Thank You!

It is with a spirit of deep gratitude for the support and contributions of many of you reading this, that I announce the closure of The Progressive Catholic Voice blogsite.

The PCV began on October 4, 2007 as a grassroots initiative dedicated to reflection, dialogue, and the exchange of ideas aimed at facilitating renewal and reform within the Catholic community of Minnesota and beyond.

As progressive Catholics, those who launched and have maintained and supported the PCV over the past 14 years are drawn to participate in, and contribute to, the Church’s capacity to grow, change, and evolve in ways that ever increasingly reveal God’s transforming love in our midst. This calling and our voice will go on in other ways as many of us continue to develop and unify the progressive Catholic voice of the local church. Why? Because those involved in this work believe that their voices are an intrinsic and essential part of our Catholic tradition. Along with the moderate and conservative voices within the Church, the progressive voice needs also to be heard in the discussions and deliberations that are part of any living faith community. As Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-90) once noted: the laity has to be consulted in matters of doctrine, especially when teachings concern their lives so intimately.

From day one, The Progressive Catholic Voice had Francis of Assisi as its patron saint. In his time, our brother Francis heard and responded to God’s call to “repair my Church.” It’s a call that resounds today in a Catholic Church which, at its worst, is corroded and weakened by clericalism, hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty, a profound lack of imagination, and a monarchical mind set and structure totally contrary to Jesus’ egalitarian model of community. Yet as distressing as this is, there are many Catholics who are unwavering in their commitment to embody a healthy, life-giving, intellectually-honest, and authentically Gospel-based model of church – especially in terms of organizational structure, decision-making, and Vatican II’s call for “full, conscious, and active participation by all the baptized.”

For the past 14 years, the PCV has served as a safe forum for this embodiment. There are many other such places in the church, and here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis both the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) and the Council of the Baptized (CoB) are two of them. Be assured that the progressive Catholic voice continues to resound in these and other organizations and communities.

I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who served with me on the PCV’s founding editorial team: Mary Beckfeld, Steve Boyle, Susan Kramp, David McCaffrey, Brian McNeill, Mary Lynn Murphy, Rick Notch, Theresa O’Brien, and Paula Ruddy.

Thanks also to Bill Hunt, Paula Ruddy, and Bill Moseley, who have contributed many of the PCV’s most important and popular posts over the years.

Peace,

Michael J. Bayly
Editor, The Progressive Catholic Voice
2007-2021