What Does It Mean to Be a Reform Catholic?

Went to hear Father Ken Smits, OFM Cap., at a meeting of the local Voice Of The Faithful (VOTF). I took detailed notes, but afterward was talking with someone I know from our parish who is reliably on the other side of the relevant issues. He said Fr. Smits had nothing to say that he hadn't heard before. I have to agree. The VOTF folks came to hear a "red meat" talk, or in their case, perhaps "blue meat." Even with this inspiration, it's hard to imaging VOTF taking to the barricades. At least locally, VOTF is people in their 60s and 70s with an agenda from the 60s and 70s.

There was one questioner who disagreed with Fr. Smits from an orthodox perspective. (No, not me.) Oddly, people who had spent time earlier decrying the "silencing" of Fr. Reese could not let this fellow finish a sentence, either during the Q and A or after.

Likewise it seemed odd that VOTF invites the press to these meetings (though without success), yet Fr. Smits talks about things he does that he claims he doesn't want his bishop to know, such as that he was later going to be ministering to a local Dignity group. If what you hear at a VOTF meeting would be different if the press were there, then "transparency" has an idiosyncratic meaning within VOTF, as "integrity" does.