While that national organization of foul tempered heretics known as Voice of the Faithful has managed to hold off extinction for now with a infusion of cash, the local Milwaukee chapter is not so lucky.
This news of course makes me very happy. It also has me laughing. The leader of the soon to be defunct chapter has decided to stick her head in the sand over why they they have gone belly up.
“We’ve been active and vibrant; it’s not for lack of interest,” said Nancy Moews, who has led the local chapter since its inception in 2001-’02. “But there’s no new leadership willing to take it on.”
How many vibrant organizations do you know of which nobody – and I mean nobody – wants to be in charge? Doesn’t sound very vibrant to me. To borrow a phrase, I think they just don’t get it.
Somebody who does get it is Peter Isely of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He correctly diagnoses the problem.
Peter Isely, of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests group, said Voice of the Faithful had lost its focus and centrist roots, alienated conservatives and ultimately came to duplicate efforts of the reform group Call to Action.
“If they would have focused exclusively on the abuse issue . . . including financial issues and matters, where I think they could have been really useful, they might have made it,” Isely said in an e-mail to the Journal Sentinel.
The abuse crisis was a horrible horrible thing and for sure there was a role to be played by the laity in pressing for the necessary reform to prevent it from ever happening again. With that said, VOTF became the home of every liberal and heretical crank with a bone to pick with this or that church teaching. Turns out that dwindling market was already saturated.
Anyway, in what I find to be a delightfully ironic twist, the Milwaukee chapter is not going out with a bang, but with a whimper. Moews said the chapter plans to dissolve after the Sept. 26 lecture by Father Richard McBrien.
Well if they weren’t dead already, that probably would have done it. Does this count as theologian assisted suicide?
August 3, 2009 at 7:21 am
There is simply no riddance too good or too soon for these people.
August 3, 2009 at 11:06 am
Whay am I NOT surprized to see McBrien singing their Swan Song. I am sure that he will mourn it as a tragidy rather than admit that it & he are really the voice of the UnFaithful.
Trying not to gloat about the 26 Sept demise, but grazie for the early Birthday present.
August 3, 2009 at 2:29 pm
How much you wanna bet McBrien's NCR column after the 9/26 event will be on the Milwaukee's VOTF chapter's untimely demise?
August 3, 2009 at 2:57 pm
"We've been active and vibrant; it's not for lack of interest,"
That reminds me of This is Spinal Tap when the band's manager is asked if he thought the band's popularity was diminishing.
"Oh no. It's just that I think their appeal is becoming more selective." Clip Here
August 3, 2009 at 3:01 pm
This is not about McBrien. They could invite Don Rickles for all the difference it makes.
"Voice of the Faithful had lost its focus and centrist roots, alienated conservatives and ultimately came to duplicate efforts of the reform group Call to Action." This is where the issue begins, if not where it ends. Most "conservative" Catholics have not acted on their outrage (which is not the same thing as BEING outraged) in terms of attempting to change the situation, on the assumption that because the laity has no governing role, there is little for them to do beyond prayer and fasting. But it is not only "liberal" priests who are caught with dirty little secrets.
When this story broke in 2002, we should have dropped what we were doing and met our would-be adversaries at the table to come up with something. But this presumes two things: one, that the adversary can be trusted (and they could not); the other, that we would be properly led (and we were not).
Interestingly, 2002 was the year that "Catholic blogging" exploded on the internet, so you could say there was a response of sorts.
It is all well and good to find satisfaction in the evntual demise of VOTF. Then again, do any of us have a better idea?
August 3, 2009 at 3:27 pm
As a resident of the Milwaukee archdiocese, this is good news.
The ideologies between VOTF and CTA are indistinguishable from one another, both are groups determined to "democracy" within the Church (so much for teachings – let's just make it a big, feel-good social club!), and both ironically share more in ideology with the priests and bishops (like Rembert Weakland) who caused all of the sex abuse problems.
August 3, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Scott W,
You beat me to it! I was just about to post the Spinal Tap clip myself when I saw you already had done it! That's all I could think of when I saw "it's not for lack of interest…., But there's no new leadership willing to take it on."
August 4, 2009 at 2:14 pm
David is right. There ought to be someone who watches the watchers and perhaps VOTF might have filled that role had it not become a magnet for every dissident with an axe to grind. I am at loss as to a better idea beyond scream at bishops to enforce freakin' canon law instead of listening to secular psychologists.
August 6, 2009 at 1:07 am
Folks, if you look at the financial statements, it looks like Call to Action is also in trouble. They are a lot more spread out and decentralized, and you probably don't need to much revenue to run nothing more than a newsletter and annual conference for what- 25k members "on paper"?
Given $700,000 in revenue before the conference, over 25k members, that's $28 per member… while annual dues at $35. Seeing how they make revenues from other souces besides membership (donations, tote bags,t-shirts, CD's/tapes, bake sales, and "grants" (ACORN??)) it could be that the 25,000 member number is, shall we say, "exagerated"… either that or they are giving away a lot of free memberships to keep their numbers up… hell, I was on the complementary mailing list for years because I was receiving (and throwing away) mail addressed to a previous resident.
I see the "mortgate payable" liability line went up not quite $200k without any increase in the "property" asset line… a mortgage on their home office to make the $350k deficit for the year work?
A new president/CEO?
To further put it in perspective, $1M in revenue is also nothing. Imagine how many Catholic parishes have larger in's and out's. To run a parish school of any size will get you into that ballpark without any effort… and there are thousands of parishes that do this every year.
When we put this all together, the question that comes to mind is why does the press pay any attention to these poor hippies? They are such an insignificant, self-marginalized, parasitic sect living on the edge of the Church that I wouldn't give them a time of day, much less a voice trying to 'balance' whatever story is being run on the male priesthood or the scandal or whatever.
Time and the vigor of the Church will heal this festering wound. I pray sooner, rather than later… but God is working his plan. The intrusion of this group into my local parish galvanized me to learn my faith and teach it with more zeal, precision, and love than I ever encountered in my anemic Catholic school experience.
August 6, 2009 at 1:12 am
… oh, and CTA no longer operates that parish, as far as I know. Maybe they are just silent, but they don't distribute literature or put on talks or otherwise make their presence known.