Working Group Reports

VOICE OF RENEWAL

In light of Voice of Renewal's purpose "to provide a forum to educate on and discuss topics related to the VOTF Mission Statement and Goals," the VOR Working Group is in the process of setting up a Yahoo listserv. The listserv already contains an annotated bibliography and a list of several VOR members from the Boston area who are willing to go out and meet with affiliates to discuss topics on a Church history education series, starting small faith sharing communities and an introduction to Vatican II documents. One of the current discussion topics is the VOR update to the VOTF web site. Another is a questionnaire designed to address the issue of what members see as the most pressing needs for adult education. Bulletin board educational events are also being posted on the listserv. Email lizissam@yahoo.com to post an event. All are welcome and we encourage VOTF members from around the country to join. If you are interested in learning more please send a request to VOR_VOTF@YahooGroups.Com asking to join.

Ronnie Mitchell, VOR Working Group

Structural Change Working Group Update

Parish Pastoral Council Survey

The Structural Change Working Group sent an e-mail with a Parish Pastoral Council Survey to VOTF members last November. Many of you took the time to answer and we are very grateful for your input. The survey came at a very busy season and for those who did not find the time to respond or if you did not receive a notice of the survey, please go to http://www.votf.org/Structural_Change/surveybackground.html and take advantage of this opportunity to tell us about your Parish Council. It takes about five minutes to complete the survey. If there are questions to which you don't know the answers, just skip that question. You don't have to be on a council to respond. Your responses will help us determine what direction we should take in this area.

Prayerful Voice Working Group

Susan Troy, Chair, National Prayerful Voice
Re: Lay Spirituality Conference, Chicago
Date: February 4, 2004

The VOTF Lay Spirituality Conference to be held in Chicago, April 16-18, 2004, has been postponed. A new date has not been set. All those involved in the planning of this conference, including National Prayerful Voice and VOTF leadership from the greater Chicago area, decided that holding this conference as scheduled would be not be practical due to several considerations, which include timing and availability of resources. This is only a postponement.

Valuable knowledge has been obtained from this process of consultation and discernment. With new-found wisdom we know that there is important work to be done in building and developing VOTF affiliates before such a conference will bear the fruit we all desire.

Over the next year several things need our joint attention. First, there needs to be an emphasis on the need to have a Prayerful Voice working group in every affiliate. Our goals are each very important but our mission statement comes first and grounds everything we do. Its first words are...."To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit...." Faith is at the core of who we are as a movement. It is the heart of our mission. If a focus on prayer is not kept at the center of all our endeavors, if we don't individually and collectively see our work as our "faith in action in the world," we will not succeed. We need to help each other see that our work, our passion, our commitment in and through VOTF is our prayer, is a statement of faith, and our faith is our greatest strength. That is what we had hoped to begin to articulate at this conference, but it seems there are several others steps that must come first. This is important knowledge gained through this process of envisioning such a conference.

National Prayerful Voice will work with Parish Voice and affiliates throughout VOTF to help encourage an understanding of our spirituality....our faith in action in the world....and a plan to keep all VOTF activities grounded in prayer and faith. We need dialogue and conversation. We need to tell our stories, to share our wisdom. In the Vineyard has been an important conduit for sharing our stories. We have all read about great moments of grace in the lives of affiliates and individual VOTF members throughout the country. We know the Spirit is moving and powering our work, our lives. Gaining understanding of the way in which our children were victimized and the subsequent cover up has converted our hearts and is a crucial aspect of VOTF growth and maturity. We know what has happened....we have shared these moments....we have felt our faith increase and be strengthened as our voices have grown stronger. We BELIEVE now that truly "we are the Church; we are the People of God."

The journey continues. We have much to anticipate as we look forward to VOTF’s first regional Lay Spirituality Conference. Let your voices be heard. Please contact prayerfulvoice@voiceofthefaithful.org.

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