Around the World with VOTF

A View from Down Under
Reported by Svea Fraser

The bone-wearying, muscle-cramping 22 hours in a Boeing 727 are well worth it when the destination is Australia. I headed in that direction in a snow squall on April 1st and returned to Boston on April 21st. In Melbourne, my home from 1991 to 1997, cockatoos, magpies and kookaburras in gum trees added to the welcome of my friends. Many of those friends were keenly interested in VOTF and several meetings had already been organized, along with interviews on ABC National Radio and the newspaper The Age.

I was amazed at how closely Australian Catholics have been following the crisis in Boston, and how many have already signed up on the website as members of VOTF. Much of the interest has been fueled by publicity on television and in the press. Two Australian books have recently been published and both cite VOTF by name - Muriel Porter's Sex, Power and the Clergy and Chris McGillion's A Long Way from Rome. A month ago, the program "Compass", an hour-long documentary on national public television, reported on our activity in Boston. A friend of mine taped the program, and it gave me a strange feeling to see ourselves broadcast on the other side of the world -everything from the vigils at the Cathedral to the 7/20 Convention, Arthur Austin's stirring words at the Chancery Vigil, and comments made by Louise Aleo and Cathy Mosca! At the end of the program, the reporter made the poignant admission that he himself had been a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 14. Hearts are moved and people are seeking ways to respond with truth and compassion.

Maria George, a pastoral associate, was quoted as saying the discussions about VOTF are valuable. "I felt challenged about taking the risk to speak out, not to be afraid, to be visible, to use your voice, even if it comes at a cost." Mary Williams, a bright star in the constellation of committed Catholics, said that Melbourne Catholics are considering launching a local Voice of the Faithful group. "There's been some talk about it, but the Australian climate and culture is so very different to the States. What's so wonderful about this is that it's the middle ground of the Church, not the radical wing," she told The Age reporter.

All of you who are working with such faith and perseverance need to know that you are a light of hope to people around the world. Our website has been described by many as their "favorite," and it is enthusiastically received. I felt that I was representing thousands of you, and like the early disciples in The Acts of the Apostles, encouraging our brothers and sisters in far-flung places. I hope you can feel the radiation of appreciation I have for each of you. At the end of one of my talks (which was enriched by showing the video of "The Solidarity Walk" and an overview of the 7/20 Boston, MA convention, "The Response of the Laity") a woman came up to me and, taking both my hands in hers, looked me in the eye and said, "Whenever you get discouraged, just remember that there is a nun in Australia who is praying for you." Her prayers will not go unanswered!

From St. Elizabeth's Parish, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada
Reported by MaryAnne Gervais

Congratulations for a wonderful year. I read about VOTF in The New Yorker September, 2002 and was deeply inspired. VOTF, please remember to count me as one of your voices, for love has inspired changes in our Church.

Last month I attended the first meeting of a potential affiliate at St. Elizabeth Parish, Sidney B.C. Canada. I am a member on my own because Sidney is a distance from me but I keep in touch with Terry Renshaw from St. Elizabeth's.

Recently in our Victoria Press (Times Colonist) there was an article about dwindling numbers in Christian parishes. The article elicited many letters next day in the editorial page. I decided to send a letter to our local Catholic paper and forwarded a copy to our Bishop Remi Roussin. I would like to share it.

"The recent article "LOW STANDING IN THE PEWS" (printed in the Times Colonist) has prompted me to write this letter. Solutions for the dwindling numbers stand waiting to be heard as the LAITY finds its voice in Church reformation.

It was Blessed Pope John XXIII who called our Church to 'aggiornamento,' an updating, and recognition of the evolutionary process in the material and spiritual world of the 20th Century. Thanks to Pope John and his successor Pope Paul VI, one of the 16 documents of the Vatican II Council now stands as an achievement never before reached in the history of the Catholic Church. That document is the "DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY." This decree is a channel through which our voice and energy as Laity is born and comes to light in the Holy Spirit.

Just last month in Sidney, B.C. at St. Elizabeth*s Parish, a group of concerned Catholics joined the Voice of the Faithful Organization as its first international affiliate joining over 30,000 Catholics world wide. VOTF attempts to sit tall in the pews of our Church. Here you will find a forum with a loving but constructively critical voice that prays and probes for solutions to the problems which render our Church sterile in the 21st Century. As disciples of Christ the whole Church is called to His mission - man, woman, and child. The mission is LOVE and the means is a Church which fully integrates these disciples.

I congratulate the initiative of the St. Elizabeth's group and wish many blessings to all who endeavour to be heard and to act in the name of GOOD."

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