My latest academic article has been published in the Rocky Mountain Communication Review. The study is entitled "From faithful to heretics: The Catholic Church's response to the Voice of Faithful." Here is a summary of what the piece is about:
In the wake of the priest abuse crisis within the Catholic Church, the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) emerged and demanded more laity involvement in church affairs. The Catholic Church responded by attacking VOTF, (re)defining the group as heretical, and accusing them of using the crisis to advance VOTF’s agenda. This study explores this response to VOTF in light of Kurtz's (1983) work on heresy and orthodoxy.A list of my other academic publications and writings can be found here.
The bishops need not worry about Voice of the Faithful. VOTF is nothing more than a group of wealthy, educated Catholic seniors who, as soon as they find a measure of courage to speak their mind about the behavior of a bishop, begin to trip over each other trying to make everything ok again with the very same bishop.
ReplyDeleteMostly, these "seniors" gather at their local VOTF meeting to listen to speakers tell them for the umteenth time their rights as laypersons under canon law. They ask a question or two and then gather for coffee, soft drinks and cookies and pat each other on the back for daring to be such noble church reformers.
They think of themselves as "disciples" (see VOTF web site), yet they act much like two year-olds who take a few steps away from mom, then quickly look back to make sure she still loves them.
They have created a church within a church. It's called the Archdiocese of Voice of the Faithful. It will be closed within 12 months.
Thanks for offering your perspective, although since I do not know who you are I am not sure how reliable it is. I honestly have not followed VOTF very closely since the start period that I examined in this study.
ReplyDelete