VOTF Project Workbook Page 2

The VOTF National Working Groups Present:

What Do We Do Next?

A Project Workbook

First Edition July 2005

Purpose of the Project Workbook

This workbook contains suggestions for activities to pursue in your local afﬁliate, in a regional group, as an individual, or in cooperation with others in your area. Match a suggestion to the interests and resources of your group, or use the suggestions as a way to spark discussion about other actions your group may deem appropriate. We hope your successful efforts will be shared with others and added to this book in later editions.

National Working Groups are volunteers drawn from VOTF members and afﬁliates across the country. The leaders of the Working Groups developed the Workbook from the projects these volunteers pursued the past few years.

In addition to the projects organized by the Working Groups, you may get suggestions about affiliate activities through the Parish Voice office at the VOTF national headquarters in Newton, MA. Parish Voice provides a Toolkit for affiliate leaders and reports on “best practice” activities launched by affiliates. Contact Suzy Nauman on the Parish Voice staff ([email protected]) for details.

For those interested in learning about techniques appropriate for developing and building a grass-roots action campaign for change within a local parish or diocese, Parish Voice also sponsors the “Many Hands, Many Hearts” training. Contact Aimee Caravich Hariramani ([email protected]) for more information.

Workbook Prepared by These National Working Groups:

Prayerful Voice Protecting Our Children Structural Change Support Priests Survivors Support Voice of Renewal/Lay Education

(For email addresses of the current contacts, see the last page of this workbook.)

Workbook Contents

Purpose of the Project Workbook preface

VOTF Mission Statement and Goals 1

Projects to Fulﬁll the VOTF Mission Statement 2

Projects to Fulﬁll Goal 1 6

Projects to Fulﬁll Goal 2 10

Projects to Fulﬁll Goal 3 15

Protecting Our Children 26

Renewal and Education 28

Contacts List 32

Mission Statement

To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church.

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) Goals

To support those who have been abused To support priests of integrity To shape structural change within the Church

“That Depends on Us”

“Christ became a man of his people and his time: “He lived as a Jew, he worked as a laborer of Nazareth, and since then he continues to become incarnate in everyone. “If many have distanced themselves from the Church, it is precisely because the Church has somewhat estranged itself from humanity. But a church that can feel as its own all that is human, and wants to incarnate the pain, the hope, the afﬂiction of all who suffer and feel joy, such a church shall be Christ loved and awaited, Christ present. “And that depends on us.”

Archbishop Oscar Romero, December 3, 1978

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Projects to Fulﬁll the VOTF Mission Statement

To Provide a Prayerful Voice, Attentive to the Spirit, Through Which the Faithful Can Actively Participate in the Governance and Guidance of the Catholic Church

Voice of the Faithful, Together We Pray … We are the Church; we are the Body of Christ. Strengthen us, ﬁll us with wisdom, Lead us to holy action in building up your reign. Help us to respect our voice and the voices of all the faithful. We are your Church; we are the Body of Christ. Hear us, Christ our true life and salvation. Amen. From the “VOTF Opening Prayer” for Voice of the Faithful Meetings

VOTF is, ﬁrst and foremost, a faith movement, a movement of the Spirit. Faith brought us together; faith keeps us united with each other and with the survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Faith keeps us in communion with our Catholic Church.

Our Mission Statement is both a product and an expression of our faith. We mean always and in all ways to be a “prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit,” to prayerfully discern our purpose, our actions, and our vision for the future.

We have experienced the action of the Spirit in our midst from our very ﬁrst days. We have listened to each other. We have prayed together in special Eucharist celebrations, in days of prayer and reconciliation, in VOTF retreats and in all the work we do to advance the mission of VOTF. It is all prayer.

This experience led us forward and sealed our mission. We have come to understand our prayer, “We are the Church, we are the Body of Christ.” We have come to understand more fully the power of the Spirit in our midst. We have opened our eyes, hearts and minds, willing to learn and be transformed. And, therefore, we go forward. With prayer at the center, we have grown wiser, stronger, humbler, and awed at our new understanding of what it means today to be “faithful.”

As members of VOTF, we must commit ourselves to its Mission Statement, so that grounded in prayer we can make our voices heard and can “actively participate in the guidance and governance of the Catholic Church.” We must discern, in prayer, all the actions we take. To whom are we being faithful? We strive towards faithfulness to God.

This ongoing discernment is the “practice” of a lifetime. From within VOTF, we need to accept our “pilgrim” status and to ask ourselves each day: What is our prayer? How do we see it manifested? What do we do to enhance the “culture of prayer” out of which we

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act? Is prayer at the center, keeping us faithful? How do we become more grounded in prayer?

Mission Project 1: Pray for Survivors at Your Afﬁliate Meetings

1. Develop a series of prayers/prayer services that help focus hearts and minds on VOTF’s commitment to survivors.

2. See “A Psalm: Concerning Those Abused by Priests” at http:// www.votf.org/Prayerful_Voice/offer.html.

Mission Project 2: Create a Prayerful Voice Working Group in Your Afﬁliate

1. See “Why a Prayerful Voice Working Group” in your Parish Voice Toolkit. (All afﬁliates should have a Prayerful Voice Working Group.)

2. Discuss how a Prayerful Voice Working Group helps your afﬁliate and all of VOTF focus on the genuine mission of VOTF.

Mission Project 3: Open and Close Each Meeting with a Prayer Session

1. Spontaneous prayer is beautiful, but preparation for prayer within a group enhances the experience and allows you to focus the prayer. Allow the prayer(s) to speak directly to the group gathered and to the speciﬁc purpose of the meeting.

2. Explore a variety of prayerful expressions for your group: meditation, scripture readings, songs, rituals.

3. Use the VOTF Opening Prayer to help foster a sense of communion with the entire membership: http://www.votf.org/Prayerful_Voice/ meetingprayer.html.

