VOICES,
VOICES EVERYWHERE!
National
Parish Voice has identified four U.S. regions for purposes
of affiliate coordination, communication efforts and
future regional definitions and representation:
WEST
Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana,
Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii,
Alaska
CENTRAL
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota,
Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio
SOUTH
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Florida
EAST
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of
Columbia
VOTF
"DOWN UNDER"
VOTF
Travel
Reported by Kathy and Mark Mullaney
New Zealand: On June 15 and 29th, Kathy and
Mark Mullaney, from St. John the Evangelist in Wellesley,
Mass. and founding members of VOTF, met with interested
VOTF affiliate programs in Christchurch, New Zealand
and Sydney, Australia.
New Zealand is in a preliminary state in the process
of meeting with VOTF members and discussing membership
growth and possible affiliation.
Australia: On Sat June 28th and Sunday, June
29th, the Mullaneys spoke to over 500 parishioners at
St. Anthony's in the Field outside of Sydney after three
Masses. In addition, after the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday,
they delivered an address and responded to questions
about VOTF in the states and its relationship to Church
issues in Australia. They found an energized, aware,
and informed group. Generally, there is concern about
the future of the Church and genuine hope that it will
survive and thrive. (Watch this space in August for
more details about the New Zealand and Sydney efforts
to organize.)
VOTF
CENTRAL
VOTF
SE Wisconsin
Reported by Terry Ryan
Greetings
from Southeast Wisconsin! We celebrated the first anniversary
of our affiliate on June 17, 2003 with a special liturgy
of healing at St. Benedict the Moor Church that included
liturgical dance and a communal blessing of those who've
suffered from any form of abuse. We also collected money
to offset some of the travel expenses for SNAP members
who were planning to travel to St. Louis for their convention.
Our Prayerful Voice coordinator Roberta Manley is to
be thanked, as well as our presider Fr. John Lukaszewicz
and homilist Rosemary Mutulo.
Following
the liturgy Michael Crosby, OFMCap, gave a talk entitled
"Reconciliation and VOTF: Is It Possible?" He spoke
about the power dynamics that are deeply engrained in
institutional structures, stemming from clericalism
and patriarchy. Fr. Crosby provided a frank and honest
assessment of the sin of systemic abuse and the difficulty
of addressing the structural imbalance of power.
Although
we do not plan to have a formal regional meeting during
the month of July, we will remain engaged in promoting
state legislation that will make clergy mandatory reporters
of abuse, that will raise the statute of limitations
for both civil and criminal cases, and that will hold
supervisors accountable if they knew or should have
known that someone under their supervision had sexual
contact with a child.
Even
though this bill will help prevent future sexual abuse
of our children, it does nothing for past victim-survivors
who have suffered greatly and deserve justice. We believe
that the state and the Church are obligated to ensure
accountability so that victim-survivors receive restorative
justice. To that end, we've met with the Chancellor
of the Milwaukee Archdiocese to discuss a proposal we
drafted on restorative justice; and we will urge legislators
to set up a statewide system to provide support, healing
and justice to adults who were sexually abused as children.
Our
Steering Committee will be busy during the month of
July developing goals for the next year and meeting
with individuals who are interested in assuming leadership
positions. I've announced my intention to step down
as Coordinator and am seeking someone to assume that
role. As always, we keep all of you in our thoughts
and prayers. May the God of compassion and new life
continue to shower us with the blessing of one another's
presence in this struggle to reform our Church.
VOTF
Chicago, IL
Reported by Terry O'Connor
LOCAL
NEWS in Chicago, Joliet and Rockford Dioceses:
- VOICE
OF THE FAITHFUL EXPANDS it's northern border in the
Archdiocese of Chicago with a start up group at OUR
LADY OF HUMILITY located in ZION, ILLINOIS.
- DIALOGUE
TEAM SELECTED FROM FOUR CORNERS OF THE CHICAGO DIOCESE.
Representing the VOTF Laity in the Chicago Diocese
will be three women and two men from each direction
of the compass. Details to follow.
- LAITY
TAKES A MAJOR STEP IN THE ROCKFORD DIOCESE toward
renewal with Bishop Thomas Doran and the announcement
of a VOTF- Coordinator in the Rockford Diocese. Additional
plans include Parish Affiliates in the regions of
Aurora, Cary, Elgin, St Charles, Geneva, Sterling,
and throughout the city of Rockford. If you know a
friend or relative living in any of these areas who
is interested in changing the way the Church acts
during our lifetime, please have them visit the votf.org
web site and contact any of us on the Illinois team.
