by Sr. Barbara Valuckas, SSND from Women's Song (National Sisters Vocational Conference, 1986, Used with permission)
An adaptation of Isaiah 58: 1-9
O Sisters and Brothers in your ministries,
Would that you might fast so as to make your voices heard on this earth and in this Church?
Is this the manner of fasting that I wish of keeping a season of penance:
That you bow down your heads like reeds as if you accepted your conditioning to passivity and submission, and lie in sack cloth and ashes, as if you believed what you have been taught about your worthlessness to Church and society?
Do you call this a fast?
Is this the kind of behavior you think I want of you to make you acceptable to me?
No! This rather is the fasting that I wish for you as women and men:
That you confront injustice in your communities, Church and world as a way of releasing those bound unjustly … to release your own closed heart to create a pure heart to foster the spiral of life
That you untie the thongs of patriarchy that have bound your bodies and your imaginations… that we may celebrate our bodies as Sophia wisdom
That you set free your own potential as women and men knowing that you cannot set free other oppressed persons unless you do… create in us a unbound heart , free us from our own prison of frenzied activity, judgmental attitudes, self-centered visions.
That you work for breakthroughs in the yokes that prevent dialogue, reconciliation and peacemaking.
I want of you to share your bread with the hungry, but also ask and help others to ask about the reason for the hungry….
I want you to shelter the oppressed and the homeless but also ask and help others to ask about the reasons for homelessness and oppression.
I want you to clothe the naked but also to ask and help others to ask about the inequalities that exist among the members of our human family and how we protect the earth that has no voice but ours.
I want you to imagine and to move toward a new future to build the spiral of life without turning your back on those who cannot follow or imagine as quickly as you can.
Then your light shall break like the dawn, and Sophia burst forth in new life within. Your woundedness as women and men shall quickly be healed. Ashes turned into new life. Your vindication shall go before you and my nurturing love will nourish you
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Amen, may it be so! May we live Christ's loving service to those at the margins of church and society and change unjust structures that cause so much of the world's suffering! May we be prophets and saints that move our world closer to God and call our sisters and brothers to action to make a more peaceful, just and equal world.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now- https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2025/10/rev-dr-bridget-mary-meehan-arcwp-chat.html
Friday, March 18, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Prayers for Devastating Times: Be Strong, Fear Not/God Weeps With Us/ We Shall Overcome
As we see the heart-wrenching scenes of people who have lost everything in the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we see the face of God weeping over the destruction. Our hearts break at the loss and the suffering of our sisters and brothers who are facing unimaginable tragedy all aroud them including a nuclear disaster.
As we watch young people standing up for justice, freedom and human rights in Egypt, Libya, and other countries in the Middle East, we are moved by their courage and idealism.
We are conscious of the infinite, boundless love of the Holy One, called by many names, who walks among us. In God's love, through God's power working within us, we shall overcome. We are one world-- all people are God's holy people!
These prayers are for you:
Nothing ahead of you is bigger, or stronger than the power of God behind you. (Be strong in God and in God's mighty power, Eph. 6:10)
Do not fear for I am with you, Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you: I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Those who hope in God will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:32)
We can do all things through God who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)
Bridget Mary Meehan RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
As we watch young people standing up for justice, freedom and human rights in Egypt, Libya, and other countries in the Middle East, we are moved by their courage and idealism.
We are conscious of the infinite, boundless love of the Holy One, called by many names, who walks among us. In God's love, through God's power working within us, we shall overcome. We are one world-- all people are God's holy people!
These prayers are for you:
Nothing ahead of you is bigger, or stronger than the power of God behind you. (Be strong in God and in God's mighty power, Eph. 6:10)
Do not fear for I am with you, Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you: I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Those who hope in God will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:32)
We can do all things through God who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)
Bridget Mary Meehan RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
"Woman deacon recants, seeks reunion with church"/ National Catholic Reporter
Woman deacon recants, seeks reunion with church National ... Mar. 14, 2011
By Zoe Ryan
"Bridget Mary Meehan, communication representative for the group, said Coon e-mailed her Jan. 1 asking that Meehan remove videos and photographs of her on the movement’s Web site. To be reinstated into the church, Coon explained to Meehan, she must dissolve all connection with the group. Meehan said she complied.
Members of Roman Catholic Womenpriests said that Coon had experienced personal family trauma, including health issues and the death of her 42-year-old son, who died in 2010 from a burst aortic aneurysm, according to the obituary on The San Diego Union-Tribune Web site.
“She is our sister, our beloved sister, and we wanted to help her follow her conscience,” Meehan told NCR. “There are no hard feelings. We understand totally.”
Meehan said that Roman Catholic Womenpriests warns the women who join them “that they’re going to be excommunicated.” The typical length of preparation to the diaconate is one year, but it varies depending on the person. The program is individualized for each person and includes an intake clinical interview and psychological screenings, among other things..."
By Zoe Ryan
"Bridget Mary Meehan, communication representative for the group, said Coon e-mailed her Jan. 1 asking that Meehan remove videos and photographs of her on the movement’s Web site. To be reinstated into the church, Coon explained to Meehan, she must dissolve all connection with the group. Meehan said she complied.
Members of Roman Catholic Womenpriests said that Coon had experienced personal family trauma, including health issues and the death of her 42-year-old son, who died in 2010 from a burst aortic aneurysm, according to the obituary on The San Diego Union-Tribune Web site.
“She is our sister, our beloved sister, and we wanted to help her follow her conscience,” Meehan told NCR. “There are no hard feelings. We understand totally.”
Meehan said that Roman Catholic Womenpriests warns the women who join them “that they’re going to be excommunicated.” The typical length of preparation to the diaconate is one year, but it varies depending on the person. The program is individualized for each person and includes an intake clinical interview and psychological screenings, among other things..."
Monday, March 14, 2011
"Sex Abuse and Legacy of Lay Passivity"/ Time for Catholics to Hold Hierarchy Accountable for Sex Abuse of Children
Sex abuse and the legacy of lay passivity
By Jamie L Manson
Created Mar 14, 2011
http://www.ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/sex-abuse-and-legacy-lay-passivity
"This past Ash Wednesday, while most Catholics were being told to turn away from sin, the faithful in Philadelphia were informed that the hierarchy had, once again, failed to do so themselves.
"Even with so much already said, there is still one question that troubles me. Why are we, the Catholic laity, still letting the hierarchy get away with it? "
...But why isn’t everyone speaking out? Why isn’t every church-going Catholic demanding repentance and genuine reform from church authorities? "
Bridget Mary's Reflection
Jamie Manson's article is right on! There are no excuses for Catholics who ignore sex abuse crimes against children. I understand the dissociation theory because it is so overwhelming. The sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is like an unending tsunami that destroys everything in its path.
I don't understand how the institutional Catholic Church has got away with behaving like a crime family! Most accessories to crime do time in jail. How come the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is not held accountable? It is an outrage! Catholics who continue to support the hierarchy need to examine their consciences. The Grand Jury Report in Philadelphia is the last straw! Catholics must demand reform now, accountability now, a people-empowered church now! How can they continue to support such a sick, corrupt system? My niece, Katie, a young college age Catholic woman shared that, in her view, the Catholic Church did not seem to be very spiritual. No wonder many young women and men are walking away! The hierarchy has betrayed the the people of God, and the young are not finding a spiritual home in their own faith community.
So now what? We need to get back to basics, prayer, spirituality, social justice and inclusive liturgies. In a priest-short, scandal-ridden church, Catholics can reach out to their alienated Catholic friends and form new faith communities. Roman Catholic Women Priests and married priests are serving a growing number of these kinds of alternative Catholic communities ,We are living Gospel equality now --- no longer are we asking permission, we are leading the way by doing it within a people-empowered faith community. Some people are finding us though google and social media. Rise up, speak out, protest the cover-ups, demand transparency and accountability. Withhold Sunday donations until genuine reform takes place. Pick a cause that helps the needy and redirect your money there. Live your baptismal call to follow Christ and "be Christ" in our world in service of others. Be part of the solution, not the problem. We the people are church! It is our responsibility to bring about change, a peaceful revolution, in imitation of Jesus in the Gospel, who stood on the margins with the poor and marginalized. Think about making amends to the victims of priest abusers. Support organizations like SNAP and Voice of the Faithful. Visit bishopaccountability.org Support legislation that lifts the statue of limitations. The bishops often oppose such legislation. Now that is an outrage! Shout it from the rooftops.
Like Mary, who proclaimed the Magnificat, we need to speak truth to our pope and bishops. We need to take responsibility for our church. Would you tolerate a sexual predator in your neigborhood? Why do we tolerate a church who hid sexual predators? The Vatican guidelines do not mandate that the bishops must report clergy sex abuse to civl authorities! When the Irish bishops decided to finally do so, the Vatican opposed them. Check out the RTE Special Report. (link on my blog)
It is time for a holy shakeup in the Catholic Church. Now more then ever we need the wisdom and energy of young women, like Jamie and my niece Katie, to revitalize and reimagine our church.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
By Jamie L Manson
Created Mar 14, 2011
http://www.ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/sex-abuse-and-legacy-lay-passivity
"This past Ash Wednesday, while most Catholics were being told to turn away from sin, the faithful in Philadelphia were informed that the hierarchy had, once again, failed to do so themselves.
"Even with so much already said, there is still one question that troubles me. Why are we, the Catholic laity, still letting the hierarchy get away with it? "
...But why isn’t everyone speaking out? Why isn’t every church-going Catholic demanding repentance and genuine reform from church authorities? "
Bridget Mary's Reflection
Jamie Manson's article is right on! There are no excuses for Catholics who ignore sex abuse crimes against children. I understand the dissociation theory because it is so overwhelming. The sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is like an unending tsunami that destroys everything in its path.
I don't understand how the institutional Catholic Church has got away with behaving like a crime family! Most accessories to crime do time in jail. How come the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is not held accountable? It is an outrage! Catholics who continue to support the hierarchy need to examine their consciences. The Grand Jury Report in Philadelphia is the last straw! Catholics must demand reform now, accountability now, a people-empowered church now! How can they continue to support such a sick, corrupt system? My niece, Katie, a young college age Catholic woman shared that, in her view, the Catholic Church did not seem to be very spiritual. No wonder many young women and men are walking away! The hierarchy has betrayed the the people of God, and the young are not finding a spiritual home in their own faith community.
So now what? We need to get back to basics, prayer, spirituality, social justice and inclusive liturgies. In a priest-short, scandal-ridden church, Catholics can reach out to their alienated Catholic friends and form new faith communities. Roman Catholic Women Priests and married priests are serving a growing number of these kinds of alternative Catholic communities ,We are living Gospel equality now --- no longer are we asking permission, we are leading the way by doing it within a people-empowered faith community. Some people are finding us though google and social media. Rise up, speak out, protest the cover-ups, demand transparency and accountability. Withhold Sunday donations until genuine reform takes place. Pick a cause that helps the needy and redirect your money there. Live your baptismal call to follow Christ and "be Christ" in our world in service of others. Be part of the solution, not the problem. We the people are church! It is our responsibility to bring about change, a peaceful revolution, in imitation of Jesus in the Gospel, who stood on the margins with the poor and marginalized. Think about making amends to the victims of priest abusers. Support organizations like SNAP and Voice of the Faithful. Visit bishopaccountability.org Support legislation that lifts the statue of limitations. The bishops often oppose such legislation. Now that is an outrage! Shout it from the rooftops.
Like Mary, who proclaimed the Magnificat, we need to speak truth to our pope and bishops. We need to take responsibility for our church. Would you tolerate a sexual predator in your neigborhood? Why do we tolerate a church who hid sexual predators? The Vatican guidelines do not mandate that the bishops must report clergy sex abuse to civl authorities! When the Irish bishops decided to finally do so, the Vatican opposed them. Check out the RTE Special Report. (link on my blog)
It is time for a holy shakeup in the Catholic Church. Now more then ever we need the wisdom and energy of young women, like Jamie and my niece Katie, to revitalize and reimagine our church.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Meditation and Mantras: A Boost to Both Soul and Brain/ Prayer Affirmations for Lenten Meditation
Meditation is a popular practice for millions of people throughout the world. However many of us do not realize the unexpected benefits not only bless our souls, but also enhance our brain's health.
In an article that appeared in the Washington Post entitled "Mantras, Meditation May Give Your Brain a Boost", Carolyn Butler writes:"New research from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicates that meditating regularly can actually change our brain structure for the better and in just a few months. (www.heraldtribune.com/health, Tue., March 8, 2011)
So here are a few suggestions for Lent:
1. Establish a routine- a daily practice- (5 or 10 minutes works)
2. Be conscious that all of life and everyday activity is laden with grace- with the presence of the divine. Whether eating, drinking, walking, driving, talking, God is always already present loving you in the present moment and offering you opportunities to love, give, forgive, heal, and grow holy and healthy.
3. Let distractions go. Don't get caught up in doing it "right". When distractions come, let them go, release worry about past or future and gently be attentive to the present.
4. Mantras are simple prayer words or a phrase that can help you center and be attentive to the precious moment. There are many forms of meditation and a wide diversity of approaches: chanting, centering prayer, guided relaxation exercises etc.
A few powerful mantras that focus our spirits on the divine are: God, Sophia, Holy Wisdom, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Yahweh, Holy One, Creator. One can also use words like any of the following words: peace, love, compassion. etc
Prayerful Affirmations:
God's infinite boundless love is embracing me, my family, ___
I thank a loving God for all the miracles I have received.
God's love sustains, supports and strengthens me in all that I do.
With God's help and love, I let go of all my fears.
God, your heart of love and healing fills my soul.
I let go of resentment and open my heart to forgiveness and healing.
I am a passionate reflection of the Holy One in our world.
(adapted from my book, Affirmations from the Heart of God)
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
In an article that appeared in the Washington Post entitled "Mantras, Meditation May Give Your Brain a Boost", Carolyn Butler writes:"New research from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicates that meditating regularly can actually change our brain structure for the better and in just a few months. (www.heraldtribune.com/health, Tue., March 8, 2011)
So here are a few suggestions for Lent:
1. Establish a routine- a daily practice- (5 or 10 minutes works)
2. Be conscious that all of life and everyday activity is laden with grace- with the presence of the divine. Whether eating, drinking, walking, driving, talking, God is always already present loving you in the present moment and offering you opportunities to love, give, forgive, heal, and grow holy and healthy.