Mission Project 4: Help Everyone Become “Leaders of Prayer”

1. Rotate responsibility for prayer.

2. Encourage afﬁliate members to compose and lead prayers and prayer services for meetings.

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Mission Project 5: Develop Prayers That Reﬂect Your Afﬁliate’s Needs

1. Prepare prayer(s) that speciﬁcally reﬂect the desires of the group, the meeting, and/or the agenda. For example, in July 2004, the VOTF Representative Council used the following prayers to open and close meetings:

Opening Prayer Spirit of the Risen Christ, move among us today as we come together as the Voice of the Faithful. Help us to be a prayerful voice attentive to the Spirit. Help us discern our faithfulness to you as we ponder choices and actions. Help us to keep you at the center. Bless us with wisdom, collegiality, patience and joyfulness as we gather to do your will. Amen.

Closing Prayer Generous and Loving God, we give thanks for your Spirit among us. We give thanks for the gift of each other, and the gift of our coming together as Voice of the Faithful. May our hearts and actions be a gift of thanksgiving and praise to you, and a sign of our faithfulness and commitment to building up your reign in this world. We pray especially for comfort and healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, in whom we meet the suffering Christ. They are your presence in our midst. We ask these things in your name, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Foster the practice of saying the VOTF Prayer at Noon: Jesus, Lord and Brother, Help us with our faithfulness. Please hear our voice, and let our voice be heard. Amen.

Mission Project 6: Create Special Prayer Events

1. Schedule special Eucharistic celebrations (for example, see Mass of Healing at http://www.votf.org/Survivor_Support/healingmass.html and Mass of Reconsecration at http://www.votf.org/Prayerful_Voice/pvevents.html.

2. Plan a Day of Prayer and Reconciliation and sponsor retreats for your members/leaders (http://www.votf.org/Prayerful_Voice/dayofprayer.html).

3. Plan special prayer sessions or liturgies to prepare for work, to celebrate, to build communion.

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Mission Project 7: Articulate and Further Express “Lay Spirituality”

Work to articulate and further express the new lay spirituality we experience as Catholics from within VOTF:

1. Devote a meeting to exploring the concept of lay spirituality. Invite a knowledgeable facilitator to this meeting, such as a VOTF member or perhaps a Spiritual Director from the larger community.

2. Make the topic of lay spirituality a priority for conferences, conventions, and meetings.

Mission Project 8: Identify and Articulate Prayer in VOTF Life

1. Be reﬂective in meetings as to how the Spirit may be discerned, how prayer requests may have been answered, how VOTF action can be understood as prayer.

2. Become familiar with the “prayerful discernment” process that is part of the One Hand, One Heart program that Prayerful Voice uses to incorporate prayer into the essential work of VOTF.

Mission Project 9: Build Connections with Religious Institutes/Communities

1. If there is a Franciscan, Carmelite, Dominican, or Jesuit religious house or community in your area, ask them to present a session on meditation, centering prayer, mysticism, or a similar topic.

2. Ask VOTF members who are lay ministers to lead sessions on prayer or ministry.

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Projects to Fulﬁll Goal 1

To Support Those Who Have Been Abused

A Psalm: Concerning Those Abused by Priests O God, our God of Love, we come grieving and broken to your dwelling-place … Priests of your temple have defiled us; they have torn our clean garments and defiled us … Where shall we go, O God of Love, except to you, in your dwelling-place? Where else shall we find our hope? … In your mercy, do not forget, but hear and answer us, God of our exile, God of our longing, God of our slaughtered love. Excerpt from the longer poem by survivor Arthur Austin. For the complete poem, see http://www.votf.org/Prayerful_Voice/offer.html.

Notwithstanding the effort of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America to relegate the sexual abuse crisis to “history,” it is important for all of us to continue to support the survivors. Even more important, we must remind the faithful that the minimal action taken by the church in America to address this problem, although effective to a limited degree, does not prevent ongoing abuse and will not prevent a future recurrence unless the bishops come forward and acknowledge their culpability: culpability for maintaining an aura of secrecy that protected the abusers and for refusing to honor their pastoral obligations to the survivors of sexual abuse.

We should keep in touch with all developments concerning clergy sexual abuse, so that we never become complacent and think, as we are often told, that the crisis is over and that we can all return to business as usual. Many of us believe that “business as usual” will lead eventually to a repeat of the crisis we have been experiencing.

Our aim must be to promote justice and healing now and to work to prevent this history from ever repeating itself.

To do so, the Survivors Support Working Group calls for us all to listen, to support, and to extend Christ’s message of love and compassion to those who have been abused.

❑ We must continue to hear the stories that survivors of clergy sex abuse tell as they come forward, and to support them in any way we can. True healing and full reparation for the physical, spiritual and emotional pain that they suffer may never come to pass. But VOTF can help, often just by listening. We continually hear from survivors who wish to address VOTF affiliates and tell their stories. Many survivors consider these events as helping them break

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through the barriers of denial and silence suffered for so many years and empowering them to continue their healing journey.

Hearing survivors’ stories also proves valuable in motivating the laity to stand up and be counted in the search for true accountability within the hierarchy of our church. It also inspires us to support activities aimed at eliminating laws that protect perpetrators and impede the achievement of true justice for the victims.

❑ We need to keep track of the perpetrators of abuse, their whereabouts and their criminal and civil punishments to ensure that justice, to the extent that existing laws permit, is served and to ensure that abusers no longer obtain access to potential victims. Protection of future generations must be a major concern for us, as it is for survivors.

❑ We should continue insisting that members of the hierarchy who were complicit — either by their actions or by their inaction — in allowing the abusers to persist in their criminal activities be held accountable by acknowledging their guilt, by telling the truth, by releasing all pertinent documents, and by trying to make their peace with those survivors whose lives they affected by failing to be responsible shepherds of the faithful.

❑ We should stand in solidarity with those who support and advocate for the survivors. Supporters too can feel a deep pain, both emotional and spiritual, in coming to grips with the facts that ordained members of the church they love committed such atrocities and that their spiritual leaders covered up abuse at the expense of innocent victims in an effort to protect the church from scandal.

❑ We need to remind ourselves as laity of our failure to recognize that such abuse could exist in our church and of our failure to exercise our baptismal right to question our leadership and demand accountability from them.

Christ’s message of love, compassion, openness, accountability, and service to those less fortunate should inspire those in positions of authority in our church to reassess their roles and their priorities. We need to reﬂect on the gospel message of Jesus Christ and to rededicate ourselves, each to his or her own measure, to the roles we play in this great tragedy as survivors, supporters, advocates, healers, or performers of other tasks.

