Voice Of The Faithful National Website

Bishop Accountability

Ten-Minute Activist

Commentary on Audit Compliance

2003 Review - Bishop Accountability.

VOTF-National Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

VOTF-National Survivor Support

VOTF-National Support For Priests of Integrity

VOTF-National Structural Change

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Dear Friends,

Lent will have special significance for Catholics this year. For on the first Friday of Lent, February 27th, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board will release a report on the “nature and scope” of clergy sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002. The report, compiled by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, will release startling and unsettling aggregate information.

As we try to absorb the weight of the report’s staggering numbers, we will find ourselves in the season of Lent – a season when we are called to reflect, atone, and renew.

Voice of the Faithful will be reaching out to our members and all people of good will to help shed light on the truth. We invite you to pray, fast, and give of yourself by bearing witness to this tragedy and by sharing your prayers with us.

Invitation to prayer – On each of Lent’s 40 days, we invite you to set aside some time to reflect and pray. Invitation to fast – We invite you to fast on each Wednesday during Lent:
March 3 – for the survivors and their families;
March 10 –for the families of those who committed suicide;
March 17 – for the bishops, especially those who knowingly transferred priests who abused children;
March 24 – for those priests who are abusers;
March 31 – for all priests and deacons;
April 7 – for laypersons and the Church.
Invitation to give of yourself –
We invite you to wear a purple ribbon whenever you go to Church;
We invite you to speak to your fellow parishioners and other concerned Catholics about the state of the Church, and what you and they can do to help it heal;
We invite you to share your prayer with us by emailing them to prayers@voiceofthefaithful.org . We will post as many prayers as possible to our Web site.
You can make difference in our Church.

Thank you. We will contact you later this week to let you know about our communication efforts regarding the release of the John Jay Report.

Warm regards,
Steve Krueger
Executive Director
Voice of the Faithful

This Desert Time

Luke 4:1 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the desert for forty days.”

Life Giving God, Jesus our brother and Holy Spirit who leads us to truth, be with us in this desert time.

We pray for the wisdom to hear you, the strength to bear the truths that are painful, and the hope to believe that our lives, our Church can be transformed.

You have shown us that good things can happen in deserts, that the Spirit is stronger than temptation, hate, and destruction, that out of heartbreak, new life can emerge.

Comforting God, hold us closely in our grief, heal those who feel broken, strengthen those who speak the truth. Challenging God, lead us in your way that we are faithful first to You. May the voice we hear and the voice we are be Yours.

In this time of Lent, let us be led by the Spirit in this desert as was Christ, our brother, who walks with us still. Amen.

-- By Prayerful Voice and Sister Betsy Conway, Voice of the Faithful Secretary

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