In Columbus, Ohio: AUSCP will meet at the De Pores Center, on the grounds of the Ohio Dominicans at 2320 Airport drive from 10 am t o 4 pm on Tuesday, January 24 (one third of our membership is from lower Michigan and Ohio) Updating report will be given from the Board meeting at St. Leo's (Jan 17-19). Challenging and inspiring us to step up to open discussion will be Don Cozzens, Jim Bacik, and Dan Divis. Registration ($20) is requested before Jan 13 and includes lunch. To register, contact Fr. Bernie Survil, bsurvil@uscatholicpriests.us, 724-850-1616 or to Bill Petron, wpetron@sbcglobal.net , 586-228-1316.

In Westland, MI: All AUSCP members are invited to a special regional meeting (targeting Michigan, northern Ohio and northern Indiana)on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012, at SS Simon&Jude Church, in Westland, MI. The Agenda is for Frank Eckart & Tom Gumbleton to speak, and we will hear a Report from the AUSCP January Board Meeting at St. Leo University. We will begin at 10:00 AM, lunch, and close at 4:00 PM. Register with Bill Petron, 586-707-2944, wpetron@sbcglobal.net

 Interested non-members are most welcome at both events!
  

At the Board meetings on Tuesdays I can see that Frank Eckart and Rich Creason have done their homework on the Constitution and By-Laws Committee. A copy of the Constitution will be ready soon on the website. We are awaiting the lawyer's final OK, then we can officially become a 501(c)3 organization . Frank also works - as Board Liaison and Chair - on the Finance Committee with Len Dubi. The good news is that so many men have generously chipped in to help build the website that the Treasury account is now at $28,000 which is quite necessary for the website, membership development, administration expenses, and all the expenses of the summer convention.

We have already seen the phenomenal work of the Membership Committee in action. Several dioceses have made major recruitment explosions, e.g. Toledo where several leaders have over 25 new members. Bill Petron and Harry Meyer assist Bernie Survil in recruitment. Bernie is on fire with the Holy Spirit, inspiring us younger priests to learn the meaning of zeal, especially when we pastors face the normal overwhelming odds of pastoral work. While many of our members are retired, they seem to be the most passionate about this ministry with priests and want us to get moving more than the younger set.

While Jay Davidson is the Board Chair for our PR Committee, Marty Marren has helped us to develop our logo and stationary and advertisement resources. We are looking for men with ideas, energy, and chutzpah to join us with the skill to get word out to priests who need support and a forum where they can share themselves freely. As I read through the 340 names on our membership, I tremble at the legacy of ministry that I see there. Maturity, deep wisdom, and broad experience define these ministers of the gospel. What is God asking of us?

That is the most pointed question, which Dan Divis' Issues/Initiatives Committee is trying to answer. Bernie Survil and Jim Sauer (our Board Secretary) compiled an eight page list of expectations and issues as expressed by the incoming members in mid-November. We are all anxiously awaiting some focused priorities from them, but as of the last board meeting he said that his members have not reported in on their discernment. Some of us are shouting that "We need to get MOVING NOW!" - while others seem to be in less of a hurry. The intense urgency of our cause can get buried under funerals and the usual pastoral malaise that keeps us up late night after night just trying to survive, but even swamped pastors desire to move forward.

I can't wait until the leadership team gathers at St. Leo's University to walk through options for the summer convention. It is exciting and it is hard work. I am looking forward to hearing from you, brothers. Let us become the church we always longed for in this New Year. Please share your ideas for better communications and PR. You can reach me at frbobcushing@hotmail.com.

With you in Christ, Bob Cushing

Communications Chair

Archie Bunker and his son-in-law "Meathead," from the 1970's TV sitcom series needs to be updated by a new series that plays the Vatican II U.S. Catholic priest against the John Paul II U.S. Catholic priest.

To get us started, we are looking for trial scripts by those who know our current clerical culture from the inside - the way Andrew Greeley was able to write the Bishop Blackie Ryan Series of mystery novels, from his knowing Chicago's clerical culture inside-out.

Damian Ference, a Cleveland Diocesan priest ordained in 2003 and currently a college seminary faculty  member, wrote a serious article on the gulf between the two clerical generations: "Why We're Different; Bridging the clerical generation gap," in Commonweal magazine dated  23 May, 2008. The article touches a nerve, but not the funny bone.

The Association of US Catholic Priest, organized in August of 2011 with a preponderance of Vatican II priests as members, knows it is facing a challenge to bridge the gulf.  One Vatican II priest from the mid-west hesitates to join the AUSCP because he fears it will cut him off from the PJII priests of his diocese.

The NFPC's approach to the gulf seems to deny that a gulf even exists.  Some PJII priests seem willing to be patient until the Vatican II generation of priests dies off, at which point they believe, the U.S. Church's clergy will be restored to its original, pre-Vatican II non-conflictive greatness.  The Vatican II generation would prefer not to be set aside so easily with a "...Now you may dismiss your servant, O Lord..."

Are there any budding playwrights who would accept this challenge?   Would it be possible to have a short vignette (ten minutes) ready to test it on a one-day regional meeting of the AUSCP, to be held in Columbus, OH January 24, 2012?

This proposal comes from Bernard Survil, a Greensburg Diocesan priest, who has taken part in the readings of several plays produced by Jack Gilroy of Endwell, New York.  Three of the plays were bio-historic (Franz Jaegerstatter, Ben Salmon, The Creech 14) and far from humorous.  But Survil noted that the audiences were always entertained and engaged by an encounter when presented as theater, even amateur theater.

Contact:   bsurvil@gmail.com

Phone:   724-850-1616

The purpose of the AUSCP is to establish a recognized forum through which priests can relate to one another, to foster a priestly dialogue with the Bishops, the laity and their national organizations, and continue to celebrate and implement the visionary concepts of Vatican Council II.