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Some members of the San Francisco Voice of the Faithful steering committee met with Archbishop Niederauer and four members of his staff for about 75 minutes at the Pastoral Center.
The conversation was cordial but frank and direct. VOTF members presented the Archbishop with the results of a 2004 Survey of our membership by Catholic University Sociologists that demonstrates the loyalty and commitment we have across the board for our Church and debunks the misinformation sometimes deliberately circulated about us.
The Archbishop said that he was unwilling to make a commitment at this time to appointment of a liaison, but was not opposed to the idea and would make a decision after conferring with the Priest Council. He asked VOTF to provide a list of names for possible liaison.
VOTF brought up our perceived inability to submit advertisements to 'Catholic San Francisco', Archdiocesan paper. We requested that the the paper allow paid VOTF advertisements and that VOTF article submissions be accepted on the basis of their news value and not be automatically rejected. The Archbishop said he would speak with the staff of the paper about their policy toward VOTF submissions.
Members of the Archbishop's staff responded with their own impressions of VOTF.
One staff member said that the impression among many priests is that VOTF is anti-clerical and that some are dismayed by the designation “priests of integrity”.
Another staff member stated that as a layman he would be reluctant to attend a VOTF affiliate because our reputation is that we “only oppose” and that we appear exclusively negative. VOTF responded that our objective is to be of service to the Church and not to tear it down, but that requires communication and dialog.
There seemed to be agreement that greater participation by the laity in selection of pastoral council members is a subject for further discussion.
The Archbishop agreed that further conversations might be possible and beneficial.
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