3. Let distractions go. Don't get caught up in doing it "right". When distractions come, let them go, release worry about past or future and gently be attentive to the present.
4. Mantras are simple prayer words or a phrase that can help you center and be attentive to the precious moment. There are many forms of meditation and a wide diversity of approaches: chanting, centering prayer, guided relaxation exercises etc.
A few powerful mantras that focus our spirits on the divine are: God, Sophia, Holy Wisdom, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Yahweh, Holy One, Creator. One can also use words like any of the following words: peace, love, compassion. etc
Prayerful Affirmations:
God's infinite boundless love is embracing me, my family, ___
I thank a loving God for all the miracles I have received.
God's love sustains, supports and strengthens me in all that I do.
With God's help and love, I let go of all my fears.
God, your heart of love and healing fills my soul.
I let go of resentment and open my heart to forgiveness and healing.
I am a passionate reflection of the Holy One in our world.
(adapted from my book, Affirmations from the Heart of God)
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Friday, March 11, 2011
"Monster Quake Devastates Japan'/ NPR/ Our Prayers Are With People of Japan and the People of Libya and the Middle East
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/11/134472279/the-scale-of-disaster-seems-beyond-our-imagination
"The sun rose Saturday on Japan to reveal a country wracked by a 30-foot tsunami and the most powerful earthquake the country had ever recorded.
"I was terrified, and I'm still frightened," restaurant manager Hidekatsu Hata told Reuters from Tokyo moments after the quake struck. "I've never experienced such a big quake before."
Google launched a "person-finder" to help victims and families.
In the U.S., the resulting tsunami struck the west coast and Hawaii.
"The sun rose Saturday on Japan to reveal a country wracked by a 30-foot tsunami and the most powerful earthquake the country had ever recorded.
"I was terrified, and I'm still frightened," restaurant manager Hidekatsu Hata told Reuters from Tokyo moments after the quake struck. "I've never experienced such a big quake before."
Google launched a "person-finder" to help victims and families.
In the U.S., the resulting tsunami struck the west coast and Hawaii.
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Our prayers are with the people of Japan and all those affected by the horrific earthquake and tsunami that hit the Far East today.
Our prayers are with the people of Libya, Egypt and all who support human rights, justice and liberty in the Middle East, and in all countries throughout the world. As Martin Luther King taught us," injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Let us pray that justice, freedom and human rights will overcome! May it be so, Loving God!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Vatican Survey to Select Bishops 'Could be Illegal'
Barney Zwartz
March 12, 2011 from the Sidney Morning Herald
"A SECRET Vatican document used to research possible bishops almost certainly breaches Australian anti-discrimination laws and seems designed to ensure only the most conformist candidates can be promoted.
The questionnaire, sent to trusted clergy and a few laypeople by the Pope's ambassador, asks about the candidate's personal qualities, orthodoxy, loyalty to the Pope, commitment to celibacy and opposition to women priests, and his public image. It asks about predisposition to hereditary illness and the family's "condition"...
"...Its spokesman Paul Collins said the document's deficiencies were more important than usual because several bishops will retire in Australia in the next two years, including the archbishops of Brisbane, Perth and Hobart.
He said the questionnaires were used to assess candidates before the Papal Nuncio (Pope's ambassador) presented a shortlist to the Pope.
Dr Collins said among the objectionable requirements were fidelity to the "genuine tradition of the church'' and ''authentic renewal" promoted by the 1960s reforming Vatican Council, which meant support for the current papal line of reversing these reforms.
The most iniquitous requirement was adherence to the 1998 Statement of Conclusions imposed on Australian bishops.
"The Australian bishops were said to be far too egalitarian and laissez-faire. The views of a tiny unrepresentative group were adopted by the Curia and forced on the bishops without consultation," Dr Collins said.
The present system ensured appointed bishops were conformists whose primary gaze was upwards to the Pope rather than down towards the church. Pastoral aspects took a minor place in the questionnaire.
"The bishops are like Hitler's generals in that their oath of loyalty to the Pope utterly cripples them. They are unable to take any action contrary to Rome, and seem not to be interested in the local church," Dr Collins said."
March 12, 2011 from the Sidney Morning Herald
"A SECRET Vatican document used to research possible bishops almost certainly breaches Australian anti-discrimination laws and seems designed to ensure only the most conformist candidates can be promoted.
The questionnaire, sent to trusted clergy and a few laypeople by the Pope's ambassador, asks about the candidate's personal qualities, orthodoxy, loyalty to the Pope, commitment to celibacy and opposition to women priests, and his public image. It asks about predisposition to hereditary illness and the family's "condition"...
"...Its spokesman Paul Collins said the document's deficiencies were more important than usual because several bishops will retire in Australia in the next two years, including the archbishops of Brisbane, Perth and Hobart.
He said the questionnaires were used to assess candidates before the Papal Nuncio (Pope's ambassador) presented a shortlist to the Pope.
Dr Collins said among the objectionable requirements were fidelity to the "genuine tradition of the church'' and ''authentic renewal" promoted by the 1960s reforming Vatican Council, which meant support for the current papal line of reversing these reforms.
The most iniquitous requirement was adherence to the 1998 Statement of Conclusions imposed on Australian bishops.
"The Australian bishops were said to be far too egalitarian and laissez-faire. The views of a tiny unrepresentative group were adopted by the Curia and forced on the bishops without consultation," Dr Collins said.
The present system ensured appointed bishops were conformists whose primary gaze was upwards to the Pope rather than down towards the church. Pastoral aspects took a minor place in the questionnaire.
"The bishops are like Hitler's generals in that their oath of loyalty to the Pope utterly cripples them. They are unable to take any action contrary to Rome, and seem not to be interested in the local church," Dr Collins said."
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"The Crisis of Episcopal Governance in Philadelphia" by Michael Sean Winters
by Michael Sean Winters
on Mar. 09, 2011
But we now know the man at the helm was not only derelict in his duties, he completely misunderstood the nature and import of the promises made to the faithful at Dallas...
..." The Vatican must remove Cardinal Rigali and remove him now.
..."The New Evangelization? Forget about it. Pro-life activities? Not a chance. Advocacy for the poor? It rings hollow. If the leaders of the Church cannot be trusted to keep their most solemn pledge to protect children, they cannot be trusted at all. If they fail to see this, their moral sensibility is not merely skewed, it is dead. It is not only that they cannot be trusted, it is that they should not be trusted...
Cardinal Rigali has proved himself eminent in his arrogance, in his willingness to flout the standards of conduct to which he had pledged himself. For the good of the Church, no, for the survival of the Church, he must go and he must go in disgrace. No continued membership of the Congregation for Bishops. No sinecure. Let him go someplace quiet and repent of his sins.
..."the Holy See can remove a bishop from his diocese. The ball is now in the Vatican’s court. If they fail to move swiftly in Philadelphia, the people of God in Ireland and Germany and around the world will take note and the church will be seen to be unserious in its promises. .."
..."The situation in Philadelphia is not, as one person put it, “Boston Reborn.” This is worse than Boston. After Dallas, there is no excuse."
on Mar. 09, 2011
http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/crisis-episcopal-governance-philadelphia
..."The announcement yesterday that 21 priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were being placed on administrative leave demonstrates conclusively that the Dallas norms have failed. (Another five were either already retired or had left the archdiocese.) "
But we now know the man at the helm was not only derelict in his duties, he completely misunderstood the nature and import of the promises made to the faithful at Dallas...
..." The Vatican must remove Cardinal Rigali and remove him now.
..."The New Evangelization? Forget about it. Pro-life activities? Not a chance. Advocacy for the poor? It rings hollow. If the leaders of the Church cannot be trusted to keep their most solemn pledge to protect children, they cannot be trusted at all. If they fail to see this, their moral sensibility is not merely skewed, it is dead. It is not only that they cannot be trusted, it is that they should not be trusted...
Cardinal Rigali has proved himself eminent in his arrogance, in his willingness to flout the standards of conduct to which he had pledged himself. For the good of the Church, no, for the survival of the Church, he must go and he must go in disgrace. No continued membership of the Congregation for Bishops. No sinecure. Let him go someplace quiet and repent of his sins.
..."the Holy See can remove a bishop from his diocese. The ball is now in the Vatican’s court. If they fail to move swiftly in Philadelphia, the people of God in Ireland and Germany and around the world will take note and the church will be seen to be unserious in its promises. .."
..."The situation in Philadelphia is not, as one person put it, “Boston Reborn.” This is worse than Boston. After Dallas, there is no excuse."
"Can the Church Still be Saved?" by Hans Kung/ Urges Catholics "to Seize Control of Church from Clerical Masters"
Tuebingen, Germany -
"..Speaking at the book launch in Tuebingen, Germany, Wednesday, the 82-year-old said Jesus Christ would not like today's Catholic Church."
'If Jesus of Nazareth returned, he would not prohibit contraceptives, he would not shut out divorced people, and so on, Kueng said.'
"He charged that the curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, had come up with a long series of rulings over the centuries that opposed the teachings laid down in the Christian New Testament..."
..."In the book, he argues that resistance to church doctrines that are 'obviously against the Gospels' is a duty."
"Kueng said this included Catholic parishes insisting on keeping their priests after they marry, even if church law declares the man is no longer a priest. He said the church could only saved by the faithful taking over responsibility for their church. "
Bridget Mary's Reflection
Kudos to Hans Kung for speaking truth to power, confronting the abouse of power by church authorities and for calling Catholics to stand up to the Vatican.
I agree that Jesus would not recognize the institutional Roman Catholic Church today. Jesus would not prohibit contraceptions, or prohibit divorced people from receiving sacraments. Jesus would not condemn gay, lesbian or transgendered people. Since Jesus's disciples were male and female, if Jesus returned today he would welcome married priests and women priests into the circle of discipleship!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
"..Speaking at the book launch in Tuebingen, Germany, Wednesday, the 82-year-old said Jesus Christ would not like today's Catholic Church."
'If Jesus of Nazareth returned, he would not prohibit contraceptives, he would not shut out divorced people, and so on, Kueng said.'
"He charged that the curia, or Vatican bureaucracy, had come up with a long series of rulings over the centuries that opposed the teachings laid down in the Christian New Testament..."
..."In the book, he argues that resistance to church doctrines that are 'obviously against the Gospels' is a duty."
"Kueng said this included Catholic parishes insisting on keeping their priests after they marry, even if church law declares the man is no longer a priest. He said the church could only saved by the faithful taking over responsibility for their church. "
Bridget Mary's Reflection
Kudos to Hans Kung for speaking truth to power, confronting the abouse of power by church authorities and for calling Catholics to stand up to the Vatican.
I agree that Jesus would not recognize the institutional Roman Catholic Church today. Jesus would not prohibit contraceptions, or prohibit divorced people from receiving sacraments. Jesus would not condemn gay, lesbian or transgendered people. Since Jesus's disciples were male and female, if Jesus returned today he would welcome married priests and women priests into the circle of discipleship!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Philadelphia Priests Suspended Over Sex Abuse Report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12684494
"Twenty-one priests in the US city of Philadelphia have been suspended after being named in an inquiry into claims of widespread child molestation.
The move follows the release last month of a grand jury report in which 37 priests were identified as suspects.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, said the 21 Roman Catholic priests had been placed on leave while their cases were reviewed
Three of the 37 priests named as suspects in the grand jury report were suspended in February, a week after its release.
Five more were already on leave, serving elsewhere or no longer in active ministry, the Philadelphia archdiocese said."
"Twenty-one priests in the US city of Philadelphia have been suspended after being named in an inquiry into claims of widespread child molestation.
The move follows the release last month of a grand jury report in which 37 priests were identified as suspects.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, said the 21 Roman Catholic priests had been placed on leave while their cases were reviewed
Three of the 37 priests named as suspects in the grand jury report were suspended in February, a week after its release.
Five more were already on leave, serving elsewhere or no longer in active ministry, the Philadelphia archdiocese said."
"Forget about Sainthood, Let's Worry about Ministry" NCR Online
by Bill Tammeus on Mar. 09, 2011 National Catholic Reporter Online
"I won’t hide my own opinion here behind these nameless “many Protestants” to whom I’ve been referring (though they exist). My opinion is that all of the money, staff and other resources the church uses in the saint-naming process could be better used to do needed ministry to a wounded world.
I don’t know what all of that effort and staff cost, but whatever it is, wouldn’t it be better to devote the resources to feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, comforting the bereaved and healing the abused?"
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
"Not Bad for a Day of Ordinary Miracles" by Judy Lee, RCWP
The Shadow At the Door
She was a dark shadow on the door
of the downtown St Francis Catholic Church
huddled in the corner
huddled in the corner
between the white wall and the red door
thin and gaunt,
black on black
except for the blue checked men's winter jacket pulled over her head.
This was where she lived for all the world to see.
Urine ran down her legs gathering in her one sandal,
the smell was a cornered animal baking in the Florida sun.
I moved closer very slowly, not sure it was her.
"Jennifer", I whispered her name.
The coat, concealing her wet dress and a plastic bag
with rancid foodthat she was eating,
slipped down over her pencil thin shoulders covered with infected bug bites.
"Pastor", she said,"I was praying-God sent you to me".
"Yes, Jennifer" I said, moving closer,"God sent me,
will you come with me so we can get your income back
and find a place for you to live inside?"
"I"ve been waiting for you", she stammered,
moving toward the car, and getting in.
"Can I have a fish sandwich?""
As many as you like."
And before the end of the day,
she had her income restored,
a downpayment on her new trailer home,
and a fish sandwich with all the works.
"Thank God, thank God, she said.
Her name is *Jennifer Blue and
she is no longer a shadow on the door of the Catholic church
but an equal at the Table and a home owner besides.
Not bad for a day of ordinary miracles.
Judy Lee, RCWP
( *Jennifer Blue is a pseudonym to protect privacy.)
Ft. Myers, Florida
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP, works with the homeless in Ft. Myers, Florida.