- THE
JOLIET DIOCESE LEADS IN NEW INTEREST in Hinsdale at
St. Isaac's with a top-down building project as if
the crisis were over. "Building something seems to
be a strategy for ignoring the elephant in our living
room," stated one parishioner.
- Strong
interest from Elmhurst at Immaculate Conception Parish
has also surfaced with volunteers working toward connecting
parishes for a larger VOTF presence in the Joliet
Diocese.
- The
Joliet Diocese is in need of a Regional Coordinator
to effectively connect parishioners. The Elmhurst
area is one and Joliet (the city) is the other location
where individual members and Parish Affiliates could
be assisted greatly with additional Region Coordinators.
If you know a friend or relative from the diocese
who might be interested, please have them contact
any of us on the Illinois team.
- THIS
E-MAIL NETWORK CONNECTS TO OVER 125 DIFFERENT PARISHES
and has just recently expanded to accept an additional
3,000 e-mail addresses in our local network. If you
are interested in being a Regional Coordinator, Parish
Affiliate or VOTF member we have an e-mail slot with
your name on it. We could sure use your help.
- Peace
be with all of us.
VOTF
EAST
VOTF
Washington, DC Metro
Reported by Evelyn Mercantini and written by Bill
Casey
Our
Lady Queen of Peace Church in Arlington, VA and the
DC Metro affiliate of VOTF hosted a Healing Mass on
Thursday evening, June 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the church.
Fr. Joe Nagle, Franciscan Mission Service, and Fr. Len
Tuozzuolo, pastor of OLQP, con-celebrated the Mass.
It was the first healing Mass celebrated in the Arlington
Diocese devoted to survivors and others angered by the
sexual abuse crisis within the Church and the lack of
responsiveness by our Church leaders to the scandal.
The hope that we share is that this service will set
an example for other parishes in the diocese to reach
out to their faith communities and not hide within the
religious hierarchy. It is likely that some survivors
of abuse, regardless of where the abuse occurred, may
now live in the Arlington area.
In
addition to the host community at OLQP, representatives
from SNAP and three other DC- area VOTF affiliates were
in attendance. The congregation of approximately 150
listened to the strong words from Frs. Joe and Len as
well as the scripture readings and homilies. They called
on clergy to face their responsibilities to the survivors.
Evelyn Mercantini related the commitment of the DC Metro
VOTF affiliate to support the survivors and continue
efforts to promote the healing process. In a symbol
of communal healing, the group walked in single file
to the altar, dipped a finger in a bowl of water, crossed
themselves and then turned to make a small cross on
the forehead of the person behind them.
After
the Mass, a reception was held to afford an opportunity
to share fellowship and upcoming VOTF/SNAP activities.
In all, this gathering was a wonderful witness to the
Gospel message, one in sharp contrast to the public
witness within our Church this week - the resignation
of the chairman of the National Review Board appointed
only a year ago to oversee the Bishops' implementation
of the charter to protect children from abuse, and the
Bishops' semiannual meeting in St. Louis, in which the
sexual abuse issue was not even on the original agenda
until yet another kind of episcopal scandal broke on
Monday.
The
Healing Mass was covered by the Washington Post. It
can be accessed at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles.
VOTF
Greater Philadelphia, PA
Reported by Marianna Sullivan
A
quorum of members-in-good-standing of Voice of the Faithful
of Greater Philadelphia adopted proposed by-laws for
the affiliate, approved incorporation as a nonprofit
organization and elected temporary officers who will
serve until January 2004 at the affiliate's June general
meeting on June 3.
The
temporary officers are Bud Bretschneider, chair; Mary
Ellen Norpel, vice chair; Walter Fox, vice chair for
media relations; Brenda Hackett, treasurer; Susan Palladino,
recording secretary, and Loretta Connor, corresponding
secretary.
At-large
delegates to the VOTF/GP Steering Committee are Eileen
DiFranco, Alice O'Neill, James Plastaras, Joan Smith
and Marianna Sullivan. In addition, representatives
of the various committees form part of the steering
committee; these committees include one for each of
VOTF's three goals.
At
the October general meeting of the Greater Philadelphia
affiliate, permanent officers will be elected to serve
terms beginning in January 2004.
Now that organizational matters have been addressed,
we hope to move ahead to parish outreach throughout
the archdiocese.
VOTF
Northern New Jersey
Reported by Maria Cleary
In
June, we were treated to a wonderful talk by Dr. Gloria
Thomas of Marymount College in NYC who spoke about "The
Trinity: A Model for Dialogue in the Church." Intriguing
and inspiring! Another highlight of that meeting was
the emergence of more brave souls who are willing to
start new VOTF Affiliates, even in banned territory!