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Project 1-1: Offer Survivors Personal Support and Collaborate with Other Support Organizations

1. Pray for survivors at your afﬁliate meetings. Develop a series of prayers and prayer services that focus hearts and minds on VOTF’s commitment to survivors.

2. Contact survivors in your area with a sense of openness and willingness to listen and understand.

3. Explore with a survivor the possibility of their speaking at your afﬁliate meeting. (In preparation for this gathering, please visit the “Hearing Our Stories” link on the VOTF Web site.)

4. Support survivor organizations such as SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, http://www.SNAPnetwork.org), The Linkup (http:// www.thelinkup.org), Survivors First (http://www.survivorsfirst.org), BishopAccountability.org (http://www.bishopaccountability.org), and STTOP (Speak Truth To Power, http://www.STTOP.org). Ask these organizations how you may help with either financial or collaborative support. For example, some affiliates have sold honey and hosted coffee houses, conducted garage sales, and presented Celtic nights, raffles, movie nights and walkathons to help fund scholarships for survivors to attend conferences and/or healing programs.

Project 1-2: Work in Both Your Parish and Your Diocese

1. Provide assistance to survivors who are reporting abuse to diocesan ofﬁcials or to non-church-based programs. Use the guide prepared for this purpose by a survivor: http://www.votf.org/Survivor_Support/hearingstories.html.

2. Become knowledgeable about diocesan policies regarding payments and treatments available to survivors.

3. Know your diocese’s privacy and conﬁdentiality policy regarding survivors.

4. Whenever possible, connect and collaborate with the National Review Board and its Ofﬁce of Child and Youth Protection.

5. Monitor whether your diocese is in compliance with the Bishops’ Charter by examining audit results. Determine whether the audit results match the actual experiences and actions within your diocese. Acknowledge the

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efforts where the diocese is in compliance (both in terms of the audit and in actuality) and call for improvements where it fails.

6. Publicly emphasize that the Church should be more concerned with the care and treatment of survivors than with legal defense of a diocese’s assets.

Project 1-3: Examine Practices Regarding Priests and Their Records

1. Advocate through your Parish Council for transparency of policies and procedures pertaining to priest personnel records, including placement history. Are records secure and intact? Is there a policy for destroying records? Have any records been destroyed? Why?

2. Ask the bishop of your diocese to give all pertinent records and information to civil authorities.

Project 1-4: Seek Accountability for the Cover-Up

Identify diocesan ofﬁcials who have been accused of transferring an abusive priest. Then identify any diocesan ofﬁcials who have resigned or who plan to resign because of such involvement.

Project 1-5: Ensure That Programs of Protection Are Implemented in Parishes, Schools and Dioceses

Ensure that your parish/school/diocese has a Children’s Protection Plan and is implementing it. (Consult the Protecting Our Children Working Group section of this book for references and other ideas.)

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Projects to Fulﬁll Goal 2

To Support Priests of Integrity

Prayer for Priests

For the priests of our Church at this time of wrenching revelation, crisis and pain, We pray for your strength, courage and humility, and healing.

May we all go forward, the non-ordained and the ordained, Each fulﬁlling our vocations in love and respect and collaboration.

Guide us on our journey to wholeness. Together move us, in your Spirit of reconciliation, To build up a Church worthy of your name. Amen.

It is our hope that none will see in the wording of VOTF Goal 2 the passing of judgment on any priest of God. All priests who seek to fulﬁll their ministry, who tell the truth, who do not put ambition ahead of truth, and who live by the Gospel are truly priests of integrity. They hold the people of God in their hearts.

VOTF’s goal of supporting our priests has developed over the past two years to include the imperative that we work together. Before he died, Msgr. Phil Murnion made a plea for dialogue and quoted from Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (No. 45): “Consultation, listening and dialogue only enhance true authority, because they issue from a lived trust and they serve to increase trust. It is imperative that we work together to restore the trust that has been eroded.”

David Gibson, in The Coming Catholic Church, offers a mandate for our collaboration when he writes, “Understanding clericalism and transforming that mentality is the single most urgent priority for the coming Catholic Church:” 1 We need to rethink the position of the priest — including our own understanding of our baptism into the universal priesthood and our relationship to and collaboration with the ministerial priesthood.

As Gibson notes:

Breaking down the walls between the ordained class and the rest of the church is a vital ﬁrst step toward ending the isolation that helps breed a clericalist mentality, but it will not be easy. … The better our understanding of the meaning of the priesthood and the ways that it is changing, the better the

1. David Gibson, The Coming Catholic Church (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), p. 203.

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chances of emerging from the dark night of the soul with a renewed Catholic Church. … What is needed is a way to rehumanize the priesthood without desacralizing it. … The chief relationship that needs tending is that between priests and laity. The ﬁrst step in this process is for Catholics to see priests as the human beings they are, and for priests to accept that view for themselves. This will come about by increasing priest collaboration with the laity in running the parish. … Above all, a broadening of the concept of priesthood, a true embrace of the concept of “the priesthood of all believers,” would not necessarily dilute the historical role of the priest as much as it would broaden the concept of holiness to lay people more fully. 1

Project 2-1: Pursue Projects Within the Parish

1. Invite an equal number of priests and laypersons (maximum 14-15 persons) to an informal meeting called a “Priest Sounding Board.” Send out a list of possible topics prior to the meeting, but make it clear that the group may decide to follow where the conversation leads. The meeting is a “getting to know you” type of situation, with participants sitting around a table at the rectory or at a private home. Conversation may include shared concerns, priests describing their feelings during the abuse crisis, seminary days, or daily life.

2. Offer the pastor help in areas where he may not excel – such as hiring, administration, finances, maintenance – from members of your affiliate who are clearly qualified to provide such help. Offer to be a sounding board for his homilies.

3. Hold an Appreciation Mass or an Appreciation Dinner (following Mass).

4. Visit http://www.priestsunday.org, which proposes a national observance of Priesthood Sunday. It’s good for the pastor because it gives him a week off from preaching (a little structural change), and it is prayerful and supportive. Although the observance requires a little work and planning, it is reasonably easy. If the pastor follows the “no lay preaching/homily” rule, you can offer to do a “reﬂection” after communion. Afﬁliates can support this day by:

• Having a lay member of the parish deliver a reflection on the importance of priesthood and tell a personal story about a positive impact a priest had on his or her life.