The Women of Innsbrook Diocese Demand Women Priests/ Austria Leads the Way to a Spirit-Filled, People -Empowered Revolution in Catholic Church
Historic Ordinations in Pittsburgh, PA./USA
http://kath.net/detail.php?id=30471
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.kath.net/detail.php%3Fid%3D30471&ei=QKF2TfXLJMKjtgepmKilBg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAntir%25C3%25B6mische%2B%2527Visionen%2527%2Bin%2Bder%2BDi%25C3%25B6zese%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Divns
"We're all about, that the spiritual traditions of women in all cultures and religions are respected and further developed", said Ritter Grepl her eyes wide with about the "Catholic box" addition. The Catholic Church is particularly challenged," says Gertraud Ladner, president of the Catholic Women's Commission in Innsbruck. ..."Among the five points include the requirement of equality of the sexes in the various religions and religious communities and "the same entry criteria for offices and services for women and men - particularly in the Roman Catholic Church...De facto, making it the requirement of priestly ordination for women meant. "
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Kudos to the people of Austria standing up for women priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Your witness for justice is prophetic. May it ignite a worldwide demand for women priests as partners and equals in a non-clerical renewed priestly ministry in an egalitarian, just, people-empowered, Spirit-filled Catholc Church!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Monday, March 7, 2011
"Vatican II Beyond Pietism"/ Pax Christi South by J. Patrick Mahon/ Imagine Catholics in St. Peter's Square Demanding Justice for All/Women Priests
http://paxchristisouth.org/2011/03/06/vatican-ii-beyond-pietism/
"We cannot allow power-driven patriarchs to dismantle Vatican II. We live and pray and work in a world that values contemplation, collegiality, dialogue, justice, ecumenism, primacy of conscience, and participation. Espousing these values, Merton was critical and outspoken about abuses of church authority. He chastised the institutional church for giving primacy to institutional values over the value of individuals living and loving in communio. He called the institutional church a collective—the very same term that was applied to Communist dictatorships. Strong prophetic words in deed! He believed that the patriarchs in control of the church were intent upon building monumental tombstones over the church’s own grave."
"We must interrupt the funeral procession of the church. In my wildest dreams, I imagine a scene like Tahrir Squre in the piazza of St. Peter’s—millions of Vatican II Catholics camping out and nonviolently protesting until the pope and his minions recognize the priesthood of the people of God..."
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Thank you, Patrick Mahon, for this wonderful image. I, too, imagine millons of Vatican II Catholics camping out and nonviolently protesting the lack of women in top leadership positions in the Vatican and demanding women priests in their parishes! (canon law reserves top jobs to the ordained and canon 1024 reserves the priesthood to baptized males.)
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
"We cannot allow power-driven patriarchs to dismantle Vatican II. We live and pray and work in a world that values contemplation, collegiality, dialogue, justice, ecumenism, primacy of conscience, and participation. Espousing these values, Merton was critical and outspoken about abuses of church authority. He chastised the institutional church for giving primacy to institutional values over the value of individuals living and loving in communio. He called the institutional church a collective—the very same term that was applied to Communist dictatorships. Strong prophetic words in deed! He believed that the patriarchs in control of the church were intent upon building monumental tombstones over the church’s own grave."
"We must interrupt the funeral procession of the church. In my wildest dreams, I imagine a scene like Tahrir Squre in the piazza of St. Peter’s—millions of Vatican II Catholics camping out and nonviolently protesting until the pope and his minions recognize the priesthood of the people of God..."
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Thank you, Patrick Mahon, for this wonderful image. I, too, imagine millons of Vatican II Catholics camping out and nonviolently protesting the lack of women in top leadership positions in the Vatican and demanding women priests in their parishes! (canon law reserves top jobs to the ordained and canon 1024 reserves the priesthood to baptized males.)
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
"Priests Lose Faith in their Church" /Needed Women Priests in a Renewed Priestly Ministry in a Community of Equals
"Priests lose faith in their church"
Leesha McKenny
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS -
Sydney Morning Herald
February 26, 2011
"Such were the varied, often frank and sometimes bleak views of Australia's Catholic clergy revealed in an anonymous survey.
"The Charles Sturt University academics Chris McGillion and John O'Carroll approached 1550 active and 160 retired priests for their views on their lives and their church, and 542 took part in the written survey.
The results, plus 50 face-to-face interviews, were the basis of their book Our Fathers, which revealed that many thought the Vatican was out of touch, bishops were bad managers and the future of the church was a cause of great concern.
''You've got a very representative group of mainstream priests responding,'' said Mr McGillion, a former Herald journalist.What emerged was a priesthood in a professional crisis, rather than a vocational one, he said. While 90.2 per cent said their lives as priests had been fulfilling, 47.4 per cent found the workload ''excessive'' and 54.3 per cent thought they had too little say in the life of the church.Only 35.4 per cent thought bishops were doing a good job, with one saying their performance was ''between poor and mediocre''. But 43 per cent did not feel nurtured by their bishop while 41.5 per cent did. Almost 65 per cent did not think Rome understood the challenges facing priests and 70.1 per cent thought it often failed to understand the nature of the Australian church.This schism was reflected in the respondents' views on church teachings. Only 19.2 per cent thought it sinful for married couples to use birth control.Almost 70 per cent thought abortion was always a sin but only 40.2 per cent said the same of sex before marriage. More than 70 per cent thought celibacy for priests should be optional and several priests made ''no secret of the fact they were in long-term committed relationships with women..."
Leesha McKenny
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS -
Sydney Morning Herald
February 26, 2011
"Such were the varied, often frank and sometimes bleak views of Australia's Catholic clergy revealed in an anonymous survey.
"The Charles Sturt University academics Chris McGillion and John O'Carroll approached 1550 active and 160 retired priests for their views on their lives and their church, and 542 took part in the written survey.
The results, plus 50 face-to-face interviews, were the basis of their book Our Fathers, which revealed that many thought the Vatican was out of touch, bishops were bad managers and the future of the church was a cause of great concern.
''You've got a very representative group of mainstream priests responding,'' said Mr McGillion, a former Herald journalist.What emerged was a priesthood in a professional crisis, rather than a vocational one, he said. While 90.2 per cent said their lives as priests had been fulfilling, 47.4 per cent found the workload ''excessive'' and 54.3 per cent thought they had too little say in the life of the church.Only 35.4 per cent thought bishops were doing a good job, with one saying their performance was ''between poor and mediocre''. But 43 per cent did not feel nurtured by their bishop while 41.5 per cent did. Almost 65 per cent did not think Rome understood the challenges facing priests and 70.1 per cent thought it often failed to understand the nature of the Australian church.This schism was reflected in the respondents' views on church teachings. Only 19.2 per cent thought it sinful for married couples to use birth control.Almost 70 per cent thought abortion was always a sin but only 40.2 per cent said the same of sex before marriage. More than 70 per cent thought celibacy for priests should be optional and several priests made ''no secret of the fact they were in long-term committed relationships with women..."
Bridget Mary's Reflection
This is yet another example of the worldwide institutional meltdown of the Roman Catholic clerical, male-dominated church. The Australian male priests, like the Irish priests, have had it with the Vatican's disconnect from the people of God on a number of issues including the coverup of the global sexual abuse crisis, lay empowerment, the role of women in the church, the movement backward to a Pre-Vatican Church. What can be done? Plenty. Communities of faith do not need to pay, pray and obey the Vatican as they go backward to Medieval Catholcism.
We, Vatican II Catholics, must obey the Spirit who is calling us to prophetic obedience to disobey unjust laws like the ban on women's ordination. The Vatican can no longer continue to discriminate against women and blame God for it. It is time for grassroots faith communities to rise up, and take back our church. We are called to a renewed priestly ministry of married priests, women priests and celibate male priests, who work together for a more just, egalitarian people-empowered church. Let's be the change we wish to see happen in the world now!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Friday, March 4, 2011
"Vatican Blocks Re-Election of Caritas Internationalis chief: Dr. Lesley-Anne Knight"
Robert Mickens
19 February 2011
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15927
"The global Catholic development agency Caritas Internationalis (CI) is reeling after the Vatican took the highly unusual step of officially blocking Lesley-Anne Knight from running for a second four-year term as CI secretary general. "
"An official at a national Caritas member agency who spoke on condition of anonymity opined that Dr Knight may have been rejected because she been “critical of the Vatican machine, has made no secret of it and has failed to be discreet”. But the official praised her for “professionalising” the Rome headquarters, tackling debt and reforming financial operations. Another Caritas source said there is a sense among some Vatican officials that Dr Knight has not done enough to instil a specifically Catholic identity and sense of evangelisation into the confederation’s mission and activities."
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Sounds familiar-- the Vatican has a problem with strong women. Isn't it time for a change of heart on the part of the hierarchy? We need courageous women, like Dr. Lesley-Anne Knight, leading organizations like Caritas.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
sofiabmm@aol.com
19 February 2011
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/15927
"The global Catholic development agency Caritas Internationalis (CI) is reeling after the Vatican took the highly unusual step of officially blocking Lesley-Anne Knight from running for a second four-year term as CI secretary general. "
"An official at a national Caritas member agency who spoke on condition of anonymity opined that Dr Knight may have been rejected because she been “critical of the Vatican machine, has made no secret of it and has failed to be discreet”. But the official praised her for “professionalising” the Rome headquarters, tackling debt and reforming financial operations. Another Caritas source said there is a sense among some Vatican officials that Dr Knight has not done enough to instil a specifically Catholic identity and sense of evangelisation into the confederation’s mission and activities."
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Sounds familiar-- the Vatican has a problem with strong women. Isn't it time for a change of heart on the part of the hierarchy? We need courageous women, like Dr. Lesley-Anne Knight, leading organizations like Caritas.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
sofiabmm@aol.com
Thursday, March 3, 2011
"Pink Smoke Over the Vatican" -Movie about Roman Catholic Women Priests"Underground Movement Catching On"
Historic Ordinations of
women deacons and priests
in Pittsburgh
on July 31, 2006-
first ordination in U.S.
Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” is a 2010 film produced and directed by Jules Hart and distributed by Eye Goddess Films. The Eye Goddess Films website describes the film this way: “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a documentary film about the controversial movement of women seeking to be ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. On June 3, 2008, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the modern name for The Holy Office of the Inquisition, issued a sweeping order of excommunication for ‘the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman.’ Pink Smoke Over the Vatican chronicles the events that led up to this severe punishment and tells the stories of the determined women and men who, through the forbidden and illicit path of female ordination, are working to end the underlying misogyny and outdated feudal governance that is slowly destroying the Roman Catholic Church.” “The Fresno group, Womanspirit Rising, seeks to call attention to the movement through the film, which will be shown at 1 p.m. March 5 at The Oneness Center, 1752 E. Bullard Ave., Suite 106,” the Fresno Bee reports. "It is a film about social justice and peace on what is currently happening," Clovis resident Jenine Cortopassi and a member of Womanspirit Rising, told the Bee. "It is an underground movement – and it is catching on. It is bringing people up to speed. Most people in Catholic circles aren't aware of it."
Bridget Mary's Reflecton:
Kudos to Jules Hart for her outstandng film on the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement! Obviously, this controversial film is spreading awareness of our revolutionary movement to transform the Roman Catholic Church into a more just and egalitarian community of faith. Let the "holy shakeup" continue!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Wilkinson Report/The Roman Catholic Church in Australia- "looming disaster/ How about Women Priests?
"It is our pleasure today to bring you a report, The Wilkinson Report, that is also simultaneously being released in the mainstream media examining the serious crisis the Catholic Church is facing in Australia in providing the sacraments and pastoral care to its core constituency of baptised Catholics. We present both the report, a couple of brief summaries of the full report, as well as our own editorial comment on the report's conclusions.
The looming disaster of not enough priests...
Media Release summary ofThe Wilkinson ReportClick on the image above to read the Media Release Summary of the full report.
The FULL REPORT can be downloaded or viewed online HERE.
The Report commissioned by Catholics for Ministry, funded by Women and the Australian Church, and compiled by Peter J Wilkinson and published today is one of the most comprehensive assessments of the looming not just crisis, but disaster, the Catholic Church is facing across the island continent of Australia in delivering the core sacraments and pastoral care to the continually increasing Catholic population of the nation. The harsh reality facing many Catholics alive in Australia right now is that when they die in the next 10, 20 or 30 years time, their families will simply not be able to find a priest to provide them with the last rites. There will not be enough priests available across large parts of the continent, or they will be so stretched providing the last rites or pastoral care to others, that the families will have to 'make do' with the services provided inhouse by funeral directors or they will increasingly have to rely on government licensed funeral and marriage celebrants. Regular participation in the other core sacraments, including the Eucharist, particularly in the remote and regional dioceses will become a rarer and rarer event.
The only "saving grace" to the situation is that fewer and fewer of the baptised seem to bother enough to participate. That however can scarcely be put forward by any bishop as an excuse as to why they have failed in their primary responsibility of not only maintaining participation rates but fulfiling the core mission of Jesus to "bring the Good News to all people". The "bottom line" — as many bishops already know — is that the nation is simply running out of priests. The Church is no longer recruiting enough new priests and the prospect of importing them from other countries looks dimmer and dimmer whichever way you look at the projected statistics 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years into the future.
The report is broken into fifteen sections of what basically amounts to a comprehensive statistical analysis of the State of the Catholic Church as it appears now, as it has appeared in the past, and based on population, recruiting and participation trends what the situation will be at various points in the future. These are the section headings:
The Report was commissioned by Catholics for Ministry and the publication of the Report was funded by Women and The Australian Church
The Wilkinson Report author:Peter Wilkinson, DMiss.(PUG), BEd. is a missiologist and former Columban missionary priest. He has worked as Director of the Clearing House on Migration Issues (CHOMI) at the Ecumenical Migration Centre, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, and Guest Lecturer in Missiology at Yarra Theological Union. He is married and now retired.
Introduction
Dioceses & Bishops
Catholic Population
Parishes
Priests
Migrant Chaplains
Seminarians
Priests recruited from overseas
Permanent Deacons
Religious Sisters
Lay Pastoral Associates/Pastoral Workers
Religious Brothers
Mass Attendance
Parish Schools
Priests in parish ministry: 2010-2025
The report then concludes with three sections:
A short essay entitled "Parish Ministry Disaster?" which explores the core doctrinal and pastoral understandings the institutional Church has developed down through the centuries of the central role of the priest and his role as leader and spiritual guide to his parish community and how it is going to be increasingly difficult to meet these given the growth in population and the decreasing number of priests and pastoral associates.
A five-part section examining various "Options for Action" under the following headings: Recruiting autochthonous or local priests; Recruiting overseas priests; Doing Nothing; Rethinking parish ministry; and Rethinking the identity of priest.
The Wilkinson Report Conclusion...
