When the International Bishops' Synod on the Eucharist meets in Rome in October 2005, ordaining women deacons should be on the table as one of three practical steps the Church could take right now to address the priest shortage crisis. The other two steps are discussion of ending mandatory celibacy and welcoming back married priests.
So states the expanded message on new petitions from the FutureChurch/CTA Corpus Christi Campaign. Women deacons are also urged on pre-printed postcards to Cardinal Francis George, chair of the USCCB Liturgy Committee, which will compile the U.S. Bishops' preliminary Synod input due in Rome by Dec. 31. Deadline for the postcards is Dec. 15. But the nation's bishops will also have the Synod on their mind at their own annual meeting
To sign or download the new petition and to order postcards, click here. Care will be taken to calculate new signers appropriately with those who have already signed. Special Advent prayer services and petition signing efforts are planned. Clcik here for resources.
Women ministers are the glue helping to hold the Church together both in the U.S. and worldwide. Some 82 percent of 65,000 lay ministers in the U.S. are women. Worldwide, there are 783,000 women religious compared to 405,000 priests. Add to these nuns the female half of the 2.9 million lay catechists, missionaries, and members of secular institutes, and it becomes clear that Catholicism’s ministerial crisis cannot be solved without expanding women’s roles. Most women ministers in the U.S. already have qualifications to be ordained deacons.
Synod preparatory documents make no mention of the priest shortage and seem to be over-emphasizing ideas of the Eucharist as a reward for good behavior, and deemphasizing Christ’s Real Presence in the gathered community as well as in the sacred elements. An e-mail campaign in early September inviting lay input to diocesan synod reports generated letters to bishops in over 40 dioceses. A primary focus of the letters was the need to include numbers of priests and parishes that will close in the next 10 years.
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