• Having the congregation pray a blessing over the pastor. Distribute “A Daily Prayer for Priests” to Mass attendees and ask them to pray

1. David Gibson, The Coming Catholic Church, pp. 207 – 244 passim.

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for priests: Heavenly Father, grant that our priests be strengthened and healed by the power of the Eucharist they celebrate. May the Word they proclaim give them courage and wisdom, We pray that all those whom they seek to serve may see in them the love and care of Jesus, our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen Mary, Mother of the Church, look tenderly upon your sons, your priests. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, pray for us all.

Project 2-2: Develop Projects Beyond the Parish

Invite the bishop and all the priests and deacons in the city or town to a parish VOTF- sponsored dinner. Afﬁliate leaders can circulate among the tables and meet the priests as well as the bishop.

Project 2-3: Use the Power of the Written Word

1. Use the parish bulletin to encourage parishioners to support priests with letters and other gestures of appreciation and gratitude.

2. Write a thank-you note to a priest who speaks his conscience. At the same time, don’t be afraid to challenge him when you have questions or disagree.

Project 2-4: Seek Justice for Priests

1. Investigate diocesan policies regarding employment practices, fair labor policies, priests’ pension fund, medical coverage, relationships between former employment pension beneﬁts and diocesan pension beneﬁts. Seek the counsel of attorneys, insurers and other professionals as appropriate.

2. An accused priest may be innocent. Advocate for justice in every case. Be aware and be prepared to act. Find out who handles the cases of accused priests and call as often as necessary to obtain information.

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Project 2-5: Plan Projects for the Future

Plan a Priest Panel with three or four priests to discuss, in any way they wish to share, how the Church crisis has affected their lives.

This style of panel has potential for declericalizing, creating an opening, breaking down barriers between priests and survivors. The honesty of emotions can be disarming, and connections are made between priests and the people in attendance. You will easily ﬁnd an audience among laypeople for this event.

Projects Successfully Undertaken by Afﬁliates

❑ The Winchester (Mass.) Area VOTF conducted a survey of priests (http:// www.votfwinchester.org/WAVOTFSurveyofPriestshtml.htm). A survey can be the basis for starting discussions with a group of lay people and priests or with the priests in your parish.

❑ Parishioners produced an oversized postcard with pictures of their parish priests and distributed them within the parish. Parishioners wrote messages showing their appreciation for all the priests had done for them in their ministry. Parishioners then presented large mailbags filled with these postcards to the priests at the annual parish picnic.

❑ One affiliate wrote a card to every priest in the diocese thanking each for his service. They enclosed a prayer for priests and promised to pray daily on their behalf. Also, they sent a greeting to be posted in parish bulletins, thanking the local priest for his service.

❑ One affiliate attended Mass at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday to pray for priests. This idea then evolved into a monthly morning Mass at which the whole parish could pray for priests. One of the parish’s priests said that in his 14 years of ministry he never knew a parishioner who offered prayers for him. The parish pastoral council and pastor support the effort, announcing the monthly Mass in the parish bulletin.

❑ One affiliate held a 90-minute panel with five priests in its parish hall. They offered three basic topics:

• Clericalism – does it exist and what does it mean to you?

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• Are you comfortable about sharing your ministry with lay members, and were you taught this in the seminary?

• What is your opinion of parish pastoral councils? Does your parish have one?

Helpful Readings

The Coming Catholic Church by David Gibson

Breaking Trust by William J. Bausch

The Changing Face of the Priesthood by Donald Cozzens

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Projects to Fulﬁll Goal No. 3

To Shape Structural Change Within the Church

Prayer for Guidance Good and Gracious God, Send us your Spirit of wisdom and compassion; Grant us your gifts of understanding and courage. Help us to love, respect and listen to one another As we strive to renew and strengthen ourselves and our Church. Give us the grace to live always as children of your light And to be good stewards of the gifts you have given us. Amen.

For many faithful lay Catholics, the third goal of VOTF is the most challenging and the most difficult to define. Our first two goals — support for survivors of abuse and support for faithful priests — can be emotionally daunting, and it sometimes may seem difficult to reconcile the two, but the goals are clearly stated and easily understood.

Goal 3, on the other hand, inspires many different visions among different members of VOTF and among the lay faithful in general.

Along with these differing visions come intimidating tasks. To shape structural change within our church, we must confront the realities of the existing human institution and begin to do what is possible, trusting that the Spirit is with us, and that if we love and listen to one another, we can bring the church of the new millennium into being.

We are not alone in this journey. We add our voices to the call from Pope John Paul II for “a commitment to creating better structures of participation, consultation and shared responsibility” (in his address on September 11, 2004, to the Bishops of Pennsylvania and New Jersey during their “ad limina” visit), and we echo his exhortation in Novo Millennio Ineunte, (issued in January 2001): “Let us listen to what all the faithful say, because in every one of them the Spirit of God breathes.”

Our approach to Goal 3, based on the February 2003 VOTF statement on structural change, is “to work from the parish level upwards, both because it is necessary and because it is possible.” Thus, most of the projects suggested here are parish- or afﬁliate- based, and we recommend them as a starting point with the belief that changes within ourselves and in our parishes will resonate through our whole church.

While it is unreasonable to expect that we can make major changes in a 2000-year-old institution in only a few years, signiﬁcant changes have already occurred, and they will continue.

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The changes will continue because we are the church and we have changed.

Lay Catholics are increasingly knowledgeable about the role of the laity throughout church history, our rights under canon law, and the way our church is currently governed.

When we see the language of openness and accountability that VOTF uses echoed in statements of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), or in a papal statement to U.S. bishops, we can see change beginning to take place.

As it unfolds, we must be ready to accept our baptismal responsibilities to sustain the church of the new millennium with our gifts and talents.

Project 3-1: Learn about Organizational Structures of the Catholic Church

On Feb. 22, 2003, the VOTF Representative Council approved a statement on structural change, to begin to deﬁne what the organization means by its Goal 3. This statement may be found in both English and Spanish on the VOTF Web site: http://www.votf.org/ Structural_Change/structural.html.