The Report then finishes with the following Conclusion which we present here in full:
To the question 'Is parish ministry facing a disaster?' the evidence, at an institutional level, suggests the affirmative. It also suggests that the bishops seem unsure of how to deal with it.The rebuilding of a strong and vibrant autochthonous presbyterate in the short-term appears impossible, with new local priests insufficient to replace those retiring over the next 15 years. As if in despair, the bishops have attempted to 'hold the parish ministry fort' with a short-term strategy of recruiting overseas priests, a program of merging existing parishes, and putting a heavy brake on establishing new parishes. The result is parish ministry in retreat at the very time when the Catholic population is growing rapidly.Nevertheless, signs of hope are present. The permanent deaconate has been revived, there is an increasing presence of lay pastoral associates and community leaders in parish ministry, and Catholic schools, now overwhelmingly in the hands of laypersons, are well-placed to stimulate the faith of young people and play a significant role in inculturation. But if the disaster is to be averted, more is needed. It is not enough to treat the symptoms of the crisis; the causes must also be addressed. The vision of Vatican II must be totally unshackled, full co-responsibility implemented in every facet of ministry and church life, proper consultative processes with transparency and accountability put in place, the priestly ministry opened up to married persons, and the essential role of women in ministry properly recognized. The misuse of power must cease and the paradigm of service prevail.The on-going priest shortage cannot be solved simply by recruiting priests from overseas on short-term contracts. Only long-term and broader policies can rebuild a vibrant autochthonous presbyterate. These will have to deal courageously with the current 'priestly package' of male, celibate, life-long and full-time. In this Australia's bishops will need to show leadership and initiative, and a willingness to discuss with their people all the options, including the ordination of married men and the role of women in ministry.Vatican II stated that 'the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel' (Gaudium et Spes, n.3-4).The times are always changing, as are human environments, and all organisms which exist in these environments must also change and adapt if they are to survive and thrive. The Church is an organism in this changing world and it too, if it is to survive and thrive, has no choice but to adapt. Guided by the Spirit and holding fast to the Gospel, it can.The purpose of Vatican II was 'aggiornamento', ensuring continual renewal of the Church, making it relevant to today's world, and adapting it to its new environment. The Church, universal and local, is always in need of boosts of renewal. Now is surely the time for one in Australian Catholicism.
Catholica editorial response...
Readers of Catholica will feel greatly indebted to Catholics for Ministry (CfM), Women and The Australian Church (WATAC) and Peter Wilkinson for the effort and expense that has gone into the compilation of this report. Much of what is presented and discussed in the report is 'common fare' for many of our conversations on Catholica. This report provides solid statistical evidence that will prove valuable over time for our discussions.
At an editorial level here at Catholica we are far more pessimistic than the sponsors and author of The Wilkinson Report that anything much is going to change in the institutional Church. The culture and experience of the past forty years suggests there will be no more positive reception to this report from the Bishops than there was to the Petition that Catholics for Ministry presented some years ago. At the highest levels of the institution the entire thrust of the institution today is geared to undoing almost everything that was discerned by the majority of Bishops who assembled at the Second Vatican Council. The forces of reaction, which were led at the Council by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani have won. The forces in the human psyche of the element who have seized control of the institutional Church are simply too powerful to overcome. The institution today is no longer recruiting from "the best and brightest" in its elite schools and the attrition rate of men and women from religious life has been a further massive drain on the leadership ranks as it has tended to be men and women of stronger character who were able to make the difficult decision to chart a radically new course in their lives to the one they had originally felt called to make. Virtually all factors that one can think of are aligned against the sorts of radical re-thinking that would be necessary for this looming crisis to be overcome. Our honest prediction is that Pope Benedict will see his dream fulfilled of a "smaller, purer Church" although we have deep doubts that its purity will be capable of achieving "salvation" for any person.
A double tragedy...
It is disheartening, indeed a tragedy, to have to write the foregoing. It is however the harsh reality as we presently see the situation. The tragedy is compounded because as we have pointed out the Church in this country is actually in a superb condition from many other points of view. It could achieve so much. It does have the largest, most professionally qualified — and in the realms of religion, spirituality and theology, the most theologically qualified — workforce it has ever had and one that is not matched on a per capita basis by any other single national church on the entire planet. The institution is in perhaps the best condition it has ever been in from a financial point of view and in the quality and maintenance of all of its physical assets. The two principal problems it has is that the vast majority of the baptised have ceased listening and participating and the recruiting of quality priests and spiritual guides has virtually come to a standstill. (In passing it might be noted that the report makes no evaluation of the actual quality of the candidates that are presenting for seminary and ordination today. Many mature lay Catholics today who have contact with some of the young men who are presenting themselves really do have raised eyebrows about the quality of new priests coming into ministry. They are often arrogant, very often filled with zeal but also with this sense that they alone have all the answers to life's problems. Mature people find some of them very green behind the ears and hold grave fears for the future of the institution simply on the basis of the quality of priests presently being recruited. From the feedback we get through our own adult children who sometimes come into contact with these men we know they are not earning significant respect in the wider population.) Intelligent Catholics want far more than "Mass sayers" today. The sense most mature but now disenchanted Catholics we come into contact with today is that they simply do not believe the pathway to paradise is travelled by some "magic" dispensed through the sacraments. It is discerned by learning to think, feel and act in the ways modelled and taught by Jesus Christ. Our bishops, and more especially our leaders in Rome, present a theology to us that presents Jesus to us more as the magician rather than as the teacher and model for how any person can think, feel and act their way through life and into everlasting life.
We frankly see absolutely zero prospects of Rome adopting a new attitude and actually having concern for the 86% of the baptised who have drifted away and their spiritual, social and temporal welfare. The constant message coming from Rome is it's all "their fault" — those who have drifted away. If they want to be part of our private little church "they" (the ones who have drifted away) have to adopt the taliban attitudes of the remnant that we believe are the only "true Catholics" whom the Almighty directs us to serve."
The one faint hope...
"The one faint hope — and again we are particularly indebted to Catholics for Ministry and in particular Dr Paul Collins for this — is if one, or a small group of bishops, took it upon themselves to defy Rome and actually chart a new course: one that is actually directed to discerning the needs of the great majority of the baptised; who would take on and confront — or even better still, educate and catechise — the taliban element on behalf of us all rather than constantly appease them; and who would attempt to rebuild the structure — the actual "Corpus Christi" — in their local environment. As Dr Collins has pointed out, historically this is often how change has occurred in the Church — some local bishop or group of people adopt a new style or theological outlook and over time this is adopted by more and more people and then centuries later Rome finally gives its stamp of approval to whatever the innovation happened to be. The question is: is there any bishop, or group of bishops, willing to "step up to the mark" and provide real leadership to their flock? As I jokingly suggested in the Catholica Forum a couple of days ago, there's a great seat awaiting someone in heaven who bites the bullet and provides a solution to the crisis the institution is facing in this country. Their actions may well turn out to be a model for the entire nation, or even the entire Western world. To achieve such a turn-around for the institution would surely earn more plaudits both in the here and now and in the hereafter than all these other pathetic games we have had to put up with for the past forty years and more? It would be a far more worthy life and vocational goal than chasing after a cardinal's temporal power and prestige or some other place of temporal honour in this rapidly disintegrating ship. It is actually helping "build the kingdom" — not being a participant in its gradual emasculation and destruction."
"Losing faith" — not in God but in our bishops and spiritual leaders..."
"Finally, by way of caution, could we say: the fundamental problems confronting the Church, particularly in Australia today, are not actually to do with money, the lack of resources or personnel to do anything, nor the lack of physical infrastructure. The key problems are principally theological and, linked into that, our actual ecclesiology and understanding of the nature and role of priesthood. It is a rank fallacy to suggest that all of the 86% who have left regular sacramental participation have been beguiled by relativism and consumerism and the "ways of the world". That may have happened to some, even 50% of those who have left. Many, particularly amongst the more educated and thoughtful have left for reasons to do with actually believing our Holy Bishops have been leading us up the garden path and away from authentic Catholic belief and thinking. Most of the educated reflective faithful who haven't charged off in the direction of even more fundamentalist denominations and sects, have simply ceased to believe key parts of the theology that the taliban element in the Church and their bishop patrons are constantly trying to force down our necks. We have also "lost faith" in the model of priesthood and church community that is being presented to us. We have "lost faith" that the pathway that our spiritual superiors offer to us in the Church actually leads to salvation and resurrection. We have "lost faith" in our bishops and priests — that is testified to by the massive drift away from sacramental participation. We have NOT "lost faith" in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Father, or the Trinitarian God. Those of us old enough to remember the sense of vibrancy and excitement that infected the Church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council sincerely do believe the vast majority of bishops at that Council were "guided by the Holy Spirit" and had begun to discern at least some of the answers to these questions of deep theology, Christology, ecclesiology and the role of the priest as leader and guide of our local communities."
Bridget Mary's Reflecton:
Yes, indeed, it appears that Australia may be ready for Roman Catholic Women Priests. For more information, contact Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP at sofiabmm@aol.com
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
The looming disaster of not enough priests...
Media Release summary ofThe Wilkinson ReportClick on the image above to read the Media Release Summary of the full report.
The FULL REPORT can be downloaded or viewed online HERE.
The Report commissioned by Catholics for Ministry, funded by Women and the Australian Church, and compiled by Peter J Wilkinson and published today is one of the most comprehensive assessments of the looming not just crisis, but disaster, the Catholic Church is facing across the island continent of Australia in delivering the core sacraments and pastoral care to the continually increasing Catholic population of the nation. The harsh reality facing many Catholics alive in Australia right now is that when they die in the next 10, 20 or 30 years time, their families will simply not be able to find a priest to provide them with the last rites. There will not be enough priests available across large parts of the continent, or they will be so stretched providing the last rites or pastoral care to others, that the families will have to 'make do' with the services provided inhouse by funeral directors or they will increasingly have to rely on government licensed funeral and marriage celebrants. Regular participation in the other core sacraments, including the Eucharist, particularly in the remote and regional dioceses will become a rarer and rarer event.
The only "saving grace" to the situation is that fewer and fewer of the baptised seem to bother enough to participate. That however can scarcely be put forward by any bishop as an excuse as to why they have failed in their primary responsibility of not only maintaining participation rates but fulfiling the core mission of Jesus to "bring the Good News to all people". The "bottom line" — as many bishops already know — is that the nation is simply running out of priests. The Church is no longer recruiting enough new priests and the prospect of importing them from other countries looks dimmer and dimmer whichever way you look at the projected statistics 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years into the future.
The report is broken into fifteen sections of what basically amounts to a comprehensive statistical analysis of the State of the Catholic Church as it appears now, as it has appeared in the past, and based on population, recruiting and participation trends what the situation will be at various points in the future. These are the section headings:
The Report was commissioned by Catholics for Ministry and the publication of the Report was funded by Women and The Australian Church
The Wilkinson Report author:Peter Wilkinson, DMiss.(PUG), BEd. is a missiologist and former Columban missionary priest. He has worked as Director of the Clearing House on Migration Issues (CHOMI) at the Ecumenical Migration Centre, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, and Guest Lecturer in Missiology at Yarra Theological Union. He is married and now retired.
Introduction
Dioceses & Bishops
Catholic Population
Parishes
Priests
Migrant Chaplains
Seminarians
Priests recruited from overseas
Permanent Deacons
Religious Sisters
Lay Pastoral Associates/Pastoral Workers
Religious Brothers
Mass Attendance
Parish Schools
Priests in parish ministry: 2010-2025
The report then concludes with three sections:
A short essay entitled "Parish Ministry Disaster?" which explores the core doctrinal and pastoral understandings the institutional Church has developed down through the centuries of the central role of the priest and his role as leader and spiritual guide to his parish community and how it is going to be increasingly difficult to meet these given the growth in population and the decreasing number of priests and pastoral associates.
A five-part section examining various "Options for Action" under the following headings: Recruiting autochthonous or local priests; Recruiting overseas priests; Doing Nothing; Rethinking parish ministry; and Rethinking the identity of priest.
The Wilkinson Report Conclusion...
The Report then finishes with the following Conclusion which we present here in full:
To the question 'Is parish ministry facing a disaster?' the evidence, at an institutional level, suggests the affirmative. It also suggests that the bishops seem unsure of how to deal with it.The rebuilding of a strong and vibrant autochthonous presbyterate in the short-term appears impossible, with new local priests insufficient to replace those retiring over the next 15 years. As if in despair, the bishops have attempted to 'hold the parish ministry fort' with a short-term strategy of recruiting overseas priests, a program of merging existing parishes, and putting a heavy brake on establishing new parishes. The result is parish ministry in retreat at the very time when the Catholic population is growing rapidly.Nevertheless, signs of hope are present. The permanent deaconate has been revived, there is an increasing presence of lay pastoral associates and community leaders in parish ministry, and Catholic schools, now overwhelmingly in the hands of laypersons, are well-placed to stimulate the faith of young people and play a significant role in inculturation. But if the disaster is to be averted, more is needed. It is not enough to treat the symptoms of the crisis; the causes must also be addressed. The vision of Vatican II must be totally unshackled, full co-responsibility implemented in every facet of ministry and church life, proper consultative processes with transparency and accountability put in place, the priestly ministry opened up to married persons, and the essential role of women in ministry properly recognized. The misuse of power must cease and the paradigm of service prevail.The on-going priest shortage cannot be solved simply by recruiting priests from overseas on short-term contracts. Only long-term and broader policies can rebuild a vibrant autochthonous presbyterate. These will have to deal courageously with the current 'priestly package' of male, celibate, life-long and full-time. In this Australia's bishops will need to show leadership and initiative, and a willingness to discuss with their people all the options, including the ordination of married men and the role of women in ministry.Vatican II stated that 'the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ Himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel' (Gaudium et Spes, n.3-4).The times are always changing, as are human environments, and all organisms which exist in these environments must also change and adapt if they are to survive and thrive. The Church is an organism in this changing world and it too, if it is to survive and thrive, has no choice but to adapt. Guided by the Spirit and holding fast to the Gospel, it can.The purpose of Vatican II was 'aggiornamento', ensuring continual renewal of the Church, making it relevant to today's world, and adapting it to its new environment. The Church, universal and local, is always in need of boosts of renewal. Now is surely the time for one in Australian Catholicism.
Catholica editorial response...