Recent news about Frank Keating and Bishop O'Brien in
Phoenix seems to have galvanized folks in a new way.
The
biggest news for our region is the upcoming conference
at Fordham University, New York, NY on November 15.
Twenty-six of us from NY, NJ and CT affiliates met on
June 14 on site to plan. Things are coming together
in a very exciting way, and we should be able to announce
speakers and topics shortly, so stay tuned. This is
a very convenient location, so we hope many of our VOTF
family will be able to join us for this important day.
Mark the date on your calendars!
VOTF
West Hartford, CT
Reported by Dick Wowak
At
the June meeting we began a push to re-energize the
three working groups and to get EVERYONE involved in
a working group of some sort. We expanded the groups
to eight in number including PR, Finances, etc. We will
follow up until all are involved.
Fr.
Cody gave a report on the Hartford Assoc of Priests,
our counterpart in the Clergy. He gave us their goals
and results from their meetings with Archbishop Cronin
- none as of now.
Jaye
O'Donnel reported on the meeting with the Archbishop
that she attended with John Ryan and Mary Ann Murray.
They had four questions 1) Functioning Parish Councils,
2) Follow up to the Synod of 5 yrs ago, 3) Copy of the
Bishops Charter, 4) Safe Parish Provisions. All went
pretty much unanswered. Our next meeting is July 10
at St. Tim's.
VOTF
South Region, Boston, MA Affiliate
Reported by John Hynes
Click
here to view photos
The
evening of Tuesday, June 24 saw representatives of nearly
all of the VOTF affiliates in the South Region of the
RCAB attending Mass at St. Gerard Majella Parish in
Canton, MA. The celebrant of this Mass of the feast
of St. John the Baptist was the Reverend Bernard P.
McLaughlin, pastor of St. Gerard's. In the beginning
of his remarks, Fr. Mac held out St. John the Baptist,
the herald of Christ, as an example for all to emulate.
Fr. Mac then invited all resent to participate with
him in what amounted to an interactive homily. Many
accepted his invitation almost immediately - resulting
in a palpable sense of connectedness that dominated
the evening. Mass was Followed by refreshments and brief
updates from various affiliates before the final regional
meeting of the season adjourned.
Many
of the same VOTF representatives were in attendance
again on Sunday morning, June 29 at St. Paul's in Hingham,
MA. There the principal celebrant of the Mass of the
feast of Sts. Peter and Paul was Bishop Lennon, interim
administrator of the Boston Archdiocese. Some who spoke
with Bishop Lennon appealed to him either on behalf
of the survivors and/or on behalf of VOTF groups banned
from meeting on their own church property. Both before
and after the service VOTFers stood in solidarity with
the survivor representatives who were present outside
of St. Paul's.
Bishop
Lennon's homily seemed somehow disconnected and stood
in sharp contrast to Fr. Mac's. Bishop Lennon talked
about the leaders of the early Church whose feast day
it was. He pointed out that even though Sts. Peter and
Paul were the recognized leaders of the Church of their
day, they were not focused on their role as leaders,
but rather on their mission of attracting people to
the word of God. Bishop Lennon seemed totally oblivious
to the irony that his, and his predecessor's, actions
might have actually served to separate people from the
word of God.
VOTF Fall River, MA diocese
Reported by Chris Boyd
- News from
around the diocese: In July, Svea Fraser from VOTF
National spoke to a crowd in Falmouth on the subject
of support for priests. About two weeks prior, in
Mashpee, David O'Brien, professor at the College of
the Holy Cross, with expertise in the history of the
Catholic Church in America, offered great insights
into the current challenges before the Church and
the laity to about 100 attendees.
- I'm told
by Lloyd Becket (papa@alum.mit.edu)
of North Falmouth Parish Voice, and Jim Moroney (BMor456556@aol.com)
of Mashpee Parish Voice that these two affiliate groups
have decided to retain their independent local affiliations,
while developing closer coordination so as to draw
on each other's membership for mutual support of various
events.
- Among
the successes achieved by Fall River VOTF is that
of Ed Scahill of Mashpee, who in communication with
his pastor has been informed that the pastor will
"publish a full and complete accounting of the past
fiscal year's financial report." Good news for our
goals of "transparency and accountability."
