Voice of the Faithful is an independent group that has no standing in the Catholic Church," said Colleen Dolan, a spokeswoman for the cardinal. "The idea of encouraging people to send thoughts and ideas to the nuncio (papal representative) is in canon law and is a very good idea. … There's no reason why it has to go through a separate group to be filtered."
Activists contend that they aren't breaking the rules by proposing such a democratic approach. They point to Canon Law 212, which states: "Christ's faithful are at liberty to make known their needs, especially their spiritual needs, and their wishes to the pastors of the Church."
The canon adds: "They have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ's faithful."
Activists cite church historians who wrote about bishop elections in the first millennium and the church's creation of a more centralized internal process to keep emperors and other elites from hijacking the process for political gain.
Click on the following for all of the story: Catholic group focuses on successor to Cardinal Francis George – WGN
Here are the sites for your input:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/votf-bishop
To write to the Papal Nunciature:
The Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano
Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3610
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