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Minutes/Reports
VOTF Peoria Planning Meeting Summary
July 12, 2003
Bloomington, IL
In Attendance: Dennis Kirby, Carolyn Gray, Sara Melton, Alice McLaughlin, Larry Quane, and John Ryan. Also present was Jim Gore, retiree of Clemens and Associates in Bloomington, who arranged for us to meet in a company conference room. The meeting began at 10:20 am.
After the opening prayer, we deferred from the posted agenda to discuss what everyone felt was a more fundamental issue: Just what is our focus going to be in the diocese of Peoria and how are we going to address it? All agreed that this needed to be clarified in order to enhance our effort to attract new supporters.
Our discussion raised the following points:
- Our situation in the diocese is different from that in Boston
- Bishop Jenky seems to have aggressively and effectively addressed the sexual abuse issue in the diocese by the immediate removal of the seven sexually abusive priests.
Beyond that, we are unaware of anything the Bishop has done publicly or privately to open his heart or his doors to the victims.
- VOTF members in the diocese remain faithful to our focus of continued support of the victims of clerical sexual abuse, and will seek ways to address the healing needs of victims and matters relating to child protection and safety.
- We will not focus on sexual abuse as a primary issue unless something new develops or information comes forward that will warrant such attention.
- Goal number three of national VOTF(Shape Structural Change) will become our primary focus…but we need to clarify what this means for us in the diocese of Peoria
- We will also seek to address goal number two: (Support priests of integrity)
- Clearly stated goals and strategies will greatly enhance our ability to bring in new supporters…which is a critical need.
- We will seek to identify areas of common interest with the bishop
- We hope to earn the trust of the Bishop, and will seek to avoid alienating him unnecessarily.
As a result of this discussion we agreed on the following NEXT STEPS:
- cancellation of our August 16 diocesan-wide meeting (we are not ready)
- start shaping a program of interaction and dialogue with priests in the diocese (Larry Quane to work on this…anyone who would like to work with Larry on this may reach him at lquane@ilstu.edu)
- Sara Melton agreed to work with Roncalli Society leadership to determine how best to reach their membership with information about votf, and also, to
help us obtain a presence in the Quad cities. Sara can be reached at george.melton@worldnet.att.net
- Carolyn Gray (carolyngray4@juno.com) agreed to work on a way to recruit for supporters among the religious orders of women in the diocese. Contact Carolyn if you can help with this effort.
- Alice McLaughlin (aemcl@excite.com) offered to work on developing an informational brochure that would assist in our recruiting efforts. Contact Alice if you would like to help in this area.
The overriding need to clarify what we mean by shaping structural change in the diocese of Peoria will be addressed as follows:
- we will take note of how this matter is being clarified by national VOTF. This is an area of current focus for the national organization.
- we will engage our local support group to help with this via an interactive
email exchange . A special email will go out to all supporters with more details on how we propose to do this.
Other matters that were discussed:
- we are in the process of applying for 501c3 tax exempt status. This will take a minimum of 60 days and will entail costs of up to $500.00
- our website is nearing completion and development costs will be approximately $800 to $1000..
- Our website will list the following people as contacts in their respective locales: Dennis Kirby (Bloomington), Alice McLaughlin (Champaign/Urbana), and Mike Bromley (Peoria).
- We will seek others to be the contact persons in their locations
- John Ryan will open a checking account under the name of VOTFPEORIA
- We dismissed the notion of setting up a dues structure in lieu of engaging in periodic appeals for donations as a way to defray our expenses.
- we need to retain our emphasis on deepening our own faith and understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ.
- As part of this faith effort, we need to encourage others who have serious doubts in this area to join with us as a way to bridge back to the Church.
Our next meeting date will be determined on the basis of a need to meet.
Closing prayer and meeting adjournment at 1:25 pm.
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