Readers of Catholica will feel greatly indebted to Catholics for Ministry (CfM), Women and The Australian Church (WATAC) and Peter Wilkinson for the effort and expense that has gone into the compilation of this report. Much of what is presented and discussed in the report is 'common fare' for many of our conversations on Catholica. This report provides solid statistical evidence that will prove valuable over time for our discussions.
At an editorial level here at Catholica we are far more pessimistic than the sponsors and author of The Wilkinson Report that anything much is going to change in the institutional Church. The culture and experience of the past forty years suggests there will be no more positive reception to this report from the Bishops than there was to the Petition that Catholics for Ministry presented some years ago. At the highest levels of the institution the entire thrust of the institution today is geared to undoing almost everything that was discerned by the majority of Bishops who assembled at the Second Vatican Council. The forces of reaction, which were led at the Council by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani have won. The forces in the human psyche of the element who have seized control of the institutional Church are simply too powerful to overcome. The institution today is no longer recruiting from "the best and brightest" in its elite schools and the attrition rate of men and women from religious life has been a further massive drain on the leadership ranks as it has tended to be men and women of stronger character who were able to make the difficult decision to chart a radically new course in their lives to the one they had originally felt called to make. Virtually all factors that one can think of are aligned against the sorts of radical re-thinking that would be necessary for this looming crisis to be overcome. Our honest prediction is that Pope Benedict will see his dream fulfilled of a "smaller, purer Church" although we have deep doubts that its purity will be capable of achieving "salvation" for any person.
A double tragedy...
It is disheartening, indeed a tragedy, to have to write the foregoing. It is however the harsh reality as we presently see the situation. The tragedy is compounded because as we have pointed out the Church in this country is actually in a superb condition from many other points of view. It could achieve so much. It does have the largest, most professionally qualified — and in the realms of religion, spirituality and theology, the most theologically qualified — workforce it has ever had and one that is not matched on a per capita basis by any other single national church on the entire planet. The institution is in perhaps the best condition it has ever been in from a financial point of view and in the quality and maintenance of all of its physical assets. The two principal problems it has is that the vast majority of the baptised have ceased listening and participating and the recruiting of quality priests and spiritual guides has virtually come to a standstill. (In passing it might be noted that the report makes no evaluation of the actual quality of the candidates that are presenting for seminary and ordination today. Many mature lay Catholics today who have contact with some of the young men who are presenting themselves really do have raised eyebrows about the quality of new priests coming into ministry. They are often arrogant, very often filled with zeal but also with this sense that they alone have all the answers to life's problems. Mature people find some of them very green behind the ears and hold grave fears for the future of the institution simply on the basis of the quality of priests presently being recruited. From the feedback we get through our own adult children who sometimes come into contact with these men we know they are not earning significant respect in the wider population.) Intelligent Catholics want far more than "Mass sayers" today. The sense most mature but now disenchanted Catholics we come into contact with today is that they simply do not believe the pathway to paradise is travelled by some "magic" dispensed through the sacraments. It is discerned by learning to think, feel and act in the ways modelled and taught by Jesus Christ. Our bishops, and more especially our leaders in Rome, present a theology to us that presents Jesus to us more as the magician rather than as the teacher and model for how any person can think, feel and act their way through life and into everlasting life.
We frankly see absolutely zero prospects of Rome adopting a new attitude and actually having concern for the 86% of the baptised who have drifted away and their spiritual, social and temporal welfare. The constant message coming from Rome is it's all "their fault" — those who have drifted away. If they want to be part of our private little church "they" (the ones who have drifted away) have to adopt the taliban attitudes of the remnant that we believe are the only "true Catholics" whom the Almighty directs us to serve."
The one faint hope...
"The one faint hope — and again we are particularly indebted to Catholics for Ministry and in particular Dr Paul Collins for this — is if one, or a small group of bishops, took it upon themselves to defy Rome and actually chart a new course: one that is actually directed to discerning the needs of the great majority of the baptised; who would take on and confront — or even better still, educate and catechise — the taliban element on behalf of us all rather than constantly appease them; and who would attempt to rebuild the structure — the actual "Corpus Christi" — in their local environment. As Dr Collins has pointed out, historically this is often how change has occurred in the Church — some local bishop or group of people adopt a new style or theological outlook and over time this is adopted by more and more people and then centuries later Rome finally gives its stamp of approval to whatever the innovation happened to be. The question is: is there any bishop, or group of bishops, willing to "step up to the mark" and provide real leadership to their flock? As I jokingly suggested in the Catholica Forum a couple of days ago, there's a great seat awaiting someone in heaven who bites the bullet and provides a solution to the crisis the institution is facing in this country. Their actions may well turn out to be a model for the entire nation, or even the entire Western world. To achieve such a turn-around for the institution would surely earn more plaudits both in the here and now and in the hereafter than all these other pathetic games we have had to put up with for the past forty years and more? It would be a far more worthy life and vocational goal than chasing after a cardinal's temporal power and prestige or some other place of temporal honour in this rapidly disintegrating ship. It is actually helping "build the kingdom" — not being a participant in its gradual emasculation and destruction."
"Losing faith" — not in God but in our bishops and spiritual leaders..."
"Finally, by way of caution, could we say: the fundamental problems confronting the Church, particularly in Australia today, are not actually to do with money, the lack of resources or personnel to do anything, nor the lack of physical infrastructure. The key problems are principally theological and, linked into that, our actual ecclesiology and understanding of the nature and role of priesthood. It is a rank fallacy to suggest that all of the 86% who have left regular sacramental participation have been beguiled by relativism and consumerism and the "ways of the world". That may have happened to some, even 50% of those who have left. Many, particularly amongst the more educated and thoughtful have left for reasons to do with actually believing our Holy Bishops have been leading us up the garden path and away from authentic Catholic belief and thinking. Most of the educated reflective faithful who haven't charged off in the direction of even more fundamentalist denominations and sects, have simply ceased to believe key parts of the theology that the taliban element in the Church and their bishop patrons are constantly trying to force down our necks. We have also "lost faith" in the model of priesthood and church community that is being presented to us. We have "lost faith" that the pathway that our spiritual superiors offer to us in the Church actually leads to salvation and resurrection. We have "lost faith" in our bishops and priests — that is testified to by the massive drift away from sacramental participation. We have NOT "lost faith" in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Father, or the Trinitarian God. Those of us old enough to remember the sense of vibrancy and excitement that infected the Church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council sincerely do believe the vast majority of bishops at that Council were "guided by the Holy Spirit" and had begun to discern at least some of the answers to these questions of deep theology, Christology, ecclesiology and the role of the priest as leader and guide of our local communities."
Bridget Mary's Reflecton:
Yes, indeed, it appears that Australia may be ready for Roman Catholic Women Priests. For more information, contact Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP at sofiabmm@aol.com
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Every Day Church Should Give Birth to the Church
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/every-day-chruch-should-give-birth-church
By Richard Gaillardetz
"Those indicators would include the following: First, the church is still feeling the lingering effects of the clerical sexual abuse scandal. Some victims still feel sloughed aside by institutional indifference, and thousands of Catholics have either left the church or have remained in a state of resigned disillusionment by both the accounts of abuse and the subsequent attempts at ecclesiastical cover-up. To date, eight American Catholic dioceses have had to file for bankruptcy because of multiple clerical abuse lawsuits, and more may soon follow. Second, many are disheartened by heavy-handed exercises of church authority: excommunications, declarations that a hospital is no longer Catholic, refusing communion to politicians, protesting the conferral of an honorary degree on a newly elected American president. A particularly troubling example is found in the current Vatican investigations of American women religious communities. This investigation appears to many as a shameful instance of scapegoating women who have dedicated their lives to the church's service and it demonstrates that we still have a long way to go in purging our church of its patriarchal tendencies. Third, the clergy shortage has forced diocese after diocese to close or consolidate parishes. This reality has hit home here in Toledo as the local diocese has announced a three year reorganization plan that will affect 33 parishes. Finally, as we shall see, there is evidence that large numbers of Catholics are simply giving up on the church and going elsewhere. In short, there is much to suggest that the American Catholic church is in a state of unrest. .."
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Missing from this essay is an analysis of the alienation of women from the institutional church, the impact of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests Movement and the growing support of U.S. Catholics for women's ordination.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Communty in Sarasota, Florida Celebrates Liturgy at St. Andrew, 6PM/Sat:Rise Up for Religious Equality
From left to right: Priest Partners:
Michael Rigdon, Bridget Mary Meehan, Katy Zatsick.
(Lee Breyer is a priest partner, but not in photo)
We are delighted to report that Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community is growing during 2011. All are welcome to receive Eucharist at our liturgies on Saturday evenings at 6:00 PM at St. Andrew United Church of Christ. Katy Zatsick, who was ordained a Roman Catholic Woman Priest in Feb. 2010 now lives in Florida and co-presides at our liturgies on a regular basis. Michael Rigdon and Lee Breyer are partner priests who serve our MMOJ community along with a leadership circle of enthusiastic Catholics. All are welcome to worship with us. Join the revolution of Roman Catholic Women Priests in people-empowered grassroots communities rising up for justice and equality for women in the church in the 21st century. We are following Jesus who called women and men as disciples and equals. It is time to take our church back from patriarchial domination that discriminates against women. If you love the sacramental, mystical and social justice tradition and want a more egalitarian community of faith, then join us! Help us make our church a more open, inclusive, Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered.
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
703-505-0004
Upcoming events:
April 2nd: Ordination at 3PM at St. Andrew UCC -Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan will ordain four women deacons.
April 9th: Empowered by Compassion- a lecture by Bishop Patricia Fresen
In this talk, Dr. Fresen draws on medieval as well as contemporary sources to show that compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Releasng the energy of compassion into our world is possibly the most important calling each of us has, whoever we are and whatever our life situation may be. (4PM, St. Andrew UCC)
Date to be Determined: New Award-Winning Film on the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement- "Pink Smoke Over the Vatican" by Jules Hart
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Homily for the 8th Sunday -- Cycle A -- 27 February 2011 by Roberta Meehan, RCWP
Roman Catholic
Psalm 62:2-3, 6-9
Isaiah 49:14-15
1Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
Revised Common
Psalm 131
Isaiah 49:8-16a
1Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
Episcopal Psalm 62 or Psalm 62:6-14
Isaiah 49:8-18
1Corinthians 4:1-5 (6-7) 8-13
Matthew 6:24-34
Do you see how close to identical all the readings are for today, regardless of which lectionary is being used? Across the entire dimension of mainline Christianity, everyone is hearing these same lessons.
You may say, “Well, what about the Psalm?” Interestingly, while the Roman Catholics and the Episcopalians use Psalm 62 and those who use the Revised Common Lectionary use Psalm 131, we can see that the theme of these two psalm readings is virtually identical.
Psalm 62 says “Rest in God alone, my soul.”
Psalm 131 says “Put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.”
So, if we are going to be in the least bit esoteric, we can see that these two psalms have virtually identical messages. And so, let us use this idea – turning everything over to God – as our theme for this celebration.
If leaving everything up to God or turning everything over to God is our theme, how do our readings for today manifest this?
The first reading from Isaiah includes that well-known passage where God speaks to Zion (as Zion was in the grips of despair), “Can a mother forget her child…? Even if she should forget, I will never forget you.”
Think for a moment about how powerful that passage really is. The Israelites were in despair but God picked them up and used a comparison they were all familiar with – the love of a woman for her child. Those people understood that. So do we today. Even women who have miscarried or who have had an abortion never forget that empty place at the table. We all know that. We have all seen it – not only in humans but also in animals. It is real!
And yet our God goes one step further and says that even if a woman would forget a lost child, our God would never forget us. Do we have any doubt about resting in God? Or putting our hope in God? Our God will never forget us – no matter what.
Let us look now at the second reading which is from First Corinthians. Here we are called to be servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Does this relate to the theme as we found in the Psalm? Indeed it does! Recall that the Psalm told us that we were to rest in God and put our hope in God. The Psalm was essentially telling us that nothing else mattered. And now, here in the reading from First Corinthians, we find we are called to be servants and stewards to this very God who has invited us to rest and in Isaiah has given us the most powerful imagery of being a God who would never and could never forget us.
What we see here then is that we are called to be servants and stewards to a God who will never forget us and will never abandon us. Our God asks only that we be faithful servants and stewards.
“Servant” and “steward” are interesting words. We do not immediately know what they mean. Oh, we all have an idea of a servant cleaning the house or cooking the dinner or running errands in or out of the house. The word “steward” is not used too much today but we all have a general idea that a steward is something like a servant. How can we do that?
If we are servants and stewards, especially in the ancient tradition, we were totally dependent on our master or mistress. We weren’t like today’s cleaning lady who comes in for a few hours and then goes home or today’s yard worker who takes care of your garden and shrubs according to a pre-determined schedule and then goes home.
If we are servants and stewards in the Biblical sense, we are dependent on our master or mistress. We wouldn’t be slaves but we wouldn’t have the flexible or rotating schedule that today’s servants and stewards have. Think of a hotel worker or someone on the cleaning crew at the hospital or someone who works for a catering company. Their lives are not totally enmeshed in the owner’s schedule. Not today anyway. But, is that what Jesus was saying? Let’s look at the Gospel and see if we can figure this out.
This Gospel from Matthew is a rather famous passage and it definitely brings everything together for us. Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear. Do you worry about what to eat? Hey, I do! I even worry about what my dogs are going to eat! Do you worry about what you are going to drink? Well, I am not quite as guilty on that one because I live in the city and there is always plenty of good water available – supposedly. But sometimes I do worry about whether or not I will be able to get a good cup of coffee. Have you ever been there?
And, what about worrying about what to wear? Anyone who has never been there in this day and age is clearly living in another world! We all have numerous choices in what we wear and yet we all still worry about what to wear.
But that is what this Gospel is all about! Jesus is telling us not to worry about what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear. We do it anyway! Can you picture Jesus smiling at his friends as he tells them how foolish they are for worrying about these mortal points? I can almost see Jesus smiling and shaking his head in wonderment at his friends’ attachment to the worldly life. Is Jesus smiling at you with that same sense of wonderment or disbelief? I am certain Jesus is smiling at me! I worry about these things all the time!
Jesus says we cannot serve God and our human foibles at the same time. We all know that on the surface. The question is, do we really know that in our hearts? If we read this Gospel carefully, we realize that Jesus is very serious about our not worrying about anything.
