Mar 18, 2009 / 04:20 am
Citing Voice of the Faithful’s advocacy of church restructuring, the pastor of a Catholic church in Naples, Florida has barred the Southwest Florida VOTF affiliate from celebrating its annual Mass at the parish.
St. John the Evangelist Church pastor Rev. John Ludden told the Naples News that he was concerned about the organization as a whole because “they’re becoming a group within the church that are aligning themselves with other groups that ... don’t trust the hierarchy and want to change our structure.”
Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a self-described church reform group, advocates a “strategic plan” which would reduce pastoral and episcopal governance of parishes and dioceses. CNA has reported the strategic plan is “remarkably similar” to a recently proposed Connecticut bill that aimed to forcibly reorganize the Church in Connecticut.
The bill was withdrawn after massive Catholic protests and VOTF has denied initiating any specific legislation at the state or federal level to advance their plans.