International Church Reform Activities
In April 1998, CTA participated in a theological reflection
on Christianity and Colonization and Globalization in Colombo,
Sri Lanka. Most of the 30 participants were from Africa and Asia.
The Conference Statement calls
for restitution of what was taken from the colonized countries
and for the church to adopt the values of Jesus.
In April 2000, The Forum for African and Asian Spirituality
organized an international workshop in Sri Lanka on "Rebuilding
Global Justice in the 21st Century: Undoing Past Injustices,
Social and Economic Orientations." That Conference Statement
can be found here.
The Colombo-based Centre for Society and Religion and the
Tricontinental Centre based in Belgium co-sponsored the workshop,
which drew 25 participants from 14 countries on 6 continents.
CTA staff member Don Wedd participated.
The center's directors, Oblate Father Tissa Balasuriya and
Father Francois Houtart respectively, said the workshop was held
in the light of the Jubilee of the Year 2000 and Pope John Pauls
II's leadership in the Jubilee confessions of and repentance
for the past sins of Christians.
They noted that a 1994 Forum for African and Asian Spirituality
meeting on colonial exploitation of the South by the North and
a 1998 consultation on Christiantiy, colonialism and globalization
laid groundwork for the workshop.
Call To Action maintains links with the European
Network, the International Movement We Are
Church (IMWAC), and movements in Asia, Australia, Canada
and Latin America. Each year, we feature international speakers
at our national conference.
We actively promote the publication of reform news in the religious
and secular media. When progressive theologians have come under
Vatican scrutiny, we have alerted the international network and
rallied support for their just and respectful treatment.
- European Network is a network
of Roman Catholic groups throughout Europe working for an instituion
which loves tenderly, acts justly, and walks humbly with God
(Micah 6:8). Its member groups come from Belgium, Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland,
and United Kingdom. It is affiliated with the Association for
the Rights of Catholics in the Church, Call to Action, Catholics
For a Free Choice, and others in COR (check the Church reform
section of our links page for connections to particular groups.)
French laity devise a process
for selecting bishops
- International
Movement We Are Church (IMWAC) presented its millions
of signatures calling for Reform in the Catholic Church to the
Vatican on October 12, 1997. The five demands are:
- Building a Church of brothers and sisters that recognizes
the equality of all the baptized, including the inclusion of
the People of God in the election of bishops in their local churches.
- Equal rights for men and women, including the admission of
women to all Church ministries.
- Free choice of either a celibate or married life for all
those who dedicate themselves to the service of the church.
- A positive attitude toward sexuality, and a recognition of
personal conscience in decision-making.
- A message of joy and not condemnation, including dialogue,
freedom of speech and thought. No anathemas and no exclusion
as a means of solving problems, especially as this applies to
theologians.
IMWAC has contacts in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Catalonia, Colombia, France, Germany, India,
Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua,
Portugal, Quebec, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom,
and Venezuela.
Over 140 Groups from Six
Continents Issue Challenging Statement about Leadership in the
Roman Catholic Church
Press Release, October 15, 1998
A Pope for the Time to Come:
Bishop of Rome and Universal Pastor
Preface: Now is the Time
"Now is the acceptable time" (2 Cor. 6) for Catholics
throughout the whole world to reflect on what type of leadership,
indeed what model of church, we need for the new millennium.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) invited all of us to read
the signs of the times in the light of the gospel. It called
our faith community to perpetual renewal. We have tried to be
faithful to that call as we examine the life of our church and
our need for a Bishop of Rome who can lead our faith community
in a "universal agape," or assembly of charity.
The millennium now passing away has been an age of division among
Christians. It is our hope that the third millennium will become
an age of reconciliation and unity.
In this spirit, Pope John Paul II invited all Christians to reflect
on the future of the Papacy "that we may seek - together,
of course - the forms in which this ministry [of Peter] may accomplish
a service of love recognized by all concerned to find a way of
exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what
is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation."
(Ut Unum Sint, No.95).
At the same time, voices within the World Council of Churches
are calling all Christian churches to commit themselves in the
year 2000 to begin preparation for a Universal Christian Council.
We join our voices with these calls, and declare our readiness
to renew our faith community in light of the signs of our times,
and to dialogue and work with other churches on the basis of
equality.
To realize these dreams, we offer our reflections on the qualities
needed by our age in the next Bishop of Rome. We share our thoughts
in the spirit of the woman in the gospel who mixed yeast with
flour so that her bread might expand and nourish a community.
This is our "yeast."
