LETTER TO BISHOP JENKY

June 2, 2003
Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C.
BISHOP OF PEORIA
Catholic Diocese of Peoria
412 NE Madison Avenue
Peoria, IL 61603

Dear Bishop Jenky,
My name is John Ryan. I reside in Bloomington. At the end of April, I was designated by National Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) to be Regional Coordinator for the diocese of Peoria. Since then, I have been making contact with people in the diocese who had registered online with VOTF, and we are in the process of creating an interim leadership group in the diocese.

My reasons for writing are threefold:

1. to advise you that VOTF is in the early stages of formation in the diocese.
2. to provide you with some background on what VOTF is and what it is not.
3. to request an opportunity to meet with you.

VOTF (nationally and locally) is composed of mainstream practicing Catholics who are concerned about the disillusionment, anger, and pain of our fellow Catholics (ALL have been affected in some way and to some degree by the sex abuse scandal), the embarrassment and anguish felt by our good and holy priests who have been faithful to their mission, and the serious erosion in the numbers of formerly practicing Catholics who have become inactive, turned to other churches, or dropped out altogether.

We seek to address these issues on a national, diocesan, and parish level by establishing a fully collaborative working relationship with our bishop(s) and pastors. We seek to place the talent and ability of National VOTF and its affiliates to galvanize its membership at the service of and in partnership with our hierarchy to serve the Church in her time of great need.

As VOTF expands nationally, it encounters a good deal of (understandable) misperception. The issues of the Boston Archdiocese were very serious and contentious. They were widely covered by the national media. There was an atmosphere of anger and outrage, leading to divisiveness and confrontation between the hierarchy and laity. This created the image of VOTF that spilled over in the perceptions of many of the hierarchy outside of Boston and the northeastern US.

The issues and concerns in most other dioceses (and we would expect, in the Peoria diocese) are different. In central Illinois, we would like to become a model of how VOTF and the diocese can form a collaborative partnership for the good of the Church.

While attending the USCCB meeting later this month, you may want to make contact with Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop William Levada (San Francisco), and Bishop Daily (Brooklyn/Queens), all of whom have had recent and positive meetings with representatives of Voice of the Faithful. I have attached a release from the VOTF website (VOTF.ORG) describing the recent ban reversal by Bishop Daily in his diocese.

We respectfully request an opportunity to meet with you in order to open up lines of communication and establish an initial framework for future collaboration. We hope and pray you will give us this chance to present ourselves as a credible resource, and not a group of dissenters and troublemakers.

At this point, we would ask to do this in mid or late July (as your schedule allows) after we have become a bit more organized and you may have been able to get some feedback from your fellow bishops.

I can be reached at:
4 Inglewood Lane
Bloomington, IL 61704
j.ryan66@verizon.net

Sincerely Yours in Christ,
John Ryan
enclosure

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