In this Structural Change statement, VOTF promised to provide a primer on Church structures explaining both how they are deﬁned and how they actually function. Primers seek to impart a basic understanding of a subject. A primer is not an exhaustive or highly detailed treatment of the topic, but a basic factual overview. The Representative Council deemed this new educational tool to be necessary because many faithful Catholics do not understand how our Church functions as a human institution — and we cannot work effectively to change what we do not understand.

In response to the need identiﬁed by the Council, the presentation Organizational Structures of the Catholic Church — A Primer is now ready for use by afﬁliates.

The Primer includes information on Church governing laws; on organizational structures of the Church as they are defined by canon law and diocesan statutes; on the specific changes in Church structures that VOTF seeks; and on questions for discussion which may be used as a starting point by individual affiliates to work for structural change within their parish and diocese. Web-based training sessions designed to familiarize members of VOTF with the contents of the Primer, and how it might be presented and discussed within individual affiliates, are also available.

Suggestions for Project 3-1

1. Select a member or members of your afﬁliate to participate in Primer training. 2. Set aside time for a presentation of the Primer during an afﬁliate meeting. VOTF Project Workbook Page 17

3. Consider the topics for discussion in the Primer to discern areas for future actions by your afﬁliate. 4. Work to implement VOTF recommendations for structural change included in the Primer, including support of Pastoral and Finance Councils and formation of Safety Committees within your parish and your diocese.

Project 3-2: Take Part in the Structural Change Network

VOTF launched the Structural Change Network (SCN) on September 8, 2003. The SCN is an electronic forum on Yahoo; you can reach it at this URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/SCN_VOTF/.

SCN provides an opportunity for sharing insights about the state of our Church and a national perspective on VOTF initiatives for structural change. The forum currently has more than 100 members across the U.S.

The VOTF statement on structural change (Feb. 22, 2003) mentioned in Project 3-1 represents the ﬁrst steps in the process of developing recommendations for change in our Church, not the last word. We are pilgrims on a journey with no map to follow as we begin down this road, but we are trying to heed the advice of John Paul II in his letter, On the Threshold of a New Millennium, to “listen to what all the faithful say, because in every one of them the Spirit of God breathes.” The SCN provides us a way of listening to one another.

If your afﬁliate is interested in helping to identify long-term objectives for structural change, such as working for changes to canon law or creating new models for ministry in our Church, participation in the SCN is a good way to get involved. To request membership in the SCN, contact [email protected].

Suggestions for Project 3-2

1. Select a member or members of your afﬁliate to participate in the SCN.

2. Set aside time for a regular report to the afﬁliate about issues under discussion on the SCN.

3. Discern the sense of your afﬁliate concerning proposed initiatives and national priorities of VOTF for renewal. Then share these with VOTF members across the country through your network members. VOTF Project Workbook Page 18

Project 3-3: Renew and Strengthen Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils

In our statement on Structural Change, VOTF noted our intention to work from the parish level upwards to implement needed structural change in the Church. We focus on the parish level both because it is necessary and because it is possible. VOTF recognizes that it was on the parish level and within the context of parochial norms that our children were grievously injured. Although change will come about very slowly, if we can make our local faith communities models of consultation and openness, analogous changes will follow at higher levels. Change may be achieved by renewing existing structures that may not have been effectively implemented, or by forming new structures.

Each afﬁliate should work to empower active, collaborative, effective and representative Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils in every parish.

Suggestions for Project 3-3

1. Learn more about the status of Parish Pastoral Councils (PPCs) and Parish Finance Councils (PFCs) in your parish and diocese: • Membership makeup • Frequency of meetings • Existence of bylaws • Agenda setting • Decisionmaking processes • Likelihood of implementation of decisions

2. Obtain guidelines for the operation of PPCs and PFCs within your diocese and determine whether or not individual Councils meet those guidelines. PPCs may or may not be required in your diocese, but PFCs are required by canon law in every parish.

3. If your PPC meetings are not announced or open, ask why. Most diocesan guidelines call for one or more open PPC meetings per year.

4. If PPCs and PFCs do not exist in some parishes in your region, work to establish them in each parish, according to your diocesan guidelines:

• You can obtain information on Parish Councils and how to start one at the Web site for the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development (www.cppcd.org). Click on [email protected] at the bottom of the home page. This will put you in contact with the CPPCD Director, who has agreed to furnish you with the name of the VOTF Project Workbook Page 19

person in your diocese responsible for this activity. In dioceses where there is no designated director, she can provide the name of someone who can help.

• If you cannot locate any guidelines for operation of finance councils, consider the VOTF operating principles for diocesan- level finance councils, which can be found on the VOTF website: http://www.votf.org/Structural_Change/Finance_council.html. These are being adapted for use at the parish level, but they contain many recommendations that are applicable at any level.

5. If possible, establish working relationships between your afﬁliate and local PPCs, with representatives of each group attending meetings of the other and reporting on each other’s activities. The efforts of a PPC and a VOTF afﬁliate are often complementary and can be most effective when coordinated.

6. Select a member or members of your afﬁliate to offer to serve on local PPCs or PFCs.

Project 3-4: Form Parish Safety Committees (PSCs)

In addition to the pastoral and finance councils defined in canon law, VOTF has called for PSCs composed of lay faithful working collaboratively with their pastors to ensure the safety of children within the parish. Since these are new bodies, not defined by Church law, each VOTF affiliate must work in conjunction with the national organization to clarify and define its vision of the role of these committees.

Your afﬁliate should work to establish teams of trained volunteers who will work with pastors and pastoral staff to ensure that any and all clergy, staff, employees and volunteers whose employment or ministry puts them in contact with children receive appropriate training in awareness and prevention of child abuse. These teams should be resources to their parishes about child abuse, help facilitate abuse reports, and promote awareness about ways to make their parish safer. VOTF recommends that the PSCs also work with the pastors and pastoral staff to establish the policies and procedures and code of conduct at a local parish level. Also review the Protecting Our Children section in this book (see page 29) for more suggestions.

