"The tomb couldn’t hold him. He’s still around, he’s still loose in the world." ~Marcus Borg
"The Easter message proclaims that what awaited Jesus in death was not ultimate annihilation, but a homecoming into God's mystery. For Jesus personally, this means the abiding redeemed validity of his historical human existence in God’s presence forever. The hallelujahs that break out at Easter, however, are based on more than our joy for Jesus’ personal good fortune. I mean we’re glad for him, right, but we sing hallelujah because we know that Christ's destiny is not meant for himself alone, it is meant for the whole human race...
Does this have any meaning for the natural world of life? The logic of deep incarnation would say yes. Christ’s resurrection grounds hope for a blessed future, not only for humans, but for the whole community of creation. And the reasoning runs like this. This person, Jesus of Nazareth, was composed of star stuff and earth stuff. He was a genuine part of the biological community of earth, existing in a network of exchange with his ecological environment. If, in death, a piece of this world, real to the core, as Carl Rahner writes, surrendered his life in love, and is now forever with God in glory, then this signals in embryo the final beginning of the redemptive glorification, not just for human beings alone, but for all flesh, all material beings, every creature that passes through death. The evolving world of
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Sophia Inclusive Catholic Community
Invites You to Their Third Annual Weekend Retreat
Retreat Facilitator
Anne Kertz Kernion
Owner/Artist of Cards by Anne and Author of A Year of Spiritual Companionship
Friday Evening May 31 to
Sunday Morning June 2, 2019
St. Marguerite's Retreat House
82 West Main Street, Mendham, NJ 07945
973-543-4641
Our spiritual habits affect our physical and emotional health in a variety of ways. We will explore recent findings in neuroscience showing how these spiritual practices slow aging in our cells, keep our brains healthy and nimble, reduce stress, and bring more health, happiness and compassion to our lives
To learn more and to register, click here.
In this talk, Jamie Manson, columnist and editor at the "National Catholic Reporter" will share her thoughts, based on her recent trip to Rome for the sex abuse summit, about several hot button issues: Why wasn't more accomplished at the summit? Why did those women journalists resign from the Vatican newspaper? Did Frederic Martel's book, In the Closet of the Vatican, have any impact at all? She'll also talk about why she stays Catholic amid this constant barrage of drama, controversy, and deep institutional sin, and what hope she is seeing for the Church among the next generation of Catholics and prophets.
Jamie Manson is a columnist and books editor at the "National Catholic Reporter." She received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied Catholic theology and sexual ethics. She is editor of Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley (Orbis, 2015). Her writing has won numerous awards, most recently the 2015 Wilbur Award for Best Online Religion News Story for her extended essay "Feminism in Faith: Sister Elizabeth Johnson's Challenge to the Vatican." Her activism on behalf of women in the church recently garnered her the Theresa Kane Award for Women of Courage and Vision from the Women’s Ordination Conference.
Sunday April 28, 2019, 3:30 p.m.St. Mark's Lutheran Church
100 Harter Road, Morristown, NJ
ALL ARE WELCOME!
Dear VOTFNJ brothers and sisters,
The self-inflicted wound of the clerical sexual abuse crisis has brought our beloved Church to the point of implosion--at least the hierarchical clerical culture of our Church. It is, in one way, a good thing! This means that the wound has been exposed and now the healing may begin; the rebuilding of the Church can commence. What is good can be retained and what has gone off course can be rooted out and left behind.
As members of the laity, committed to our baptismal promises, we can - and must - participate in the rebuilding of our beloved local New Jersey church. In this packet of materials you will find helpful resources, appropriate contact information, and informative background articles. May we suggest a few things that we all can do to move the healing forward?
VOTFNJ has developed an Action Packet of practical steps you can take to confront the abuse crisis in our Church. Hard Copies will be also available at liturgies.
Daniel Cosacchi to Speak
Sunday , October 28, 2018
3:30 p.m.
St. Mark's Lutheran Church
100 Harter Rd., Morristown, NJ
The kick off to a year-long program dealing with the role of prophets and prophecy in society will introduce us to some Hebrew prophets, who they were, what kind of societies they came from, and how they might be examples for us.
Our presenter is Daniel Cosacchi, the Canisius Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer of religious studies at Fairfield University and a contributor to America, the Jesuit Review. He received a doctorate in theology and ethics from Loyola University Chicago in 2016, having written a dissertation on the ecological impacts of warfare and the ramifications for Catholic social thought. He is co-editor of The Berrigan Letters: Personal Correspondence between Daniel and Philip Berrigan (Orbis Books, 2016).
Refugee Assistance Update
At VOTFNJ's invitation, a steering committee for refugee assistance held its first organizational meeting on May 23, 2016 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The result: a coalition of 14 member organizations which have named themselves, Refugee Assistance Morris Partners (RAMP). Their stated purpose: "...to assist vetted Middle Eastern and other refugee families to transiton to productive lives of dignity, safety, and hope in the Morris County area of New Jersey." The group has partnered with World Church Service (WCS) and with the Community Foundation of New Jersey (CFNJ).
Learn more about RAMP here.
Learn more about RAMP's partnership with CFNJ here.
Donate to RAMP here.
Year-End Update of our RAMP Families here.
Here is a Prayer for Refugees.
Stay in touch and informed!
Read In the Vineyard and stay abreast of VOTF national activities and views here.
Advocate for the reform of the Statute of Limitation for child sex abuse victims in New Jersey and other states. Read VOTF Statute of Limitation Reform: Advocacy Guide here.
Lay Input in the Bishop Selection Process
The VOTF National proposal would restore to the selection process many of the lay-involvement practices followed throughout the first millennium and well into the second, and, at the same time, it would recognize the authority of the pope (as affirmed in Canon Law and Vatican II) to make the final appointment of a bishop, generally from the recommendations submitted for each diocese.
To facilitate lay involvement, VOTF National hosts a web form that enables Catholics in any U.S. diocese to send their thoughts on the needs of their diocese and the qualities they deem important for their next bishop directly to the U.S. Apostolic Nuncio. Learn more.
And ...
Coordinating Team Member Bernice Anglin has compiled an Overview of National Voice of the Faithful's Second Annual Study of the Online Financial Transparency of U.S. Catholic Dioceses with an emphasis on NJ Diocesan findings.
VOTFNJ is pleased to support ...
Road to Recovery, a non-profit organization that offers compassionate counseling and referral services to survivors of sexual abuse. Launched in 2005 to provide direct assistance to victims of clergy sexual abuse, R2R has expanded its mission to include survivors of all sexual abuse. Learn more.
THE VOICE - VOTFNJ's Monthly Newsletter
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Intentional Eucharistic Communities (IECs) are those small faith communities, rooted in the 
Catholic tradition, which gather to celebrate Eucharist on a regular basis. Born in the enthusiasm flowing from Vatican II for a church of the people, some IECs were instituted in parishes, some were created as alternatives to the parish, some retain close ties with the institutional church, and some function independently. VOTFNJ considers itself to be an Intentional Eucharistic Community. Another New Jersey area IECs is the Sophia Inclusive Catholic Community (Andover, NJ), founded by a VOTFNJ member, Mary Ann Schoetlly.
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Creation and the Cross