- Lower
Cape Parish Voice continues to build bridges within
their community. Offering an educational video series
by Fr. Michael Himes of B.C. entitled, "The Vision
of Vatican II for Today," St. Joan of Arc parish will
be inviting parishioners to enjoy this series on Mondays
July 7, 14, 21, 28 and August 4 at 7:00 p.m. LCPV
will resume meetings at the Brewster's Lady's Library
soon after the conclusion of the video series. For
information, contact Patricia Clock (patriciacape@attbi.com)
or Nick Armenti (NPArmenti@yahoo.com).
- Nantucket's
PV has been disrupted by the ban from meeting on parish
property, but Sue Alex (madaket62@aol.com)
is planning a new meeting this month.
- Developing
groups are also making progress. The South Coast Parish
Voice group is growing in and around Mattapoisett
and plans to affiliate in September. A small coordinating
group has been meeting in recent weeks. They expect
to have their first big meeting to welcome all in
early September. For information, contact Bob Gormley
(rgormley@bestweb.net)
or Ann Bruno (wsbamb@aol.com).
On June 26th, the group welcomed Helene and Bill Doyle,
from Falmouth, to share how their group developed
and what challenges may lie ahead. Bill and Helene
have also spoken with other fledgling groups including
the Mid-Cape. Marion Gallagher (marjack@attbi.com)
and George Perkins (perkinsgm@attbi.com)
have been the most active here. Anyone in the Dennis-Yarmouth
and surrounding towns who could offer support or would
like to attend, let Marion and George know. Without
access to parish bulletins, it's hard to get the word
out. As yet, we have many members around the western
part of the diocese, but no new parish voices, so
members from Attleboro to Easton, Norton to Taunton,
send Chris Boyd (JCBoydVOTF@aol.com)
an email if you'd like to reach others in your area.
By way of a diocesan overview, the Bishop-elect Coleman
of Fall River has instructed all pastors to ban meetings
of VOTF on Church property until further notice. Parish
bulletins are not to include VOTF PV notices, and there
is to be no formal contact with our organization. These
policies are deemed temporary until the new bishop has
time to assess the situation more fully at some future
date. These policies are a concern to many member parishioners.
In an effort to avoid an escalated exchange in the media,
as is the general desire of leadership from within the
diocese, as well as in order to attempt to begin constructive
communications and cooperation with our new bishop,
we have attempted to engage the bishop-elect through
an intermediary. What will be the fruit of these efforts
remains to be seen, but we are hopeful. One month has
passed since the original communication in this effort.
Although the bishop-elect is no doubt busy with matters
relating to his installation, we are hopeful that the
interests of the hundreds of VOTF members under his
pastoral care will also be a priority. In the meantime,
VOTF members have avoided making a public issue of our
expulsion from parish premises and have sent a warm
letter of congratulations to Bishop-elect Coleman. We
are beginning preparations for our delegation to meet
with the Bishop or his representative(s) in the coming
months.
Winchester,
Mass. Area VOTF
Reported by Bob Morris
In
June, we welcomed two speakers. On June 2, Patricia
DeLeeuw, an Associate Academic Vice President for Faculties
at Boston College, and a Church historian, brought home
to us that most of the Church structures that we take
for granted have evolved and changed over time. On June
16, Professor David O'Brien, Director of the Center
for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the
Holy Cross, presented an overview of the Church crisis,
and a model for where we all might go from here. Approximately
100 persons attended each talk.
In
June, several members of our group - Mary Ellen Falcione,
Anna-Marie Ferraro, Clare Keane, Bob Morris, and Helen
Quinn - were elected by parishioners to the St. Eulalia's
Parish Council (the Parish which hosts our meetings).
These members join several other VOTF members (Eva Arnott,
Mary Deyst, Christina Hurley) already on the Council.
On
June 23, Suzy Nauman, Parish Voice Assistant Chair,
and a member of our group, reported on the conference
of the U.S. Bishops in St. Louis, as well as the conference
of the Survivors' Network of those Abuse by Priests
(S.N.A.P.). Suzy was part of the VOTF team attending
both conferences. Suzy described for us the stark contrast
between the indifference shown to VOTF by many bishops,
and the gratitude to VOTF by those attending the S.N.A.P.
conference. Suzy's account made clear that the work
of VOTF in support of survivors is vital and must be
continued.
Finally,
at our meeting on June 30, on the eve of the appointment
of Bishop O'Malley, we received an unexpected and most
welcome visit from Father Hugh Burns, a Dominican priest
from Jersey City, New Jersey, and a commentator on National
Public Radio. In brief remarks, Father Hugh exhorted
us to continue our work.
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of the Faithful, VOTF, "Keep the Faith, Change the Church,"
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