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About Us
What sort of people join Voice of the Faithful in Ireland?
Accountability
What it means and why it is critical to the revival of our church.
Why it is essential for
child protection.
Ad limina 1999
What our bishops were called to do at their last regular meeting with
the pope.
Anticlericalism
How it arises out of clericalism.
Bishops
Why they need to be accountable to the church, the people of God, if they
are to
restore their own authority.
How communicating
with bishops has been affected by the clerical child abuse
catastrophe.
Canon Law
How church law provides VOTF with its charter, its right to exist.
Child
protection
What it means and why you need to know your own role.
Chronology
The sequence of events that led to the current crisis in our Irish
church
Clergy Support
Why we need to support our priests and build a new relationship with
them.
Clericalism
Its role in the child sex abuse scandals, and why it has to go.
Coming Events
Our forthcoming meetings etc.
Communication
How this has been hampered by the
aristocratic leadership culture of the church,
and how this is changing as a result of the clerical child abuse
catastrophe.
Contact details
How to contact us.
Discussion
Try our online discussion group for members anywhere in Ireland.
Education
Why we all need to be educating ourselves for our impending role in a
rapidly changing church.
Ferns
The key lessons of the Ferns inquiry and report for our church.
Goals
Our three key objectives and why they are important.
Healing
'Towards Healing'
- Irish bishops' challenge to the Irish church to respond to the problem
of abuse, February 2005.
VOTF's support for
'Towards Healing'
History
The development of the current crisis in the Irish church since 1965.
Ledwith, Micheal
Maynooth theologian and president who retired in 1994. See also
McGinnity, Fr Gerard.
Limerick Diocese
The tragic death of
Peter McCloskey on April 1st, 2006, provides further evidence
that the church's administrative system is inherently dangerous to
victims of clerical child abuse, and needs to be reformed.
Links
Other sites of interest to VOTF supporters.
Location
Where we can be found.
McCloskey, Peter
We comment on Peter's tragic death on April 1st, 2006,and on the strain
this caused to Limerick's bishop, Dr Donal Murray. We ask all
Irish bishops to realise that the church's administrative system is
inherently abusive and dangerous and needs reform.
McGinnity, Fr Gerard
Fr Gerard McGinnity was a senior member of the staff of Maynooth
seminary in 1984 when he was alerted by senior seminarians to the
seemingly inappropriate behaviour of a rising theologian, Micheal
Ledwith, vis a vis younger seminarians. When he alerted the
trustees of Maynooth to these warnings he was challenged to produce
evidence of any wrongdoing on Ledwith's part. Unable to do
so, he was sent on sabbatical leave, and, during this, was informed that
he had lost his post in Maynooth. He subsequently taught school in
Armagh, and then went into parish ministry. Ledwith subsequently
became president of Maynooth, but retired in 1994, having been subject
to abuse allegations, which he denied.
Fr McGinnity has not yet received a formal apology from the Maynooth
trustees, or any hint of reparation for the destruction of his career
Media
Answers to questions frequently asked by the media
Mission
The church we want to build and be part of.
News
How to stay abreast of current events affecting VOTF and our church.
Origins
The development of the current crisis.
Pope John Paul II
and the need for structural change in the Irish church.
Stewardship Trust
What we know, and don't yet know, about this mysterious fund set up in
1996 for compensating victims of clerical child sex abuse.
Has it been closed - due to lack of trust?
Structural Change
What we mean by structural
change.
How Pope John Paul
II called upon the Irish bishops to introduce 'structures of
belonging' in the Irish Church in 1999.
How inherited
aristocratic structures prevent true communication in the
church.
Transparency
Why openness is an essential sign of a healthy church, and why secrecy
is counter-evangelical and a sign of decay.
Positions
The positions we take - and don't take - on current issues.
Prayers
VOTF prayers. Why not add one?
Press
Answers to questions we are frequently asked by the media.
Priests of Integrity
Why VOTF strongly supports them.
Why the
unaccountability of bishops is damaging to the integrity of priests.
Sexual Abuse
What it is and what you need to know about protecting children from it.
Survivor
Support
How VOTF is helping survivors of clerical sex abuse, and learning from
them also.
Structural Change
Why this third goal of VOTF is essential for the health of our church.
How Pope John Paul II called our
Irish bishops
to introduce it in 1999.
Vatican II
How the greatest-ever world council of Catholic bishops to be held in the
Vatican 1962-65 called lay people into
a new role and dignity in the church. And why this
opportunity to update the Irish church was missed, with catastrophic
consequences.
How the great
documents of Vatican II provide VOTF with its reason to be.
Who We Are
The typical Irish Catholics who support VOTF.
Where We Are
Where we can be found.
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