"Best of the Best?"
Voice of the Faithful, a national lay Catholic reform group launched at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal, has a membership that is deeply devoted to Catholicism but will need to recruit more active members if it wants to remain vibrant, according to academics who gathered for a symposium on the organization's future yesterday at Boston College.I can't say I'm a terribly huge fan, seeing VOTF more as a bull in a china shop than a group which actually understands the nuances of ecclesiastical governance, one able to distinguish canonical issues from doctrinal ones.The academics based their observations on a survey the Voice of the Faithful conducted earlier this year.
The organization will use the survey, which included responses from 1,300 members nationwide, to help it develop a new action plan to broaden lay people's role in Church decisions.
Among some of the key findings praised by the group and academics yesterday:
93 percent are ''cradle Catholics," meaning worshipers raised in the Church.
2 out of 3 attend Mass at least once a week, opposed to 34 percent nationally.
8 out of 10 pray at least once a day.
Half are members of parish councils; 45 percent are on liturgy committees.
87 percent have college degrees, with six out of 10 members holding a graduate or professional degree.
Then again, if it's better to light one candle than curse the darkness, they've got this outrageously angry Boston pseudo-Catholic beat.
Tip to Jim Mac.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 14:59
4 Comments:
No, John, not lucky for Eddie -- lucky for you.
What the heck happened here? Rock went on vacation a while back and when he started up again it's as if someone else took over the place. Did someone hijack this blog to damage his public image?
When someone accuses his own bishop - Sean O'Mallley in this case - of schism, then pseudo-catholic is a pretty accurate way to describe such a person.
"That's interesting; where did you see those stats?"
John, Dom Bettinelli's got the latest buzz over at Bettnet.com. He talks about the article in the Boston Globe with the stats. His analysis is good, and (for VOTF-watchers like us) not surprising.
By the way, I have no reason to defend Carol McKinley, who's ready to burn me at the stake any moment. (Anybody got a match?) But I'd suggest that people look up the definition of the word "schism" or "schismatic" before they reduce such labeling to "name-calling."
After all, if the biretta fits...
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