Summary of Meeting of Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, And
Dr. James Muller, Chair
of Trustees of VOTF

March 31, 2003
Notes prepared by Dr. Muller

Backgound - On October 18, 2002, Dr. Jim Post, President of VOTF sent a letter to all US Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals requesting their thoughts on VOTF. Cardinal George replied with a 2 page letter discussing 3 concerns. Since I would be in Chicago in March for an American College of Cardiology meeting, I met with Chicago votf leaders. Steve Shimek, leader of Chicago votf arranged for me to have a private meeting with the Cardinal.

The Meeting - The meeting took place in the Cardinal's office. It was scheduled for 1 hour, but lasted for two. Many issues were discussed. I consider if a very successful example of positive dialog between a leader of the church and votf. The following summarizes many points discussed.

• I presented the history of votf and our desire to contribute to a stronger church. The Cardinal was concerned that votf had arisen from anger of sexual abuse and cover-up. I stressed that while votf had such roots, and that its number one goal was support of survivors, it was sustained by people, who were angry but loved the Church. The most angry had left the Church. Votf included many eucharistic ministers, parish council members etc.
  
  
• He stated that the church was a gift from Christ that was transmitted by the hierarchy. I raised the counter that the laity, by virtue of their baptism, also participated in the transmission and divine role of the church.
  
  
• I told him of my interest in Teilhard de Chardin, the topic of his Master's thesis. I had enjoyed the "Phenomenon of Man" and "Divine Milieu". He said the latter book would be his most important legacy. I noted that the term "noosphere", coined by Teilhard to describe a layer of knowledge surrounding the earth, had caught on in "Wired" magazine to describe the internet. We both laughed at the thought of Teilhard logging on to the web, which he described conceptually over 50 years ago.
  
  

  I asked what issue the church had with Teilhard. He said it revolved around some the his thoughts about the future -- probably to do with the transition from a material to spiritual world and the omega point concept. He agreed to send me his thesis on Teilhard.
  
  

• On the mission of votf, he said he had no trouble with "a discernment group of baptised Catholics formed to talk about the demands of the mission". I told him that from my point of view, that is an apt description of votf, although in a different language than we usually use. I asked if he opposed votf. He said he did not have enough information to oppose or support it. I thanked him for taking the time, and making the effort to understand votf. I asked if he would meet with a votf delegation from Chicago. He said he was open to meeting the delegation.
  
  
• On our motto, he said in his letter that "Keep the Faith, Change the Church" was problematic, and that any change in the Church will, unless most carefully thought out, change the faith. I told him we did not want to change the basic doctrines, but just some organizational systems of the church -- that we wanted to create a means for the sensus fidelium to be refined, prioritized and discussed in communion with the hierarchy.
  
  

  He said a motto of "Keep the Faith, and Change the way the church acts" could be appropriate.
  
  

• As agreed with SNAP and Link-up, I asked several questions about the abuse issue re Chicago. He said he did not have a position on the pending legislation to extend the statute of limitations (it later passed), that all known abusers had been identified publically and removed from ministry, and no survivors were held to confidentiality, as indicated on the web site. (SNAP and Link-up leaders did not agree with these statements at the subsequent press conference, and plan to pursue the matter in the future.)
  
  

  The Cardinal said that the hierarchy had not received good medical advice earlier re pedophilia, but since 1992 there was no excuse for mismanagement of the issue.
  
  

• I asked how votf could help with improvement of relations with survivors. I mentioned our healing mass with excellent liturgy written by Susan Troy. He said that they had had such a mass. Chicago survivors later told me survivors were not invited to participate in the event. The cardinal told me that he would like to consider a series of events, possibly modeled after the votf event. I believe this will be discussed with the Chicago votf group.
  
  
• His letter said there was a "crisis" in the church. I asked what he meant. He said mass attendance is down, vocations are down, and that American secular society has damaged spirituality. He said the church is more coherent in South America. He said a smaller number of young people care about the church, but those that do, are clearer about their wants. I noted that many young people are drawn to the mysticism of the Eastern rite.
  
  

  I told him of my hope that votf, by giving many a chance to participate more actively in the church, could reverse the negative trends.
  
  

• We discussed votf "structural change" proposals. He had seen an earlier draft, and said in his letter we should support councilar structures. I said we had now done that and supported parish councils and finance councils. In his letter he said that "the move to increase lay participation in church governance" is "a goal that deserves to be encouraged". However he says there cannot be parallel structures.
  
  

  I said votf had proposed a single new structure, from the bottom up, that he might not agree with. I described the "Parish safety councils" to review records of those assigned to work in local parishes. He said that priests were not a suspect group, and that such a committee would prolong an inappropriate suspicion. I said that unfortunately, due to abuse and cover-up, there was suspicion, and this committee would help eliminate it.
  
  

• I said that the laity should have some say in the selection of leaders. He said there were consultations with certain laity by a papal nuncio, as a general practice. I said in the early church it was my understanding that the laity elected bishops. He said that laity nominated bishops, who were elected by the other bishops.
  
  
• In his letter he stated that "renewal of the Church begins with a clear sense of identity, which is always a received identity, received from Jesus Christ, and then moves out to works and structures. This would be something worth discussing". I stressed that votf was a new structure, which many of us feel is an inspired movement, that is carefully defining its identity. We seek to work within the rules of the church, and even routinely seek advice from a cannon lawyer. However, we do represent a new, firm, collective voice of devout and informed laity. I described our rapid growth with over 160 chapters thoughout the country, and thanked him for all of the effort he had taken to study our organization, and to provide guidance as to how we could strengthen the church.
  
  

  We ended the meeting with a brief prayer, and I made the later statements to the press which are available in the Tribune and Sun Times.
  
  

  My overall impression of the meeting is that it was very valuable, and I hope that it could be a model that would be repeated in each diocese and archdiocese of the country. The wise and holy leadership shown by Cardinal George on this issue is in sharp contrast to the behavior of a handful of bishops who have banned votf from meeting, yet have not taken the time to discuss its potentially valuable mission.
  
  

  I hope the above summary is helpful to many votf activists.

  KFCC, Jim Muller

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