MAPA Convening Board May 15, 2006

Not long after I noted the lack of activity at the Milwaukee Archdiocese Priests Alliance's web site, there's been some.

Here are the minutes of MAPA's Convening Board meeting of May 15, 2006 [2 pp. pdf].

First, among the committee ("Focus Group") reports:

Fraternity of Priests committee: Three priests said they might host get-togethers. I hope they serve healthy snacks.

Priests’ Rights committee: The flyer on what to do if accused of sexual misconduct, along with comments (including those of Father Paul Hartman) were to be reviewed, with an eye toward presenting the document in final form at MAPA's September membership meeting. (I've heard that the problem was the flyer's advice to demand various records which the Archdiocese contends an accused priest does not have a right to see under canon law.)

Witch Hunt Group: (That's its committee on homosexual seminarians.) No news.

Referenda committee: This refers to the defense of marriage amendment and death penalty referenda then-upcoming in November 2006.

[Father] Steve Avella hosted a group at Our Lady Queen of Peace and they extensively discussed the issues. They have prepared a general draft document for review and discussion. They are stressing two ideas: 1) the purpose of the document is not to tell people how to vote on the referenda. 2) The document’s purpose is to address the underlying fears of many people today which only serves to deflect proper attention and effort on the real problems of poverty, healthcare, job security, income distribution, etc.

They aren't telling people how to vote, they're telling them that voting a particular way is due to irrational fears.

On other topics, they realized they were having a hard time keeping the web site up to date.