Suggestions for Project 3-4

1. Find out about the policies of your diocese concerning child abuse prevention.

2. Review and present information to your afﬁliate concerning PSCs and Protecting Our Children from the VOTF Web site. VOTF Project Workbook Page 20

3. Work together to develop proposed guidelines for operation of a PSC in your parish.

4. Contact your pastor and pastoral staff to discuss and implement these guidelines.

5. Learn about the employment history of pastoral personnel.

Project 3-5: Provide Continuity of Lay Participation from Parish to Region to Diocese

The statement on Structural Change called on every affiliate to work to create and support Pastoral Councils, Finance Councils and Safety Committees on intermediate levels if the diocese is so divided. Experience has shown that collaboration with other groups, although it is often difficult to establish, is critical to affiliate success. If we can model a continuum of lay involvement through such collaboration, this model may help encourage lay involvement in critical decision-making at these intermediate levels. Although canon law does not call for such intermediate lay groups, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has announced the formation of regional lay councils.

Suggestions for Project 3-5

1. Learn how your diocese is organized at the cluster, vicariate (or deanery) and regional level and share this information with your afﬁliate.

2. Learn which decisions are made at what level and who makes them. These decisions may take on critical importance if your diocese faces parish closings or suppressions.

3. Get to know your fellow Catholics in neighboring parishes through regional meetings.

4. Publish newsletters and ﬁnd other ways of fostering communication within the diocese.

Project 3-6: Become Involved in Pastoral Selection and Priestly Formation

The VOTF Structural Change Statement calls for afﬁliates to work for meaningful lay consultation in the process of pastoral selection at both the parish and diocesan level. While limited lay involvement in pastoral selection is commonly practiced in the U.S., meaningful involvement is limited. VOTF Project Workbook Page 21

In many cases, a parish in need of a pastor is invited by the diocese to submit its needs, including the kind of person the members of the parish feel would ﬁt their circumstances. The involvement of the lay members of a parish in such personnel decisions can help ﬁnd pastors who can work constructively with existing parish organizations and ministries to maintain vibrant and effective parish life. But this lay involvement is truly meaningful only if the needs expressed by the parish are actually taken into account in selection of a pastor.

Suggestions for Project 3-6

1. Try to establish a dialogue with the Diocesan Personnel Board (see Project 3-10 on establishing dialogue with your bishop) to learn about personnel policies in your diocese and how pastors are chosen.

2. Participate actively in self-discernment within your parish community to prepare for a new pastor. Speciﬁc activities which might be taken under these circumstances include:

• Selection of a group of parishioners to lead the process of discernment and outreach. Potential members of this group should agree to be considered and then be chosen by election, by acclamation or by drawing of lots.

• Convening of a parish-wide meeting by this group to begin the process of identifying qualities needed and desired in a new pastor.

• Identification of specific candidates who possess the desired qualities, if possible.

3. Communicate the results of your parish process to your diocese as part of a parish meeting with a diocesan representative, and in writing. Written communication also is essential if a personal meeting does not take place.

If the self-discernment process has identiﬁed individual candidates for pastor, include their names. Even if you get no response, you should make clear the needs and concerns of your community.

4. If a suitable pastor is selected, the members of the parish community should actively express their acceptance of the new pastor as part of a rite of installation.

5. If the suitability of a new pastor has not been established, consider concerted action by the community to express your concerns. However, this action is effective only if a broad-based process of self-discernment VOTF Project Workbook Page 22

has occurred, and if a consensus exists as to the qualities desired in a new pastor.

6. Undertake a similar process of self-discernment, communication of needs and concerns (to include speciﬁcation of candidates who should be considered), and pastoral reception on the diocesan level when a bishop resigns or retires, leaving the see vacant.

Project 3-7: Become Informed About Priestly Formation in Your Diocese

The process of priestly formation is essential to the life of the church, and it has a signiﬁcant effect on the selection of pastors because the pastoral choices available to Roman Catholic laity depend in large part on the admission choices seminaries make and the education that seminarians receive.

The choices available to lay Catholics are becoming increasingly limited as the number of priests decreases. In addition, many of the abuses that arose within the clerical culture can be traced to the exclusionary and elitist attitudes inculcated into candidates for the priesthood during their seminary education. Under these circumstances it is essential to educate ourselves about the ways in which our seminarians are selected and formed, and to provide whatever input we can into the education of new priests.

Suggestions for Project 3-7

1. Invite your pastor or another priest to talk to your afﬁliate about his seminary experience, and how he thinks priestly formation has changed since his ordination.

2. Learn where and how seminarians for your diocese are trained. Learn about the background and policies of the rector and the administration of the seminaries where your future priests are trained.

3. Try to establish a dialogue with the leadership of your diocese and seminary (see Project 3-10 on establishing dialogue with your bishop) about priestly formation and the importance of training seminarians to work collaboratively with the lay faithful.

4. Seminary ﬁeld education is one of the few instances during a seminary education when candidates for the priesthood have an opportunity to interact with the laity in a parish, hospital or other ministerial setting. Encourage lay supervision or involvement in ﬁeld education of seminarians. VOTF Project Workbook Page 23

Project 3-8: Create New Models for Ministry

One of the underlying problems preventing full participation of laity in all aspects of Church life may be the conceptual separation of the Church from the world. Things sacred are seen as belonging to the Church, while the secular is the province of the world. As one strategy for reducing this conceptual separation, it may be helpful to work toward expanding the Church’s understanding of ministry. In this new understanding, all active involvement in the Church would be acknowledged in terms of ministry.

In some U.S. dioceses, this new understanding of ministry has already gained considerable acceptance. Increased lay involvement in Church ministries is creating the climate for this activity, and some bishops are commissioning these lay ministers to emphasize their participation in the mission of the Church. This, in turn, lays the groundwork for understanding ministerial roles in terms of the service performed rather than in rigid “state in life” categories.

Suggestions for Project 3-8

1. Within your parish, work to ensure that each ministry, whether it is leading the assembly at Mass, serving on a parish pastoral council or teaching as a catechist, is ofﬁcially recognized for its value.

2. Encourage your pastor to commission or install Catechists, PPC and PFC members, Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers. The point is to recognize ofﬁcially that laity have a legitimate role to play in Church ministry.

Project 3-9: Get Involved with Catholic Youth: Tomorrow’s Church Today

One of the major concerns expressed by members of VOTF across the U.S. is the lack of involvement by young Catholics, especially our own children and grandchildren, in the life of the church. Although Catholic youth often feel less attachment to the institutional church than older Catholics, they do have a keen interest in social justice issues. Because the main thread that ties the three goals of VOTF together is justice — the just treatment of survivors, of priests and of the lay faithful — we have a powerful message to convey to young Catholics if we can communicate with them effectively.

