Contacts:
Linda Pieczynski, national spokesperson 630-399-6924 (c) or 630-323-6924 (h)

Crystal Chan, CTA Staff 773-404-0004 x285 (w) or 773-262-7202 (h)


April 19, 2005
For Immediate Release


Progressive Catholics apprehensive of a hard liner Ratzinger Papacy


“Progressive Catholics are closely watching the first actions of the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI,” stated Linda Pieczynski, the national spokesperson for Call To Action (CTA), the nation’s largest progressive Catholic reform group. She said, “The Spirit leads the church, which is the people of God, no matter who is Pope. Some issues in the Church just won’t go away. We still feel called to raise our issues even if the current Pope will not. Given our knowledge of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s prior positions as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the office of the notorious Holy Inquisition, we are guarded in our expectation that he will address any of the important changes we have called for.”

Pieczynski continued, “Under Ratzinger’s leadership and with his approval, the discussion of women’s ordination has been forbidden; married priesthood is not under consideration; people who have ministered to the gay and lesbian community have been silenced; and theologians who have written about the good in other religions have been investigated. He is also personally responsible for derailing the canonical lawsuit filed by the victims of Fr. Maciel, former head of the Legionaries of Christ, an alleged serial pedophile. Finally, he led an effort for two decades to disempower national conferences of bishops, which conflicts with Vatican II’s principle of collegiality.”

“He is known to believe a smaller church is preferable to the one that exists,” Pieczynski said. “We hope this is not the way he will address the priest shortage, by hoping progressive Catholics leave the church in enough numbers so not as many priests are needed. This strategy of ‘tightening the ranks’ would seem to conflict with Jesus’ command to preach the good news to all people. We pray that the Spirit leads him to understand that healing these divisions among us is what is called for, not further polarization.”

“Pope Benedict XVI is not just the leader of those who agree with him; to be the leader of all of us, a Pope must bring all voices to the table, for that is precisely where the Spirit can be most effective. We believe that he must respect and welcome all Catholics, no matter their agendas, and exhibit the marks of a true servant leader,” added Pieczynski.

“We call on all Catholics to pray for the new Pope, as he takes on the difficult task of being the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He will need the participation of all of us as he faces the many crises that still confront our Church. Our hope is that he will allow us to lighten his burden by calling upon the talents and gifts of all women and men in the church to spread the Gospel to a world which is in such need of the Good News Jesus continues to bring us.”


For a listing of local CTA chapter contacts, visit CTA’s website at www.cta-usa.org.


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Call To Action is the largest Catholic church reform group in the U.S., composed of 25,000 laity, religious, priests and bishops and 40 local chapters. It advocates reforms in the Catholic Church such as the ordination of women; optional celibacy for priests; change in birth control teaching; Church financial and leadership accountability; equality for homosexuals and minority groups; clergy sex abuse reforms; and focus on the church’s peace and social justice teaching. Their comprehensive web site is: www.cta-usa.org.