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Quik-Click Guide
Current Forum Schedule
Principles of the Forum
Goals of the Forum
Format of the Forum
Guidelines of the Forum
Participants' Comments
“The
Church's mission requires in the first place that we foster
within the Church herself mutual esteem, reverence and harmony,
through the full recognition of lawful diversity....
“Thus all those who compose the one People of God, both pastors
and the general
faithful, can engage in dialogue with ever-abounding
fruitfulness.
For the bonds which unite the faithful are mightier than
anything dividing them....
“Hence, let there be unity in what is necessary,
freedom in what is
unsettled,
and charity in any case.”
--
Second Vatican
Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World, #92.
Welcome to the
Catholic Forum
_____________________________________
Current Catholic Forum Schedule
Catholic Forum on Health Care Reform
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
7:00-9:00pm
Church Hall (lower level) St. Edward Parish, Waterloo
Presented by
Tom Chapman
Executive Director of the Iowa Catholic Conference
This Forum will
discuss principles of Catholic Social Teaching as they apply to
the current debate over health care reform in the United States.
Mr. Chapman will outline the general principles and discuss
specific provisions of the legislation under consideration in
Congress.
Don't trust what you are reading on
Internet websites or television talk shows. Here is an
opportunity to find out what reform proposals are, or are not,
consistent with Catholic teaching and what the Catholic bishops
of the U.S. have advocated.
"Health care reform continues to be a hotly-debated issue.
During the past few months, thousands of people have thousands
of people have turned out for town hall meetings and contacted
members of Congress to contribute their opinion about reform
efforts. Now that Congress has returned to Washington and is
again working on the health care bills, your advocacy is needed
more than ever. Find out the latest on what’s going on in
Congress and what the Catholic bishops are saying about health
care reform..."
--Tom Chapman
_____________________________________
About the
Catholic Forum
The Catholic Forum was created by Waterloo Diocore in 1993. Inspired
by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, the Forum developed out of a sense that one of the things we needed in the
Catholic community was to be able to discuss important moral and
social issues in a constructive and positive atmosphere that
engaged the wide variety of legitimate diversity in opinions,
experiences and convictions among Catholics. We wanted
this to be an environment which would be more than people just
arguing about issues on which they disagreed, or merely
reinforcing their own biases on issues where they agreed.
Principles of the Forum
The format and spirit of the Forum are based on the following
convictions:
•
Dialogue in the Church is healthy, even necessary. Only through
dialogue can we bridge the differences that divide us within the
Catholic community, differences which divide us from other
Christian
traditions, and differences which separate our
tradition, as it has
developed over time, from the experience
and needs of people in
today's world.
•
Our personal experience, insights and opinions are important.
It is
through them that most individual Catholics come to
understand and
appreciate the truths taught by Jesus and the
Church.
•
Our personal experiences are limited. Even the experience of
particular groups, based on ideology, regions, cultures, or time
periods
in history, are limited. No one person or group can
adequately grasp
the fullness of God’s truth based solely on
their limited personal
experiences.
•
As individuals, we must inform and judge our personal or group
experiences by the corporate experience of the broader
Catholic/Christian community, contained in Scripture and in the
tradition, doctrine and lived-faith of the Catholic community.
•
For Roman Catholics, our corporate experience and convictions
are
formally defined by the teaching authority (the
magisterium) of the
Church -- the individual bishops, the
college of bishops, and the Bishop
of Rome.
Goals of the Forum
1.
To understand and appreciate better our own experiences,
insights
and opinions, and the experiences, insights and
opinions of other
Catholics.
2. To
understand and appreciate better the Catholic
Christian tradition
as expressed and taught in Scripture,
official Church teaching, and
Catholic tradition.
3.
To understand more clearly the extent to which our own
experiences,
insights and opinions reflect or conflict with the
broader Catholic
tradition.
4.
To understand more clearly the fundamental, underlying values,
truths
and principles which we share as Catholic Christians, inspite of
apparent differences or conflicts.
Format for the Forum
1. Welcome and introduction.
2. Opening observations, comments, concerns and questions from
the
floor.
3. Observations and comments by special guests.
Short Break
4. Continuing discussion -- additional concerns, comments,
questions
and observations from the community and special
guests.
5. Concluding discussion and summary.
Guidelines for the Forum
In
order to insure a thoughtful and respectful discussion, we ask
each participant to follow these guidelines:
•
Listen respectfully to other participants.
•
Show respect for the experiences, insights, and opinions of
other
individuals, even if they are different from our own, and
even if you
believe that they are “wrong”.
• Present our own experiences, insights, opinions without
attacking
others’ experiences or opinions.
Participants' Comments
Catholic Forum on Faithful
Citizenship / Oct. 20, 2008
"I enjoyed the discussion. Tom
was great. Down to earth, but evidently knew his
stuff...."
"I now have the 'tools' to gather
information to make an informed decision...."
"Too many participants used this evening to campaign [for] their
own ideas. Too bad--Tom had some good information...."
"The Church needs to know the whole
of church teaching and how the pieces relate to each other...."
"Tom presented an excellent evening.
It could have even been longer!"
"I didn't know if I should come, but
I enjoyed it. [The speaker] was wonderful--easy to
understand and helpful...."
"Very good presenter. Was not
biased and was fair to all sides.... It was very well
presented. Some bishops and priests should attend...."
"I think people in attendance have
no right to stand up and give a 'stump speech'.... Perhaps
the presenter could...mention this at the beginning of the
meeting!"
• • •
For information contact:
Director of Adult
Faith Formation
320 Mulberry St., Waterloo IA 50703 • Phone:
319-234-9912
email: DBQ208s3@arch.pvt.k12.ia.us
Posted 12.15.07
•
Last Update 08.19.09 |