Now, let’s go back to our previous readings. Look at the Psalm theme – “Rest in God alone.” If we truly believe that God is supreme, how can we worry about food or drink or clothing if we are resting in God alone? We have no choice! Our God is our God! And, our God IS God! That includes all that being GOD means!
Isaiah reminds us that a mother cannot forget her child but that even if she does forget, our God will be there. How can we worry about food or drink or what we will wear if our God will not forget us – no matter what. We cannot worry about food or drink or clothing if our God will take care of us – even if our friends and relatives (even our mothers) may not be able to.
Think for a moment about the passage from First Corinthians. How can we be servants and stewards (particularly in the Biblical sense) if we are worrying about our food, drink, and clothing? Remember that the servants and stewards were generally under the will of the master. The servants and stewards depended on – or relied on – the master for these things. Today we are servants and stewards. We rely on Jesus. This is the same Jesus who told us not to worry about our food or drink or clothing. We all need to spend a moment with that idea. This is the same Jesus who told us in this same gospel that we cannot serve God and our possessions at the same time.
Our duty as Christians is to follow Christ. We do that by doing the next right thing in front of us, by resting in God, by hoping in God, by remembering that God loves us more than we could ever imagine, and that God will take absolute care of us at all times and always.
Do you see how close to identical all the readings are for today, regardless of which lectionary is being used? Across the entire dimension of mainline Christianity, everyone is hearing these same lessons.
You may say, “Well, what about the Psalm?” Interestingly, while the Roman Catholics and the Episcopalians use Psalm 62 and those who use the Revised Common Lectionary use Psalm 131, we can see that the theme of these two psalm readings is virtually identical.
Psalm 62 says “Rest in God alone, my soul.”
Psalm 131 says “Put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.”
So, if we are going to be in the least bit esoteric, we can see that these two psalms have virtually identical messages. And so, let us use this idea – turning everything over to God – as our theme for this celebration.
If leaving everything up to God or turning everything over to God is our theme, how do our readings for today manifest this?
The first reading from Isaiah includes that well-known passage where God speaks to Zion (as Zion was in the grips of despair), “Can a mother forget her child…? Even if she should forget, I will never forget you.”
Think for a moment about how powerful that passage really is. The Israelites were in despair but God picked them up and used a comparison they were all familiar with – the love of a woman for her child. Those people understood that. So do we today. Even women who have miscarried or who have had an abortion never forget that empty place at the table. We all know that. We have all seen it – not only in humans but also in animals. It is real!
And yet our God goes one step further and says that even if a woman would forget a lost child, our God would never forget us. Do we have any doubt about resting in God? Or putting our hope in God? Our God will never forget us – no matter what.
Let us look now at the second reading which is from First Corinthians. Here we are called to be servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Does this relate to the theme as we found in the Psalm? Indeed it does! Recall that the Psalm told us that we were to rest in God and put our hope in God. The Psalm was essentially telling us that nothing else mattered. And now, here in the reading from First Corinthians, we find we are called to be servants and stewards to this very God who has invited us to rest and in Isaiah has given us the most powerful imagery of being a God who would never and could never forget us.
What we see here then is that we are called to be servants and stewards to a God who will never forget us and will never abandon us. Our God asks only that we be faithful servants and stewards.
“Servant” and “steward” are interesting words. We do not immediately know what they mean. Oh, we all have an idea of a servant cleaning the house or cooking the dinner or running errands in or out of the house. The word “steward” is not used too much today but we all have a general idea that a steward is something like a servant. How can we do that?
If we are servants and stewards, especially in the ancient tradition, we were totally dependent on our master or mistress. We weren’t like today’s cleaning lady who comes in for a few hours and then goes home or today’s yard worker who takes care of your garden and shrubs according to a pre-determined schedule and then goes home.
If we are servants and stewards in the Biblical sense, we are dependent on our master or mistress. We wouldn’t be slaves but we wouldn’t have the flexible or rotating schedule that today’s servants and stewards have. Think of a hotel worker or someone on the cleaning crew at the hospital or someone who works for a catering company. Their lives are not totally enmeshed in the owner’s schedule. Not today anyway. But, is that what Jesus was saying? Let’s look at the Gospel and see if we can figure this out.
This Gospel from Matthew is a rather famous passage and it definitely brings everything together for us. Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear. Do you worry about what to eat? Hey, I do! I even worry about what my dogs are going to eat! Do you worry about what you are going to drink? Well, I am not quite as guilty on that one because I live in the city and there is always plenty of good water available – supposedly. But sometimes I do worry about whether or not I will be able to get a good cup of coffee. Have you ever been there?
And, what about worrying about what to wear? Anyone who has never been there in this day and age is clearly living in another world! We all have numerous choices in what we wear and yet we all still worry about what to wear.
But that is what this Gospel is all about! Jesus is telling us not to worry about what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear. We do it anyway! Can you picture Jesus smiling at his friends as he tells them how foolish they are for worrying about these mortal points? I can almost see Jesus smiling and shaking his head in wonderment at his friends’ attachment to the worldly life. Is Jesus smiling at you with that same sense of wonderment or disbelief? I am certain Jesus is smiling at me! I worry about these things all the time!
Jesus says we cannot serve God and our human foibles at the same time. We all know that on the surface. The question is, do we really know that in our hearts? If we read this Gospel carefully, we realize that Jesus is very serious about our not worrying about anything.
Now, let’s go back to our previous readings. Look at the Psalm theme – “Rest in God alone.” If we truly believe that God is supreme, how can we worry about food or drink or clothing if we are resting in God alone? We have no choice! Our God is our God! And, our God IS God! That includes all that being GOD means!
Isaiah reminds us that a mother cannot forget her child but that even if she does forget, our God will be there. How can we worry about food or drink or what we will wear if our God will not forget us – no matter what. We cannot worry about food or drink or clothing if our God will take care of us – even if our friends and relatives (even our mothers) may not be able to.
Think for a moment about the passage from First Corinthians. How can we be servants and stewards (particularly in the Biblical sense) if we are worrying about our food, drink, and clothing? Remember that the servants and stewards were generally under the will of the master. The servants and stewards depended on – or relied on – the master for these things. Today we are servants and stewards. We rely on Jesus. This is the same Jesus who told us not to worry about our food or drink or clothing. We all need to spend a moment with that idea. This is the same Jesus who told us in this same gospel that we cannot serve God and our possessions at the same time.
Our duty as Christians is to follow Christ. We do that by doing the next right thing in front of us, by resting in God, by hoping in God, by remembering that God loves us more than we could ever imagine, and that God will take absolute care of us at all times and always.
Roberta Meehan, RCWP
"The Ultimate Freedom: Life As a Nun" / Applies to Nun and Priest
http://wholelivingdaily.wholeliving.com/2011/02/the-ultimate-freedom-life-as-a-nun-im-dead-serious-im-also-a-nun.html
Sister Karol Jackowski
"It preserves the loving sisterhood of women, generates infinitely compassionate lives and works, and last, but not least, saves us from the devastating effects of having and being had. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t want that?"
“When sleeping women wake, mountains will move.” --Chinese Proverb
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
I am blessed to be a Sister for Christian Community and a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. I believe that the sisterhood of women is a bond that links us to our sisters and brothers everywhere. We are offering the church a gift of women imaging the divine feminine in our ministry in all areas of life, including as priests at the altar.
When sleeping women and men awake, the church will be transformed!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP/SFCC
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Sister Karol Jackowski
"It preserves the loving sisterhood of women, generates infinitely compassionate lives and works, and last, but not least, saves us from the devastating effects of having and being had. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t want that?"
“When sleeping women wake, mountains will move.” --Chinese Proverb
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
I am blessed to be a Sister for Christian Community and a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. I believe that the sisterhood of women is a bond that links us to our sisters and brothers everywhere. We are offering the church a gift of women imaging the divine feminine in our ministry in all areas of life, including as priests at the altar.
When sleeping women and men awake, the church will be transformed!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP/SFCC
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Pope Lawsuit- Claims the Pope Maintains "a Worldwide System of Cover-Up of the Sexual Crimes Committed by Catholc Priests"/Time for Women Priests
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0223/1224290630240.html
"They claim the Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”.
They allege he is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”.
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Pope Benedct XVI should be held accountable for the global sexual abuse crimes of the Roman Catholic clergy against children. What other church would get away with crimes against humanity? Let us hope that someone somewhere can hold the pope accountable. Perhaps, this will finally shake up the Vatican to deal with structural reform and begin the journey to reform and healing.
It is time for the Roman Catholic institutional church to embrace women priests. Can you imagine women priests who are mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts covering up sexual abuse? I can't!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
"They claim the Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”.
They allege he is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”.
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
Pope Benedct XVI should be held accountable for the global sexual abuse crimes of the Roman Catholic clergy against children. What other church would get away with crimes against humanity? Let us hope that someone somewhere can hold the pope accountable. Perhaps, this will finally shake up the Vatican to deal with structural reform and begin the journey to reform and healing.
It is time for the Roman Catholic institutional church to embrace women priests. Can you imagine women priests who are mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts covering up sexual abuse? I can't!
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
The Irish Affliction- Sexually Abused by Catholic Clergy" -"Ireland is first country to bring force of Government to bear against Church"
http://inquisitionnews.amplify.com/2011/02/10/the-irish-affliction-sexually-abused-by-catholic-clergy/
'The revelations have been monstrous and the reaction fierce, but is that enough to break the grip of the Catholic Church.'
By Russell Shorto
..."The global sex abuse scandal is rocking the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. In the U.S. 11,000 abuse allegations covering 95% of dioceses. Last year the scandal swept across Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. There have been highly publicized cases in Britain, Italy, France, Malta, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, the Philippines, Australia and other countries. Last March the scandal pointed toward the pope himself when it emerged that as archbishop of Munich he was informed of a decision to return a pedophile priest to church duty and then that as Cardinal Ratzinger he failed to heed the pleas of American bishops who asked the Vatican to defrock a priest in Wisconsisn who molested 200 deaf children between the 1950's and 1970's. "
"Ireland is the first country to "bring the force of federal government to bear against the church. There have been three commissions in Ireland and all were government funded, all chared by judges. Thomas Doyle, canon lawyer and Dominican Priest observed: "In other places with a traditional Catholic presence and where there have been sexual abuse, there is intense interest in what is going on in Ireland. Quebec has now begun an investigation. There are signs of it beginning in the Netherlands, Austria, Belgiusm, Italy, Spain and Fraince. Ireland, then provides a model for investigative legal action on a host of fronts."
"..The Vatican is trying to do damage control by sending a team of bishops from other countries to investigate. "The Rev. Sean McDonagh, a leader of the Association of Irish Priests, which formed last year after reports were published, suggested that to get at the root of the problem, the team of investigators "should begin by scrutinizing Rome's own handling of sex abuse allegations... "
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
The Association of Irish Priests put it bluntly. They acknowledge that the the blame for the sexual abuse scandal goes right to the top in the Vatican. The church hierarchy are the cause of the sex abuse scandal because they shielded abusers and neglected the victims. As Marie Collins, once a victim of sexual abuse and now an advocate for victims, states: "It's so hard to reconcile what the men at the top do with what Jesus preached."
Let's admit it. We need change now in order to reform the Catholic Church. It is time for married priests, women priests and an empowered community of believers to renew the church.
Bridget Mary Meehan,
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
'The revelations have been monstrous and the reaction fierce, but is that enough to break the grip of the Catholic Church.'
By Russell Shorto
..."The global sex abuse scandal is rocking the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. In the U.S. 11,000 abuse allegations covering 95% of dioceses. Last year the scandal swept across Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. There have been highly publicized cases in Britain, Italy, France, Malta, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, the Philippines, Australia and other countries. Last March the scandal pointed toward the pope himself when it emerged that as archbishop of Munich he was informed of a decision to return a pedophile priest to church duty and then that as Cardinal Ratzinger he failed to heed the pleas of American bishops who asked the Vatican to defrock a priest in Wisconsisn who molested 200 deaf children between the 1950's and 1970's. "
"Ireland is the first country to "bring the force of federal government to bear against the church. There have been three commissions in Ireland and all were government funded, all chared by judges. Thomas Doyle, canon lawyer and Dominican Priest observed: "In other places with a traditional Catholic presence and where there have been sexual abuse, there is intense interest in what is going on in Ireland. Quebec has now begun an investigation. There are signs of it beginning in the Netherlands, Austria, Belgiusm, Italy, Spain and Fraince. Ireland, then provides a model for investigative legal action on a host of fronts."
"..The Vatican is trying to do damage control by sending a team of bishops from other countries to investigate. "The Rev. Sean McDonagh, a leader of the Association of Irish Priests, which formed last year after reports were published, suggested that to get at the root of the problem, the team of investigators "should begin by scrutinizing Rome's own handling of sex abuse allegations... "
Bridget Mary's Reflection:
The Association of Irish Priests put it bluntly. They acknowledge that the the blame for the sexual abuse scandal goes right to the top in the Vatican. The church hierarchy are the cause of the sex abuse scandal because they shielded abusers and neglected the victims. As Marie Collins, once a victim of sexual abuse and now an advocate for victims, states: "It's so hard to reconcile what the men at the top do with what Jesus preached."
Let's admit it. We need change now in order to reform the Catholic Church. It is time for married priests, women priests and an empowered community of believers to renew the church.
Bridget Mary Meehan,
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
Thursday, February 24, 2011
"Dangerous Impostors" Philadelphia Grand Jury States that Cardinal Bevilacqua Endangered Phil. Children
AVE MARIA, Florida-
http://romancatholicworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/tom-monaghans-invaluable-cardinal-bevilacqua-accused-by-grand-jury-of-covering-up-sexual-abuse-of-children/
by Marielena Montesino de Stuart
FEBRUARY 23, 2011
A Special Report
"Following a long and painful investigation of the sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a Grand Jury has issued a final report stating that they have no doubt that Cardinal Bevilacqua’s “knowing and deliberate actions during his tenure as Archbishop also endangered thousands of children in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.“ This endangerment included vulnerable and poor immigrant children from the Hmong community.
"Cardinal Bevilacqua is one of America’s best known Roman Catholic Cardinals. He is also considered to be one of the most notorious protectors of dangerous sexual predators, in the history of the Catholic Church in America."
http://romancatholicworld.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/tom-monaghans-invaluable-cardinal-bevilacqua-accused-by-grand-jury-of-covering-up-sexual-abuse-of-children/
by Marielena Montesino de Stuart
FEBRUARY 23, 2011
A Special Report
"Following a long and painful investigation of the sexual abuse of children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a Grand Jury has issued a final report stating that they have no doubt that Cardinal Bevilacqua’s “knowing and deliberate actions during his tenure as Archbishop also endangered thousands of children in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.“ This endangerment included vulnerable and poor immigrant children from the Hmong community.