Suggestions for Project 3-9

1. Invite youth or young adult groups in your parish(es) to attend your afﬁliate meetings and give them a chance to tell you about their needs and interests.

2. Organize weekend retreats at the parish or at outside venues, focusing on importance of our baptismal responsibilities, our calling to work VOTF Project Workbook Page 24

for justice in the church and in the world, or around Islam and Christianity, Buddhism and Christianity, Third World issues of Social Justice, etc.

3. Sponsor ﬁlm festivals, including an afternoon or evening meal around one particular ﬁlm. A good source for videos is Maryknoll World Productions, P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll NY 10545-0308, telephone 1-800-227-8523.

4. Organize book clubs. Arrange for small groups of youths to read and discuss books on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Or develop an “intergenerational” book club — this can be very enlightening!

5. Sponsor work/study trips for adults and teens along the lines of Habitat for Humanity or the Maryknoll Fathers Mission Exposure experiences (for more information, contact Maryknoll Fathers, Maryknoll NY 10545).

Project 3-10: Create an Atmosphere for Dialogue with Your Bishop

Center Stage and Backstage: Dialogue with diocesan bishops is a major step in credibility for VOTF. In public and in private it is a direct way for our inﬂuence to percolate up into church structure and inﬂuence change. The following are a series of suggestions for establishing a sound basis for communication with your diocesan leadership. They were provided by VOTF Brooklyn, a group that has successfully established and maintained such communication.

Suggestions for Project 3-10

Banned in Boston — or Elsewhere: If banned from meeting on diocesan property, ﬁrst denounce the ban as immoral. Second, ﬁnd the best possible alternative meeting space. Third, use the ban to focus participation, and work to get the ban lifted.

Coffee, Tea, or Lunch: Network with clergy and connected lay Catholics to reach out to chancery individuals. Seek advice. Listen. Make the case for recognition.

Lights, Camera, Newspapers: Use the media to call attention, respond to an event or decision while restating your case. Denounce speciﬁcally. Describe vividly the desired change. Praise where it is due. Provide real news, not repetitive complaints.

Do Unto the Other: Demonstrate transparency by informing the chancery of meetings. Invite the bishop to attend and/or send a representative.

Face to Face on Faith: If you ask for the bishop and get offered deputies, accept. Prepare. Rehearse. Propose the agenda and have both sides agree VOTF Project Workbook Page 25

on it ahead of time. Stick to the three goals: “hot button topics” are not our issues. Use meetings to learn, persuade, and go another step.

The Welcome Mat: New Bishop in town? Good news: he’s not his predecessor. Send an ofﬁcial letter of welcome. Quote a line or paragraph he has said or written and express agreement. Offer good wishes and a desire to work together.

Go forward. Be patient. Keep the Faith. Watch for change. VOTF Project Workbook Page 26

Protecting Our Children

The Protecting Our Children mission is to keep our children safe from sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Our obligation to protect children ﬂows from the ministry and example of Jesus Christ.

Our working group connects child advocates and provides a forum for sharing resources that help the Catholic Community — lay men and women, priests, and bishops — keep our children safe.

The Goals of Protecting Our Children (POC) Working Group

❑ To understand the nature of child sexual abuse and to recognize the warning signs

❑ To identify and promote effective education and prevention programs

❑ To monitor child protection policies within the Church

Our website http://www.votf.org/Protecting_Our_Children/ offers links to two carefully crafted Parish Safe Environment Programs. We also offer a list of suggested readings at http://www.votf.org/Protecting_Our_Children/reading.html.

Project POC-1: Work with Your Diocese to Establish a “Safe Environment” Program

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently issued its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (available on the Ofﬁce of Youth and Child Advocacy website: http://www.usccb.org/ocyp/charter.shtml). The Charter mandates that all dioceses in the United States will establish “Safe Environment” programs.

These Safe Environment programs include programs that train parish adults to identify and prevent child abuse as well as training programs for children and young people that feature age-appropriate materials pertaining to personal safety, identifying improper touching, and explaining when a child or young person should seek assistance from trusted adults.

In Massachusetts, an independent body — The Gavin Group of Boston, Massachusetts — has completed audits of the parishes in the diocese, and VOTF will monitor this process carefully to ensure that all dioceses comply with the Bishops’ Charter and implement the selected programs for the protection of children in parishes. VOTF Project Workbook Page 27

Project POC-2: Work to Ensure That Your Parish Is Safe

Your afﬁliate should insist that all employees, ministers, and volunteers of a parish who are in contact with children have annual criminal background checks (e.g., CORI). Then monitor compliance with this policy.

Promote awareness of seminars, workshops, and panel discussions that address Protecting Our Children for adults and children.

One parish council has adopted a Code of Conduct for all employees and volunteers and has created a Safety Committee and a Stafﬁng Committee, essentially adopting the “Christian Stewardship of God’s Children” document created by a VOTF afﬁliate.

Also ask the diocese to make the VIRTUS program (called Protecting God’s Children) or a similar program available to all parishes. (VIRTUS is sold to dioceses, not to individual parishes.)

Project POC-3: Cooperate with Other Organizations That Focus on Preventing Child Abuse

Cooperating and collaborating with longstanding child advocacy groups helps educate and activate communities, including our parish communities. In Massachusetts, POC is a member of the Massachusetts Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Partnership (MCSAPP), a public/private collaborative whose mission is to prevent child sexual abuse by engaging adults and communities in effective perpetration prevention efforts at the local and state levels. The link www.masskids.org/mcsapp/index.html gives more details about this excellent work.

The MCSAPP partnership also has conducted two conferences on this important work. For information on the latest, see http://www.enoughabuse.org/conference_agenda.html. VOTF Project Workbook Page 28

Renewal and Education

Renewal through education is both a foundation for and the outcome of many projects related to the VOTF goals and Mission Statement. Renewal of our faith and prayer life leads us to seek better ways of expressing that faith and participating in the Church. This in turn leads to a renewal that strengthens faith and demands greater participation by the laity. Education shows us how the church has developed, and that knowledge leads us, in turn, to show others how strands from the past can inform and enlighten a renewed Church.

