall Campaign for Accountability options
for our affiliates is to organize one or more
group recitations of the Rosary. Where
has the rosary been? It was so much a part
of pre-Vatican II Catholic prayer life.
For an overview, go to the Vatican web
site.
- Financial
Accountability in your parish and diocese
can begin this Sunday:
Tamper-evident
collection bags is an idea whose time has come
and it is already being used. See Commentary – “Protecting
Parish Finances”
The 2007
VOTF Convention will be held at the
Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence,
RI the weekend of October 19-21, 2007. A
committee is just beginning to form
so stay tuned and SAVE
THE DATE.
DIOCESE/State
Watch: VOTF Boston, MA celebrated a legislative
victory on criminal
SOL reform (also,
see Commentary for Steve Krueger’s story
on this win that surprised many and provided valuable
lessons); in Long Island, NY (Rockville Centre
diocese) more than 100 VOTF Long Island members
delivered a petition for financial accountability
with 7000 signatures to the diocesan offices of
Bishop William Murphy; VOTF Bridgeport,
CT posted
a statement on the tragic parish story of a good
priest gone and another priest arrested; the diocese
of Columbus, OH presents another example of financial
mismanagement; Associated Press reports: “Cardinal
Justin Rigali is calling together hundreds of
priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese to hear
from two people who were sexually abused by Roman
Catholic clerics”; Davenport, IO – A
jury ruled against the Davenport diocese in the
only Davenport abuse case against the diocese
to date that went to trial. Affiliate
Highlight:
VOTF participated in a “very Catholic day” at
Holy Trinity parish, Washington, DC where Ministry
Day was a lively success.
Survivor
Community News: A survivor found a parish priest
who went the extra mile.
Read Bob Schwiderski’s
story; also, see the Philadelphia archdiocese
initiative on behalf of survivors in DIOCESE/State
Watch.
A
case worth watching is just getting
under way in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles
Times reports
that a priest “who was suspended from the
priesthood after sexual abuse claims in 1991,
says disclosure of the confidential files to plaintiffs
suing him over the alleged abuse would violate
his rights.” The priest has asked an appeals
court to block the release of his church personnel
file. Subscribers can access the full
story here.
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SITE-Seeing, Etc.
The
Boston Catholic Men’s and Women’s
conferences will be held on March 17 and
18, 2007, respectively.
Registration will open on November 1. Boston
Catholic Men website and Boston
Catholic Women website.
America magazine,
Sept. 25, published a Marci Hamilton article “What the Clergy Abuse Crisis
Has Taught Us.” Subscribers have access
here.
- Also note the Sept. 18 issue of America:
Read “Remembering Henri Nouwen” and a
touching “update” on “Preaching:
A Ministry (Still) in Distress.”
YOU are invited to participate in a new
blog. Its home page notes an objection
to the “culture of silence” in the Church
and notes its 2002 statement “Ephphatha: Be
Opened” that repeated Vatican II’s vision
of a collaborative Church community.
National Catholic Reporter,
September 8 issue: See Richard McBrien commentary “An episcopate
anything but excellent”. Subscribers can access
the text
here.
Opportunity
(Fr. Walter Cuenin) knocks: See
Commentary – “An Invitation:
Explore the Roots of our Faith”. BOOK Notes:
The
Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality was the brainchild
of Sr. M. Madeleva, C.S.C. As president
of St. Mary’s
College, Notre Dame, IN, she initiated what was a pioneering
presence in graduate theology. The lecture delivered
in her name is sponsored by St. Mary’s Center
for Spirituality; the lectures began in 1985 with Monika
Hellwig’s address on “Christian Women in
a Troubled World.” Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, associate
professor of theology at Boston College, delivered the
2004 lecture “Women Shaping Theology”; her
talk was recently published by Paulist Press in a small,
readable book of the same title and available through
amazon.com.
QUOTE
for our time: “Do you know what you have
done? You have moved a mountain. That’s what you
have done.” Tom O’Neill,
Boston, MA, supporter and adviser on Massachusetts
sexual abuse
statutes of
limitations reform, when he heard about the passage
of H5234.
See more in DIOCESE/State
Watch. |
