"PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep including the prayers in the VOTF newsletter - there is nothing more important that we can do than pray for our Church, our mission, ourselves that we may always be discerning our Creator's will for us." Virginia Doyle

"When Archbishop Sean O'Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston said in his homily last week that the behavior of Catholic churchmen was a crime, he in effect called Bishop John McCormack, along with Bishops Banks (Green Bay), Daily (Brooklyn), Murphy (Rockville Center), and Hughes (New Orleans) criminals. Does it make sense to think that those who do not demand and work for their removals are not themselves behaving in complicity with criminals? This appears to be the case for a large number of practicing Catholics who remain silent." John E. Carroll

"The Vatican is sending out many of its jewels and artwork on a tour of the United States. One of the first stops is in Ft. Lauderdale. I get so angry when I see ads for the "legacy of the Vatican," the tour name. My nephew was molested by a priest in the Worcester Diocese and that priest later committed suicide. To me this is the true legacy of the Vatican." Elizabeth, Miami, FL

"Keep up the great work! May God bless your sincere efforts to help bring about good changes in our Church. Our faith and beliefs are fine. It's the leadership and its clinging to its power that are the problem. Along with many antiquated ideas of whose Church this is." E. Richard Fortunato, Director, Parish Information & Communications Center, Saint Dominic Church, Southington, CT 06489

"Thanks for the VOTF Newsletter. It is always encouraging to me. I had considered 'checking out' other religious denominations, but because of your organization and CTA, I plan to stay with Catholicism -'I'd rather fight than switch.'" Sharon H. Mack, Grand Rapids, MI.

"Great idea (In the Vineyard Structural Change Report of August 2003) to join the parish council. However, I would say that the chances of that are about the same as a snowball in hell. Once VOTF ideas in any form come forward, that would be the end of that. Good luck. It will be a long way to respect for the faithful by the clergy, I fear. Thanks for your work." Pat Goddard

"I am active in VOTF both in Rochester, NY and Ft. Myers, Florida. It is interesting to note the contrast in acceptance in the two areas. In Ft. Myers (Venice Diocese) there is just one priest supporting VOTF, to the best of my knowledge. The support is encouraging and includes the use of the church hall for meetings. For this we are grateful. There are a few priests 'on the fence', but they haven't jumped in yet. The Bishop of Venice is silent.

In Rochester there are two priests who come to the meetings and are active members. I'm told that there are about 50 out of 160 in the entire Diocese of Rochester who support VOTF. I think that is tremendous. So far, the Bishop there has been silent.

VOTF is now a fact of life and the Bishops have to live with it. It's growing day by day and someday when all the abusers have been dealt with and the survivors have been helped as much as possible the Church will have survived. We will look back knowing how it got so far out of hand and be confident that with the help of VOTF and changes in the Church, it will never happen again." Lee J. Grills, Honeoye Falls, NY

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