Minutes of Twin Cities VOTF Steering Council Meeting, 11/20/08
Parish Center Present: Terry D, Christina B, Jim A, Tim P, Shari S,
Tom G, Suzanne (minutes) Absent: Jim and Pat W, Colin L 1.
Prayer: Reflective prayer by
Oscar Romero 2.
Oct 26th Event Evaluation • Strib article was key to success of event;
got issue into many people’s hands; made public Michael O’Connell’s efforts;
likely drew the Cath Spirit to send a reporter • Kind
regret letters were rec’d from Andrew Eisenzimmer (counsel to the archdiocese)
and Archbishop Nienstedt. The
archdiocesan Chancellor attended the event. • Collected $247 at event for USCCB’s Causes
and Content study. Total cost of event
was $1466 (Merz travel and lodgings, publicity, award expenses) • Attendees have/will be contacted by SC
members for follow-up (desire to volunteer/ need for pastoral care) • It was
noted by all that the importance of an apology was again driven home by Merz’s
positive and personal reaction to Tim’s brief apology on behalf of the Church to any
survivors present 3. Financial
Report: • St Joan’s
does not wish to continue as our fiscal agent according to their parish
administrator. Expenses for the Oct 26
event plus website maintenance thru Q2 2009 will bring our balance to
zero. SC voted to approve final
disbursements for event expenses plus Q1 and Q2 website maintenance. We will seek a new fiscal agent after the
first of the year • We will
not send out a member letter or seek donations until a new fiscal agent is in
place 4. Next Steps • Continue
with work supporting survivors (VFRG and Apology Service). The apology service recreates a forum to
acknowledge the pain and experience of abuse Action Item 1: Schedule and host an Apology Service in early
2009 Action Item 2: VFRG will continue its meeting schedule (Shari is contact) • Film
Nites: First Film Nite ( April 2008)
provided a forum for discussion and acknowledged the existence of the issue; it
was evident there is a hunger for good presentations Action Item 3: Schedule and host more Film Nites at various
parish locations
around the archdiocese • Website Improvement: Website provides public visibility of our
affiliate and pastoral ministry to visiting survivors. Should be able to help a visiting survivor
take the first step in seeking help.
Should be able to provide some resource info (eg links to SNAP, resource
list, other groups, etc). Action Item 4: Each Steering Council member should visit our
website and make suggestions for improvements (content, art, organization,
added links). Send council members links
to other websites with “best practices” for review and input. Action Item 5: Write text for new permanent statement to
survivors for the Homepage (assigned to
Jim Ayers: ..if you are a victim of abuse by anyone in the Catholic Church
(name positions) please click here. We
can offer you...We believe you...If you’d like to have a confidential
conversation...) • Maintaining Parish Relationships: Twin Cities VOTF should stay in touch with
key pastoral ministers to let them know we are here as a resource and to
facilitate keeping the issue of sexual abuse prevention and awareness of the
pastoral needs of survivors of sexual abuse active. Action Item 6: SC members will contact 10 Parish Directors
of Pastoral Ministry and ask if they have any needs regarding ministry to abuse
survivors or education/awareness of the issue.
These parishes can also be asked if they are willing to host a VOTF Film
Nite. Action Item 7: SC members to contact the
70-odd parishes whose email addresses bounced this year for current Bulletin
Editor email addresses (Christina will
divide the list and give to members) 5. Next SC
meeting is set for Jan 8, 2009 5-7 pm at St Joan of Arc. There will not be a meeting in Dec. 6. National
VOTF Rep Council: It was noted that the
growing discord in the National VOTF
Representatives Council is reminiscent of a group who doesn’t have
enough to do. We agreed to continue with
our concerned endeavors towards healing and ministry for survivors and to not
engage in this fray.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| DraftNovSCMins.doc | 33 KB |