"Cardinal Bevilacqua is one of America’s best known Roman Catholic Cardinals. He is also considered to be one of the most notorious protectors of dangerous sexual predators, in the history of the Catholic Church in America."
Obeying God Trumps Obeying the Pope- Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests' Response to Norma Jean Coon's Repentance and Repudiation
We understand the decision made in conscience by Norma Jean Coon, now a former RCWP deacon (California Catholic Daily, February 24, 2011, http://calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=67472154-7019-4ee0-8b1b-d7880809a907). She has every right to change her mind and has an obligation to follow her conscience. We remain ordained Roman Catholic Women Priests who continue to follow our informed consciences and, simply put, obeying God trumps obeying the Pope.
It is the firm conviction of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests that women who are ordained into a renewed priestly ministry are following primacy of conscience. According to official church teaching, "the final authority in any moral decision-making must always be one's conscience, even if said decision is contrary to church teaching. As the church teaches, "the gospel has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice" (GS, 41) and "in all activity [one] is bound to follow [one's] conscience faithfully." (See: Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (GS) 16, 41.
Roman Catholic Women Priests follow Jesus who treated women and men as equals and partners in contradiction to the religious establishment of his times. Scholars have found evidence of women deacons and priests in the early centuries of the church’s history. (See Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination) We stand in the prophetic tradition of holy obedience to the Spirit’s call to a renewed priestly ministry in a community of equals. We are challenging an unjust law that discriminates against women. Roman Catholic Women Priests are leading the church into a new era of justice and equality for women.
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
It is the firm conviction of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests that women who are ordained into a renewed priestly ministry are following primacy of conscience. According to official church teaching, "the final authority in any moral decision-making must always be one's conscience, even if said decision is contrary to church teaching. As the church teaches, "the gospel has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice" (GS, 41) and "in all activity [one] is bound to follow [one's] conscience faithfully." (See: Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (GS) 16, 41.
Roman Catholic Women Priests follow Jesus who treated women and men as equals and partners in contradiction to the religious establishment of his times. Scholars have found evidence of women deacons and priests in the early centuries of the church’s history. (See Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination) We stand in the prophetic tradition of holy obedience to the Spirit’s call to a renewed priestly ministry in a community of equals. We are challenging an unjust law that discriminates against women. Roman Catholic Women Priests are leading the church into a new era of justice and equality for women.
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure : German Theologians Statement Challenging Roman Catholic Institutional Church/Vatican
The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure
It is over a year since cases of sexual abuse of children and youth by priests and religious at the Canisius School in Berlin were made public. Thereupon followed a year that plunged the Catholic Church in Germany into an unequaled crisis. Today, a split image is projected. Much has been undertaken to do justice to the victims, to come to terms with the wrong done, and to search out the causes of abuse, cover-up, and double standards within the Church’s own ranks. Many responsible Christians, women and men, in office and unofficially, have come to realize, after their initial disgust, that deep-reaching reforms are necessary. The appeal for an open dialogue on structures of power and communication, the form of official church offices, and the participation of the faithful in taking responsibility for morality and sexuality have aroused expectations, but also fears. This might be the last chance for departure from paralysis and resignation. Will this chance be missed by sitting out or minimizing the crisis? Not everyone is threatened by the unrest of an open dialogue without taboos – especially since the papal visit [to Germany] will soon take place. The alternative simply cannot be accepted: the “rest of the dead” because the last hopes have been destroyed.
The deep crisis of our Church demands that we address even those problems which, at first glance, do not have anything directly to do with the abuse scandal and its decades-long cover-up. As theology professors, women and men, we can keep silence no longer. We consider ourselves responsible for contributing to a true new beginning: 2011 must be a Year of Departure for the Church. In the past year, more Christians than ever before have withdrawn from the Catholic Church. They have officially terminated their legal membership, or they have privatized their spiritual life in order to protect it from the institution. The Church must understand these signs and pull itself from ossified structures in order to recover new vitality and credibility.
The renewal of church structures will succeed, not with anxious withdrawal from society, but only with the courage for self-criticism and the acceptance of critical impulses – including those from the outside. This is one of the lessons of the last year: the abuse crisis would not have been dealt with so decisively without the critical accompaniment of the larger public. Only through
open communication can the Church win back trust. The Church will become credible when only its image of itself is not removed so far from the image others have of the Church. We turn to all those who have not yet given up hope for a new beginning in the Church and who work for this. We build upon the signals of departure and dialogue which some bishops have given in recent months in speeches, homilies, and interviews.
The Church does not exist for its own sake. The church has the mission to announce the liberating and loving God of Jesus Christ to all people. The Church can do this only when it is itself a place and a credible witness of the good news of the Gospel. The Church’s speaking and acting, its rules and structures – its entire engagement with people within and outside the Church – is under the standard of acknowledging and promoting the freedom of people as God’s creation. Absolute respect for every person, regard for freedom of conscience, commitment to justice and rights, solidarity with the poor and oppressed: these are the theological foundational standards which arise from the Church’s obligation to the Gospel. Through these, love of God and neighbor become tangible.
Finding our orientation in the biblical Good News implies a differentiated relationship to modern society. When it comes to acknowledgement of each person’s freedom, maturity, and responsibility, modern society surpasses the Church in many respects. As the Second Vatican Council emphasized, the Church can learn from this. In other respects, critique of modern society from the spirit of the Gospel is indispensable, as when people are judged only by their productivity, when mutual solidarity disintegrates, or when the dignity of the person is violated.
This holds true in every case: the Good News of the Gospel is the standard for a credible Church, for its action and its presence in society. The concrete demands which the Church must face are by no means new. And yet, we see hardly any trace of reform-oriented reforms. Open dialogue on these questions must take place in the following spheres of action.
1. Structures of Participation: In all areas of church life, participation of the faithful is a touchstone for the credibility of the Good News of the Gospel. According to the old legal principle “What applies to all should be decided by all,” more synodal structures are needed at all levels of the Church. The faithful should be involved in the naming of important officials (bishop, pastor). Whatever can be decided locally should be decided there. Decisions must be transparent.
2. Community: Christian communities should be places where people share spiritual and material goods with one another. But community life is eroding presently. Under the pressure of the priesthood shortage, larger and larger administrative entities (Size “Extra Large” Parishes) are constructed in which neighbourliness and sense of belonging can hardly be experienced anymore. Historical identity and built-up social networks are given up. Priests are “overheated” and burn out. The faithful stay away when they are not trusted to share responsibility and to participate in democratic structures in the leadership of their communities. Church office must serve the life of communities – not the other way around. The Church also needs married priests and women in church ministry.
3. Legal culture: Acknowledgement of the dignity and freedom of every person is shown when conflicts are borne fairly and with mutual respect. Canon law deserves its name only when the faithful can truly make use of their rights. It is urgent that the protection of rights and legal culture be improved. A first step is the development of administrative justice in the Church.
4. Freedom of Conscience: Respect for individual conscience means placing trust in people’s ability to make decisions and carry responsibility. It is the task of the Church to support this capability. The Church must not revert to paternalism. Serious work needs to be done especially in the realm of personal life decisions and individual manners of life. The Church’s esteem for marriage and unmarried forms of life goes without saying. But this does not require that we exclude people who responsibly live out love, faithfulness, and mutual care in same-sex partnerships or in a remarriage after divorce.
5. Reconciliation: Solidarity with “sinners” presupposes that we take seriously the sin within our own ranks. Self-justified moral rigorism ill befits the Church. The Church cannot preach reconciliation with God if it does not create by its own actions the conditions for reconciliation with those before whom the Church is guilty: by violence, by withholding rights, by turning the biblical Good News into a rigorous morality without mercy.
6. Worship: The liturgy lives from the active participation of all the faithful. Experiences and forms of expression of the present day must have their place. Worship services must not become frozen in traditionalism. Cultural diversity enriches liturgical life, but the tendency toward centralized uniformity is in tension with this. Only when the celebration of faith takes account of concrete life situations will the Church’s message reach people.
The already-begun dialogue process in the Church can lead to liberation and departure when all participants are ready to take up the pressing questions. We must lead the Church out of its crippling preoccupation with itself through a free and fair exchange of arguments and solutions. The tempest of the last year must not be followed by restful quietness! In the present situation, this could only be the “rest of the dead.” Anxiety has never been a good counselor in times of crisis. Female and male Christians are compelled by the Gospel to look to the future with courage, and walk on water like Peter as Jesus said to him, “Why do you have fear? Is your faith so weak?”
The names of the signatories can be seen here.
Translation by awr
The signatories of “The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure”
Albus, Michael, University of Freiburg
Anzenbacher, Arno, University of Mainz
Arens, Edmund, University of Lucerne
Autiero, Antonio; University of Munster
Bäumer, Franz Josef, University of Giessen
Baumgartner, Isidor, University of Passau4
Bechmann, Ulrike, University of Graz
Belok, Manfred, Theological University of Chur
Benk, Andreas, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd
Bieberstein, Klaus, University of Bamberg
Bieberstein, Sabine, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Biesinger, Albert, University of Tubingen
Bischof, Franz Xaver, University of Munich
Blasberg-Kuhnke, Martina, University of Osnabruck
Böhnke, Michael, University of Wuppertal
Bopp, Karl SDB, Philosophical-Theological University of Benediktbeuern
Bremer, Thomas, University of Münster
Brosseder, Johannes, University of Cologne
Broer, Ingo, University of Siegen
Bucher, Anton A., University of Salzburg
Collet, Giancarlo, University of Munster
Dautzenberg, Gerhard, University of Giessen
Demel, Sabine, University of Regensburg
Droesser, Gerhard, University of Wurzburg
Eckholt, Margit, University of Osnabruck
Emunds, Bernhard, Philotophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Ernst, Stephan, University of Wurzburg
Feiter, Reinhard, University of Munster
Franz, Albert, University of Dresden
Frevel, Christian, University of Bochum5
Fröhling, Edward SAC, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Fuchs, Ottmar, University of Tubingen
Fürst, Alfons, University of Munster
Gabriel, Karl, University Munster
Garhammer, Erich, University of Wurzburg
Göllner, Reinhard, University of Bochum
Görtz, Heinz-Jürgen, University of Hannover
Goertz, Stephan, University of Mainz
Grümme, Bernhard, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg
Häfner, Gerd, University of Munich
Haker, Hille, University of Frankfurt am Main / Chicago
Hartmann, Richard, Theology Department of Fulda
Heimbach-Steins, Marianne, University of Munster
Heinz, Hanspeter, University of Augsburg
Hemel, Ulrich, University of Regensburg
Hengsbach, Friedhelm SJ, Philisophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Hilberath, Bernd-Jochen, University of Tubingen
Hilpert, Konrad, University of Munich
Höfer, Rudolf, University of Graz
Höhn, Hans-Joachim, University of Cologne
Hoffmann, Johannes, University of Frankfurt am Main
Hoffmann, Paul, University of Bamberg
Holderegger, Adrian, University of Freiburg(Switzerland)
Holzem, Andreas, University of Tubingen6
Hünermann, Peter, University of Tubingen
Jäggle, Martin, University of Vienna
Jorissen, Hans, University of Bonn
Kampling, Rainer, University of Berlin
Karrer, Leo, University of Freiburg (Switzerland)
Kern, Walter, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg
Kessler, Hans, University of Frankfurt am Main
Kienzler, Klaus, University of Augsburg
Kirchschläger, Walter, University of Lucerne
Knobloch, Stefan, OFMCap, University of Mainz
Könemann, Judith, University of Munster
Kohler-Spiegel, Helga, Pedagogical University of Feldkirch/Vorarlberg
Kos, Elmar, University of Vechta
Kraus, Georg, University of Bamberg
Kruip, Gerhard, University of Mainz
Kügler, Joachim, University of Bamberg
Kuhnke, Ulrich, University of Osnabruck
Kuld, Lothar, Pedagogical University of Weingarten
Ladenhauf, Karl-Heinz, University of Graz
Lang, Bernhard, University of Paderborn
Langer, Wolfgang, Perchtolsdorf
Lesch, Karl Josef, University of Vechta
Loretan, Adrian, University of Lucerne
Lüdicke, Klaus, University of Munster7
Ludwig, Heiner, University of Darmstadt
Lutterbach, Hubertus, University of Duisburg-Essen
Maier, Joachim, Schriesheim
Meier, Johannes, University of Mainz
Mennekes, Friedhelm SJ, Cologne
Merks, Karl-Wilhelm, Bonn
Mette, Norbert, Technical University of Dortmund
Michel, Andreas, University of Cologne
Mieth, Dietmar, Universities of Erfurt and Tubingen
Missala, Heinrich, University of Duisburg-Essen
Möhring-Hesse, Matthias, University of Vechta
Mooney, Hilary, Pedagogical University of Weingarten
Müller, Klaus, University of Munster
Müllner, Ilse, University of Cassel
Nauer, Doris, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Neuner, Peter, University of Munich
Niederschlag, Heribert SAC, Philisophicl-Theological University Vallendar
Odenthal, Andreas, University of Tubingen
Ollig, Hans-Ludwig SJ, Philosophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Pellegrini, Silvia, University of Vechta
Pemsel-Maier, Sabine, Pedagogical University of Karlsruhe
Pesch, Otto Hermann, University of Hamburg
Pock, Johann, University of Vienna
Poplutz, Uta, University of Wuppertal8
Porzelt, Burkard, University of Regensburg
Raske, Michael, University of Frankfurt am Main
Richter, Klemens, University of Munster
Roebben, Bert, University Dortmund
Rotter, Hans, University of Innsbruck
Sauer, Ralph, University of Vechta
Schäper, Sabine, Catholic Polytechnic University of Munster
Schmälzle, Udo, University of Munster
Schmidt, Thomas M., University of Frankfurt am Main
Schmiedl, Joachim, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Schockenhoff, Eberhard, University of Freiburg
Scholl, Norbert, Pedagogical University of Heidelberg
Schulz, Ehrenfried, University of Munich
Schreiber, Stefan, University of Augsburg
Schreijaeck, Thomas, University of Frankfurt am Main
Schüller, Thomas, University of Munster
Schüngel-Straumann, Helen, University of Cassel / Basel
Seeliger, Hans-Reinhard, University of Tubingen
Siller, Hermann Pius, University of Frankfurt am Main
Simon, Werner, University of Mainz
Spiegel, Egon, University of Vechta
Steinkamp, Hermann, University of Munster
Steins, Georg, University of Osnabruck
Stosch, Klaus von, University of Paderborn9
Striet, Magnus, University of Freiburg
Strotmann, Angelika, University of Paderborn
Theobald, Michael, University of Tubingen
Trautmann, Franz, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd
Trautmann, Maria, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Trocholepczy, Bernd, University of Frankfurt am Main
Vogt, Markus, University of Munich
Wacker, Marie-Theres, University of Munster
Wahl, Heribert, University of Trier
Walter, Peter, University of Freiburg
Weirer, Wolfgang, University of Graz
Wendel, Saskia, University of Cologne
Wenzel, Knut, University of Frankfurt am Main
Werbick, Jürgen, University of Munster
Willers, Ulrich, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Ziebertz, Hans-Georg, University of Wurzburg
Zwick, Reinhold, University of Munster
-- Mary Ann M. SchoettlyRCWP-USA--
It is over a year since cases of sexual abuse of children and youth by priests and religious at the Canisius School in Berlin were made public. Thereupon followed a year that plunged the Catholic Church in Germany into an unequaled crisis. Today, a split image is projected. Much has been undertaken to do justice to the victims, to come to terms with the wrong done, and to search out the causes of abuse, cover-up, and double standards within the Church’s own ranks. Many responsible Christians, women and men, in office and unofficially, have come to realize, after their initial disgust, that deep-reaching reforms are necessary. The appeal for an open dialogue on structures of power and communication, the form of official church offices, and the participation of the faithful in taking responsibility for morality and sexuality have aroused expectations, but also fears. This might be the last chance for departure from paralysis and resignation. Will this chance be missed by sitting out or minimizing the crisis? Not everyone is threatened by the unrest of an open dialogue without taboos – especially since the papal visit [to Germany] will soon take place. The alternative simply cannot be accepted: the “rest of the dead” because the last hopes have been destroyed.
