Voice of the Faithful

St Michael's Group

Mary Ruth Monsour's warning of the establishment here in Australiaof the US body Voice of the Faithful ("Dissident US group establishinga foothold in Australia", September AD2000) is timely and certainly should concern loyal Catholics.

It is worth noting that there already exist here in Australia,organisations whose aims are very similar to those of VOTF and includeworking for the "restructuring" of the Church". Some of these include:Women and the Australian Church (WATAC), whose "Issues and Concerns"include "to work to change oppressive Church structures in Church andsociety and in particular to address the issue of the ordination ofwomen".

Australian Reforming Catholics (ARC) has a Charter which includesthe vision of "a Church in which all positions of ministry andleadership are open to all".

Catalyst For Renewal (CFR), as indicated in the above article, hasannounced its support for VOTF. Featuring on CFR'S website among the"sample conversation themes", under the heading "Church", is thefollowing: "What are we talking about? A new ecclesiology underliesjust about everything else we would want to consider, such aspriesthood and associated issues; authority, power and wealth in theChurch; divorce and remarriage; the structure and life of parishes; theelection of bishops; the role of the Church in the civil order; newforms of ministry; the place of various segments of the population inthe Church, e.g., young adults, women, gays, professional people, youngparents, the aged, etc, the pastoral rather than legalistic approach."

Some of the weekly Newsletters of the Commission forAustralian Catholic Woman (CACW), which we began receiving via email inJuly 2002, as well as promoting material for the above groups, featuredthe websites of dissident US organisations such as FutureChurch andCall to Action. More recently the Newsletter has been focusingon employment, professional leadership training for women, genderequity, Women's Rights (including support for the ratification ofCEDAW, which promotes reproductive health, a euphemism for abortionrights), social justice (including Native Title) and environmentalissues, such as promotion of the International Year of Fresh Water andof course inclusive language.

Faithful Catholics should support those bishops who, by ensuringthat the faith is protected from the influence of dissident groups, areacting as true shepherds to their flocks.

ST MICHAEL'S GROUP
Perth, WA