In each of the workbook sections on the VOTF Goals and the Mission Statement, you will ﬁnd activities that address the renewal and education needs pertinent to the goals and mission.

The following projects address more broadly the issues of renewal and education.

You may pursue them as part of a focus on one of the other VOTF goals, or you can make them an ongoing activity for your afﬁliate, or — as we suggest in one of the projects — you can use these ideas to complement and enhance traditional parish activities, thus spreading the impacts of your activities beyond the afﬁliate itself.

Programs may be as simple as book discussion groups or as elaborate as one- and two- year programs developed in conjunction with a local university or college. Formats may be as simple as online courses or as complex as scheduling a series of speakers. Choose the approach that works best given your afﬁliate’s members and resources.

Support and information are available from the Voice of Renewal/Lay Education Working Group (VOR/LE), as noted in the following projects.

Project VOR-1: Develop an Afﬁliate-Based Adult Faith Formation and Education Program, or Start One in Your Parish

❑ For start-up, consider a four- to six-week program in Advent or Lent. At a final meeting of the group, discuss additional topics and options for continuing the program. (VOR/LE has a study guide on Origins of the Church that may be appropriate for this effort.)

❑ Train affiliate members to lead education programs and offer the programs within parishes. It's easier to do than you might think — and there may be teachers within your group who would happily lead such groups and train others to run programs.

It's sometimes better to do this as a parishioner rather than under the banner of VOTF: education and faith formation are not our concerns exclusively; they affect all the faithful. VOTF Project Workbook Page 29

❑ Check the VOR/LE Working Group’s Web page (if you participate in our Yahoo group discussion) for study packages and templates that outline education programs. Or send a request for package info to VOR_VOTF- [email protected] (the list moderator address).

Project VOR-2: Develop an Ongoing Education Program in Conjunction with Local College and University Theology Departments

There's a model available for this type of collaboration, developed by the North Shore, Seacoast, and Lynn VOTF afﬁliates in the Boston Archdiocese. For a description and template, send an email to [email protected].

Project VOR-3: Form a Small Faith-Sharing Group

Instructions and general information on starting a group are available on the VOR_VOTF discussion list’s Web page. Or send an email to [email protected] requesting that information. Your diocese, various religious groups, and numerous faith- formation organizations also are sources for faith-sharing models and formats.

Project VOR-4: Take an Online Theology Course

There are several options for these, with a wide range of costs and requirements. Here’s a sampling of what’s available:

❑ The University of Dayton Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation: http://www.udayton.edu/~vlc/

❑ Boston College Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry: http:/ /www.bc.edu/schools/gsas/irepm/academics/descschedreg/olcourses/ #online.

❑ Also, the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Program provides continuing education programs in 24 states and several countries (information is online but many courses are not): http://www.loyno.edu/lim/ extension/

Project VOR-5: Become a Stop on an Author’s Book Tour

Contact recently published authors (or their publicists) of books pertaining to the clergy abuse crisis or to development of new roles for the laity and suggest a book signing and speaking date at your afﬁliate meeting or in your parish. Ask for any publicity ﬂyers or information they may have available to help publicize the event. VOTF Project Workbook Page 30

Project VOR-6: Form an Intergenerational Spirituality Book of the Month Club

This is a way to reach out to younger people and get them involved in VOTF, while encouraging their participation in the wider church. Contact local high schools or parish Conﬁrmation groups or youth groups to reach young people with an invitation.

Project VOR-7: Join the Online Discussion List of VOR/LE

❑ The list discusses topics of interest to VOTF members seeking more information about adult faith formation and education. The list also conducts a Virtual Study Group and a Virtual Faith-Sharing Group online. To join, send a brief description of your interest and a request to VOR_VOTF- [email protected].

❑ The Web page for the list group includes an Annotated Bibliography, education models and templates, and other resource lists.

Project VOR-8: Share Information About Your Renewal/Education Efforts

❑ Publicize programs in community newspapers, local and regional papers, local cable channels, other parish bulletins, the diocesan newspaper — wherever you can obtain space. In exchange, especially if you advertise in another parish’s bulletin, publicize notices about other programs.

❑ At regional VOTF meetings, distribute a calendar with monthly or quarterly notices about all the adult faith education programs in the area.

❑ Cooperate with local college/university theology departments to publicize information about programs they provide for the laity. Perhaps arrange a group rate for your affiliate or parish.

Project VOR-9: Plan a Day of Renewal for Your Parish or Afﬁliate

We are all equal in Baptism. But we also are accustomed to waiting for clergy or trained speakers to minister to our spiritual needs and to offer retreats, days of prayer, meditation programs, and spiritual renewal activities. Stop waiting. Plan a Day of Renewal for your afﬁliate, or ask your pastor if you can organize a morning or afternoon renewal program. There are numerous guides and outlines that can help you in this endeavor, including one described on the Prayerful Voice pages of the VOTF Web site (http://www.votf.org/ Prayerful_Voice/retreat.html). VOTF Project Workbook Page 31

The VOR/LE Web page (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VOR_VOTF/ﬁles) also includes one such model, developed from a Day of Renewal conducted in collaboration with the Structural Change group.

❑ Tell your pastor you are willing to organize a Day of Renewal or a Morning Reflection at the parish. Provide him with the format, prayers, and readings you plan to use (so he feels comfortable with the program). Do not ask him to lead the program. In fact, as delicately as possible, indicate that he need not even attend. (In some cases, such attendance would leave the participants sitting back waiting for the priest to begin. The idea instead is for the participants to do the reflecting and sharing.)

❑ Prepare a series of Lenten sessions centered on reading Scripture passages, meditating on their meaning, and then praying together and discussing the passages. Again, organize this entirely as a lay-led activity. (Ultimately, if the participants continue to meet, the pastor can perhaps join the group now and then.) VOTF Project Workbook Page 32

Contacts List

Current as of June 1, 2005

Prayerful Voice Working Group

Susan Troy: [email protected]

Sister Betsy Conway, C.S.J.: [email protected]

Protecting Our Children Working Group

Kathy Mullaney: [email protected]

Elia Marnik: [email protected]

Structural Change Working Group

Margaret Roylance: [email protected]

Mary Freeman: [email protected]

Support Priests Working Group