The deep crisis of our Church demands that we address even those problems which, at first glance, do not have anything directly to do with the abuse scandal and its decades-long cover-up. As theology professors, women and men, we can keep silence no longer. We consider ourselves responsible for contributing to a true new beginning: 2011 must be a Year of Departure for the Church. In the past year, more Christians than ever before have withdrawn from the Catholic Church. They have officially terminated their legal membership, or they have privatized their spiritual life in order to protect it from the institution. The Church must understand these signs and pull itself from ossified structures in order to recover new vitality and credibility.
The renewal of church structures will succeed, not with anxious withdrawal from society, but only with the courage for self-criticism and the acceptance of critical impulses – including those from the outside. This is one of the lessons of the last year: the abuse crisis would not have been dealt with so decisively without the critical accompaniment of the larger public. Only through
open communication can the Church win back trust. The Church will become credible when only its image of itself is not removed so far from the image others have of the Church. We turn to all those who have not yet given up hope for a new beginning in the Church and who work for this. We build upon the signals of departure and dialogue which some bishops have given in recent months in speeches, homilies, and interviews.
The Church does not exist for its own sake. The church has the mission to announce the liberating and loving God of Jesus Christ to all people. The Church can do this only when it is itself a place and a credible witness of the good news of the Gospel. The Church’s speaking and acting, its rules and structures – its entire engagement with people within and outside the Church – is under the standard of acknowledging and promoting the freedom of people as God’s creation. Absolute respect for every person, regard for freedom of conscience, commitment to justice and rights, solidarity with the poor and oppressed: these are the theological foundational standards which arise from the Church’s obligation to the Gospel. Through these, love of God and neighbor become tangible.
Finding our orientation in the biblical Good News implies a differentiated relationship to modern society. When it comes to acknowledgement of each person’s freedom, maturity, and responsibility, modern society surpasses the Church in many respects. As the Second Vatican Council emphasized, the Church can learn from this. In other respects, critique of modern society from the spirit of the Gospel is indispensable, as when people are judged only by their productivity, when mutual solidarity disintegrates, or when the dignity of the person is violated.
This holds true in every case: the Good News of the Gospel is the standard for a credible Church, for its action and its presence in society. The concrete demands which the Church must face are by no means new. And yet, we see hardly any trace of reform-oriented reforms. Open dialogue on these questions must take place in the following spheres of action.
1. Structures of Participation: In all areas of church life, participation of the faithful is a touchstone for the credibility of the Good News of the Gospel. According to the old legal principle “What applies to all should be decided by all,” more synodal structures are needed at all levels of the Church. The faithful should be involved in the naming of important officials (bishop, pastor). Whatever can be decided locally should be decided there. Decisions must be transparent.
2. Community: Christian communities should be places where people share spiritual and material goods with one another. But community life is eroding presently. Under the pressure of the priesthood shortage, larger and larger administrative entities (Size “Extra Large” Parishes) are constructed in which neighbourliness and sense of belonging can hardly be experienced anymore. Historical identity and built-up social networks are given up. Priests are “overheated” and burn out. The faithful stay away when they are not trusted to share responsibility and to participate in democratic structures in the leadership of their communities. Church office must serve the life of communities – not the other way around. The Church also needs married priests and women in church ministry.
3. Legal culture: Acknowledgement of the dignity and freedom of every person is shown when conflicts are borne fairly and with mutual respect. Canon law deserves its name only when the faithful can truly make use of their rights. It is urgent that the protection of rights and legal culture be improved. A first step is the development of administrative justice in the Church.
4. Freedom of Conscience: Respect for individual conscience means placing trust in people’s ability to make decisions and carry responsibility. It is the task of the Church to support this capability. The Church must not revert to paternalism. Serious work needs to be done especially in the realm of personal life decisions and individual manners of life. The Church’s esteem for marriage and unmarried forms of life goes without saying. But this does not require that we exclude people who responsibly live out love, faithfulness, and mutual care in same-sex partnerships or in a remarriage after divorce.
5. Reconciliation: Solidarity with “sinners” presupposes that we take seriously the sin within our own ranks. Self-justified moral rigorism ill befits the Church. The Church cannot preach reconciliation with God if it does not create by its own actions the conditions for reconciliation with those before whom the Church is guilty: by violence, by withholding rights, by turning the biblical Good News into a rigorous morality without mercy.
6. Worship: The liturgy lives from the active participation of all the faithful. Experiences and forms of expression of the present day must have their place. Worship services must not become frozen in traditionalism. Cultural diversity enriches liturgical life, but the tendency toward centralized uniformity is in tension with this. Only when the celebration of faith takes account of concrete life situations will the Church’s message reach people.
The already-begun dialogue process in the Church can lead to liberation and departure when all participants are ready to take up the pressing questions. We must lead the Church out of its crippling preoccupation with itself through a free and fair exchange of arguments and solutions. The tempest of the last year must not be followed by restful quietness! In the present situation, this could only be the “rest of the dead.” Anxiety has never been a good counselor in times of crisis. Female and male Christians are compelled by the Gospel to look to the future with courage, and walk on water like Peter as Jesus said to him, “Why do you have fear? Is your faith so weak?”
The names of the signatories can be seen here.
Translation by awr
The signatories of “The Church in 2011: A Necessary Departure”
Albus, Michael, University of Freiburg
Anzenbacher, Arno, University of Mainz
Arens, Edmund, University of Lucerne
Autiero, Antonio; University of Munster
Bäumer, Franz Josef, University of Giessen
Baumgartner, Isidor, University of Passau4
Bechmann, Ulrike, University of Graz
Belok, Manfred, Theological University of Chur
Benk, Andreas, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd
Bieberstein, Klaus, University of Bamberg
Bieberstein, Sabine, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Biesinger, Albert, University of Tubingen
Bischof, Franz Xaver, University of Munich
Blasberg-Kuhnke, Martina, University of Osnabruck
Böhnke, Michael, University of Wuppertal
Bopp, Karl SDB, Philosophical-Theological University of Benediktbeuern
Bremer, Thomas, University of Münster
Brosseder, Johannes, University of Cologne
Broer, Ingo, University of Siegen
Bucher, Anton A., University of Salzburg
Collet, Giancarlo, University of Munster
Dautzenberg, Gerhard, University of Giessen
Demel, Sabine, University of Regensburg
Droesser, Gerhard, University of Wurzburg
Eckholt, Margit, University of Osnabruck
Emunds, Bernhard, Philotophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Ernst, Stephan, University of Wurzburg
Feiter, Reinhard, University of Munster
Franz, Albert, University of Dresden
Frevel, Christian, University of Bochum5
Fröhling, Edward SAC, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Fuchs, Ottmar, University of Tubingen
Fürst, Alfons, University of Munster
Gabriel, Karl, University Munster
Garhammer, Erich, University of Wurzburg
Göllner, Reinhard, University of Bochum
Görtz, Heinz-Jürgen, University of Hannover
Goertz, Stephan, University of Mainz
Grümme, Bernhard, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg
Häfner, Gerd, University of Munich
Haker, Hille, University of Frankfurt am Main / Chicago
Hartmann, Richard, Theology Department of Fulda
Heimbach-Steins, Marianne, University of Munster
Heinz, Hanspeter, University of Augsburg
Hemel, Ulrich, University of Regensburg
Hengsbach, Friedhelm SJ, Philisophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Hilberath, Bernd-Jochen, University of Tubingen
Hilpert, Konrad, University of Munich
Höfer, Rudolf, University of Graz
Höhn, Hans-Joachim, University of Cologne
Hoffmann, Johannes, University of Frankfurt am Main
Hoffmann, Paul, University of Bamberg
Holderegger, Adrian, University of Freiburg(Switzerland)
Holzem, Andreas, University of Tubingen6
Hünermann, Peter, University of Tubingen
Jäggle, Martin, University of Vienna
Jorissen, Hans, University of Bonn
Kampling, Rainer, University of Berlin
Karrer, Leo, University of Freiburg (Switzerland)
Kern, Walter, Pedagogical University of Ludwigsburg
Kessler, Hans, University of Frankfurt am Main
Kienzler, Klaus, University of Augsburg
Kirchschläger, Walter, University of Lucerne
Knobloch, Stefan, OFMCap, University of Mainz
Könemann, Judith, University of Munster
Kohler-Spiegel, Helga, Pedagogical University of Feldkirch/Vorarlberg
Kos, Elmar, University of Vechta
Kraus, Georg, University of Bamberg
Kruip, Gerhard, University of Mainz
Kügler, Joachim, University of Bamberg
Kuhnke, Ulrich, University of Osnabruck
Kuld, Lothar, Pedagogical University of Weingarten
Ladenhauf, Karl-Heinz, University of Graz
Lang, Bernhard, University of Paderborn
Langer, Wolfgang, Perchtolsdorf
Lesch, Karl Josef, University of Vechta
Loretan, Adrian, University of Lucerne
Lüdicke, Klaus, University of Munster7
Ludwig, Heiner, University of Darmstadt
Lutterbach, Hubertus, University of Duisburg-Essen
Maier, Joachim, Schriesheim
Meier, Johannes, University of Mainz
Mennekes, Friedhelm SJ, Cologne
Merks, Karl-Wilhelm, Bonn
Mette, Norbert, Technical University of Dortmund
Michel, Andreas, University of Cologne
Mieth, Dietmar, Universities of Erfurt and Tubingen
Missala, Heinrich, University of Duisburg-Essen
Möhring-Hesse, Matthias, University of Vechta
Mooney, Hilary, Pedagogical University of Weingarten
Müller, Klaus, University of Munster
Müllner, Ilse, University of Cassel
Nauer, Doris, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Neuner, Peter, University of Munich
Niederschlag, Heribert SAC, Philisophicl-Theological University Vallendar
Odenthal, Andreas, University of Tubingen
Ollig, Hans-Ludwig SJ, Philosophical-Theological University of St. Georgen
Pellegrini, Silvia, University of Vechta
Pemsel-Maier, Sabine, Pedagogical University of Karlsruhe
Pesch, Otto Hermann, University of Hamburg
Pock, Johann, University of Vienna
Poplutz, Uta, University of Wuppertal8
Porzelt, Burkard, University of Regensburg
Raske, Michael, University of Frankfurt am Main
Richter, Klemens, University of Munster
Roebben, Bert, University Dortmund
Rotter, Hans, University of Innsbruck
Sauer, Ralph, University of Vechta
Schäper, Sabine, Catholic Polytechnic University of Munster
Schmälzle, Udo, University of Munster
Schmidt, Thomas M., University of Frankfurt am Main
Schmiedl, Joachim, Philisophical-Theological University of Vallendar
Schockenhoff, Eberhard, University of Freiburg
Scholl, Norbert, Pedagogical University of Heidelberg
Schulz, Ehrenfried, University of Munich
Schreiber, Stefan, University of Augsburg
Schreijaeck, Thomas, University of Frankfurt am Main
Schüller, Thomas, University of Munster
Schüngel-Straumann, Helen, University of Cassel / Basel
Seeliger, Hans-Reinhard, University of Tubingen
Siller, Hermann Pius, University of Frankfurt am Main
Simon, Werner, University of Mainz
Spiegel, Egon, University of Vechta
Steinkamp, Hermann, University of Munster
Steins, Georg, University of Osnabruck
Stosch, Klaus von, University of Paderborn9
Striet, Magnus, University of Freiburg
Strotmann, Angelika, University of Paderborn
Theobald, Michael, University of Tubingen
Trautmann, Franz, Pedagogical University of Swabian-Gmünd
Trautmann, Maria, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Trocholepczy, Bernd, University of Frankfurt am Main
Vogt, Markus, University of Munich
Wacker, Marie-Theres, University of Munster
Wahl, Heribert, University of Trier
Walter, Peter, University of Freiburg
Weirer, Wolfgang, University of Graz
Wendel, Saskia, University of Cologne
Wenzel, Knut, University of Frankfurt am Main
Werbick, Jürgen, University of Munster
Willers, Ulrich, Catholic University of Eichstätt
Ziebertz, Hans-Georg, University of Wurzburg
Zwick, Reinhold, University of Munster
-- Mary Ann M. SchoettlyRCWP-USA--
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