National News

Light a Virtual Candle
Join us this Thanksgiving season as we share thoughts on God’s blessings or pray for special intentions by lighting virtual candles. Your intention and candle will appear on a special page on the VOTF website. Light a candle now.

VOTF welcomes New PR director Nick Ingala. Nick comes to VOTF with over 30 years of public relations experience, most recently as president of Publicity Inc., a Boston-area public relations and marketing communications agency. Nick joined us on November 1, and we are very pleased to have his services. He can be reached at 781-559-3360, ext. 207, and at nickingala@votf.org.

Guest Column: On the “Crime” of Ordaining Women
By Christine Schenk csj, Executive Director, FutureChurch

Last July the Vatican made a grave blunder when it essentially said the “sacramental crime” of ordaining women should be classified alongside the “moral crime” of clergy sex abuse as being among the worst sins in the church.

Some of the new Vatican procedures for handling cases of clergy sexual abuse are positive. In particular, extending the statute of limitations,...(read more)

New York Tri-State Area Conference A Resounding Success!
By Kevin Connors
Mount St. Vincent College in Riverdale NY provided the venue. But members and supporters of Voice of the Faithful affiliates from the New York Archdiocese, Brooklyn Diocese, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, as well as from the states of New Jersey and Connecticut provided the spirit, enthusiasm, and camaraderie that distinguished this year’s Tri-State conference on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

Keynote speaker Dr Anthony Padovano spoke convincingly about the Dynamism of Vatican II and how it is reshaping our lives as Catholics. “Vatican II,” he said, “was not for the hierarchy (they have lost control since then)”, “and not for the papacy (the pope is less influential since then). Vatican II was about people at large, the laity or baptized Christians; it was about community.” Consequently, no amount of effort by these leaders to nullify Vatican II will return the Church to a pre-Vatican II environment. (Read his full remarks by going to www.votf-li.org and clicking on Anthony Padovano under Long Island News.)

In the afternoon session, panelists Dr. Joseph O’Callaghan outlined a procedure for the election of Bishops, Sr. Chris Schenk spoke about FutureChurch’s “A Million Voices” project, and National Catholic Reporter writer Jamie Manson presented the perspective of a young person trying to make sense of today’s Church. 

The Tri-State conference was a successful joint effort by a few affiliates, but it also demonstrated the greater value that can result when affiliates join together to collaborate, educate, and celebrate our mission to Keep the Faith and Change the Church.

Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

Part V in a series that looks at Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church from 1984-2010.
By Tom Doyle J.C.D., C.A.D.C

The Second Phase:  2002 to  2010
Between 1984 and the end of 2001 revelations of clergy sexual abuse surfaced throughout the U.S. Canada and in several foreign countries as well.  Many of these revelations were explosive and attracted intense media focus and public interest.  Yet after a few weeks of front page coverage the public indignation seemed to subside, things quieted down and the Church returned to its dominant position, able to withstand the exposure of all types of inner corruption and despicable clerical behavior. 

Looking back on this period a number of major explosions come to mind. Read more...

Other Voices

Survivors Voice declares their Reformation Day event and “unqualified success!” to read more http://www.survivorsvoice.org/

An Update on “What if we just said wait?”
On Friday, August 20, Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced that the final text of the new Roman Missal had been received from Rome, and that November 27, 2011—the First Sunday of Advent—has been set for the implementation of the new Missal in the United States.
This is disappointing news. More than 21,400 people—lay women and men, priests, deacons, and religious—from more than 60 countries signed on to What If We Just Said Wait, asking our bishops to wait until the texts could be tested and evaluated before being generally implemented.

To read more
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/scathing-report-missal-translations-sent-bishops

Site Seeing

Why are Catholics leaving the Church?
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/further-adrift

Pope calls for meeting of cardinals on sex abuse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/08/AR2010110803192.html

VOTF’s research on the Chicago abuse crisis is on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIpiCNFwDjs

Belgium Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard’s press officer quits, calling the Archbishop a “reckless driver headed down the highway in the wrong direction thinking everyone else is at fault.”
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/belgium-archbishops-press-officer-calls-it-quits

More on the probe into transparency at the Vatican bank:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20101022/eu-vatican-bank/

Urban monk works to see the “church we dream of”:
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/urban-monk-works-see-church-we-dream

Calendar

Voice of the Faithful Listening Session
Paulist Center, 5 Park Street, Boston MA, Saturday, December 4, 2010, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Suggested offering $25. Pre-registration encouraged, contact Ron DuBois, debber@beld.net)

Keeping Hope Alive in Our Church
Keynote Speaker:  James Carroll
Your thoughts from this listening session will be shared with those preparing for the American Catholic Council, to be held in Detroit MI on Pentecost weekend, June 10-12, 2011. Further information: www.americancatholiccouncil.org

Questions, Comments?

Please send them to Siobhan Carroll, Vineyard Editor at Vineyard@votf.org. Unless otherwise indicated, I will assume comments can be published as Letters to the Editor.