A Model of Church for our Times: Ever Ancient, Ever New
To build a vibrant church in the new millennium, we need to listen
once again to Jesus and his first disciples who preached the
equality of all persons (Matt. 23; 11-12; Luke 22: 24-26; Gal.
3:28). We need to build structures in our church which reflect
that equality so that we may live, pray and minister to one another
as a "discipleship of equals." Only then will we follow
the example of Jesus who sends the Spirit, not to a small group,
but to the whole community of faith. Only then will we live out
the teaching of Vatican II which recognizes us all as the People
of God, co-responsible for decision-making in the life of our
church.
We need to restore a church that values dialogue and justice
in its internal life as well as its approach to the world. We
need to re-establish a church that respects and celebrates our
worldwide diversity, a church in which there is freedom to live
our faith in different ways in different cultures. We need to
resurrect a church that recognizes the importance of local churches
where the Word is preached in ways that local cultures can hear
it. The building of this restored church is the work of the whole
People of God, not only the Bishop of Rome, other bishops and
the clergy.
We begin by urging that we restore the practice of the early
church and develop structures that permit the People of God to
participate in a prominent way in the election of all church
leaders. This would include the election of the Pope, the Bishop
of Rome. This renewal of an ancient tradition will acknowledge
the action of the Spirit in community of the faithful.
The Next Bishop of Rome
We would be greatly helped in renewing our church by a leader
who reads the "signs of the times" in concert with
the people, a collaborative Bishop of Rome who can listen as
well as preach, and dialogue as well as teach. We need a leader
who truly embraces and consults the sensus fidelium (sense of
the faithful).
We especially need a leader who recognizes the awakening of women's
consciousness as a significant "sign of our times."
Women, more than half of our church, have grown conscious of
their dignity and equality with men. They are calling our faith
community to respect and implement that equality in its own life.
We need a Bishop of Rome who respects the differences among us
as well as challenges us to live the gospel.
We need a Pope who distinguishes between his pastoral ministry
as the Bishop of Rome, and the ministry of Peter in which he
is in dialogue with the universal church. As Bishop of Rome,
he serves the faithful of Rome as any bishop serves a diocese.
He would retire at the age established for all bishops. As president
of the worldwide agap», he would act as a brother bishop
who invites the world's bishops to share leadership with him
and with other members of the People of God who are called forth
by the faithful. In that spirit, he would reform the Curia (papal
cabinet) so that it might serve, rather than dominate, other
bishops and the church universal.
But most of all, we need a Bishop of Rome and a Universal Pastor
who is:
- a visionary leader who promotes a profound discernment on
church ministry by all the People of God and calls them to consider
the possibility of welcoming into ministry all those qualified
whatever their gender, marital status or sexual orientation;
- a respecter of the consciences of Catholics who calls forth
a genuine public dialogue on the theologies, moral teaching and
policies in the church so that our faith community might share
experiences, begin to heal its alienation and resurrect a sense
of unity and enthusiasm for the faith;
- a pastor who encourages academic freedom for theologians
and other scholars in order to foster a healthy diversity of
opinions in the church;
- a reconciler who welcomes "liberals" and "conservatives"
to share the same church;
- a leader who recognizes the cultural pluralism of the church
and celebrates the diversity that flowers in different parts
of our world;
- a collaborator with a sense of history who is willing to
restore the tradition of full participation of the people in
church and who invites all Catholics to share governance and
decision-making, including the election of church leaders;
- a pioneer who encourages initiative and experimentation and
calls Catholics to develop an adult sense of responsibility for
their faith community;
- an ecumenist who engages in serious dialogue with Christians
of the Reformation and Orthodox traditions in an effort to bring
about the dream of Christian unity;
- a brother to the Jewish people who will work to dismantle
any vestiges of anti-Semitism and build strong bonds of spiritual
kinship that recognize our common heritage flowing from Abraham
and Sarah;
- a student of religious traditions other than Christianity
and Judaism who welcomes interfaith dialogue, and seeks to learn
from the rich diversity of insights in these traditions;
- a lover whose arms embrace the world and whose policies express
a special solidarity with the poor and oppressed;
- a prophet who is tireless in promoting justice, equality,
peace and nonviolence in our world and in our church;
- a lover of the earth who recognizes and promotes the integrity
of all creation;
- a gentle soul with a sense of humor; and
- a Brother Bishop who can happily shed the trappings of the
powerful of this world (Luke 22: 25-26) and walk with us as we
together re-create our community of faith to make the Spirit
of Jesus come alive in the third millennium.
What we need in the new millennium is a Bishop of Rome who
is a Universal Pastor.
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