June 2004
June 2004
Boston closes 65 parishes; Optional celibacy drive growing
While the Vatican sends discussion questions to the world's bishops for the 2005 International Synod on the Eucharist, more priests and laity in the U.S. are weighing in on the need to have both celibate and married priests so Catholics will have access to the Eucharist. The need could not be more acute. Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced May 25 that 65 of the 357 parishes in the diocese will close before Christmas. Similar consolidations are being discussed in dioceses across the U.S.
Priest groups speak outA new national group, the Priests’ Forum on the Eucharist, met for the first time in April to work toward optional celibacy. Sixteen representatives of priests in nine U.S dioceses plan to hold a large scale meeting on the topic in Spring 2005.
Also in April, 240 priests at the National Federation of Priests’ Councils convention challenged Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan to address official church dialogue on celibacy, married priests and due process for priests accused of sex abuse. Leaders hope Dolan as head of the Priestly Life Committee will raise their concerns at the U.S. bishops’ plenary meetings in June and November.
The CTA/FutureChurch Campaign for Optional Celibacy is growing rapidly. Of 63 diocesan surveys of priests on mandatory celibacy, results were in from 48, up from just 28 in late April. The overwhelming majority of priests surveyed support discussion of mandatory celibacy. New reports show 77 percent support in Phoenix, 67 percent in Cincinnati, and 68 percent in Santa Fe, for example. For full results and comments from priests, go to www.futurechurch.org. Final tallies are expected in late summer but already media stories have appeared in many major dailies.
The surveys are just one part of the two-year campaign to educate Catholics about the deepening priest shortage, celebrate the centrality of the Eucharist, and gather petitions to the International Synod. Nearly 8,000 people have signed petitions. Some 32 Corpus Christi June celebrations and programs are happening in U.S. parishes.
Pittsburgh, Twin CitiesIn May, Sr. Chris Schenk gave two campaign workshops, with the Assocation of Pittsburgh Priests and with Welcoming Vocations in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The APP effort has already gathered 1,000 letters to U.S. bishops asking for discussion. Awareness programs are being planned in four parishes. Welcoming Vocations also plans an educational outreach and hopes to collect 12,000 signatures supporting 120 priests of the diocese who publicly called for discussion of mandatory celibacy. From March through June, the group conducted signature campaigns in 16 parishes.
Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch supported a recent call by lay Catholics for ordaining married men. In a statement carried by Swiss television, he said the Church’s sacramental needs were good reason to change current discipline and he would personally favor ordaining married men.
FutureChurch resists Cleveland diocese banShortly before Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla’s ad limina visit to Rome, his diocese published a memo saying it is “inappropriate” for FutureChurch (FC) to continue having programs on church premises because the group is “promoting an agenda not consistent with Church teaching.” FC and its director, Chris Schenk, have been the target of escalating attacks by right-wing groups because of successful national programs in partnership with CTA, such as Optional Celibacy and Mary of Magdala celebrations. An article last fall by Donna Steichen in The Latin Mass magazine called FutureChurch part of “a pagan goddess movement.”
There is a silver lining. FC has lost no members, and even picked up a lot of new ones in Northeast Ohio. Several Catholic organizations offered to host FC programs. FC has about 800 members in the diocese and 5,000 nationally. Its leaders still hope to find a way to peacefully coexist in a diocese that until now has permitted a broad diversity of discussion on church premises.