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                                          Celebrating 20 Years!
                                                        August 2011 E-Newsletter    (Newsletter Archive)
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In This Issue
Pray with us!...Pentecost prayer at the American Catholic Council
An Open Letter to US.bishops
Cleveland homilies empower, inspire
"Misguided Missal" website
Vatican orders investigation of Cleveland bishop
Irish bank underwrote payouts for US abuse settlements
God's diplomat called home
Priests support Fr. Roy
Phoenix cathedral bans altar girls
Parish closing and appeals news
Other church news
New Women and the Word kit now available.
Donate
Honor Your Parish Priest: Priesthood Sunday, October 30

Every October, Catholics honor our priests who often must work double duty in this time of priest shortage.  Download a free prayer service and organizing kit affirming priests who  embrace the celibate charism while praying that the Latin rite will soon welcome married priestly calls as well.

Great for parishes, prayer groups, book groups or other gatherings.

 

Take Action!

Send New E-Postcards  asking to open discussion of mandatory celibacy and women deacons.   

 

Download a free So All Can Be at the Table education-advocacy resource.

  

Sign New Open Letter to U.S. Bishops  

Upcoming
FutureChurch Events
 

 

Saturday, September 13, 2011.  9:00 am -3:00 pm.  

CTA-Michigan State Conference in Lansing, MI Jamie Manson and Sr. Chris Schenk on Women Leaders in Early Christianity. Plymouth Congregational Church, 2001 E Grand River, Lansing, MI 48912. For conference details including cost, visit www.cta-mi.org or email Marianne Bernard at [email protected]

   

Thursday, October 13, 2011. 6:00-9:00 pm An Evening with Jason Berry, FutureChurch's 21st Annual Benefit.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Info and tickets here. 

 

November 4-6, 2011. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Living the Gospel of Love: Call To Action National Conference. With Edwina Gateley, Anthony Ruff, Jamie Manson, Marcus Borg, Chris Schenk, Roy Bourgeois, Raul Al-Qaraz Ochoa, Barbara Fiand and MANY others. Register at www.cta-usa.org  

 

November 5, 2011 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Silencing of Catholic Women: Then and Now. Sr. Chris Schenkand Celebrating the Prophetic Witness of Women Religious Today prayer service with Emily Holtel-Hoag. Register at www.cta-usa.org  

 FutureChurch 21st Annual Benefit: An Evening with Jason Berry 

Jason Berry 

 Thursday, October 13, Cleveland Museum of Natural History    

 

    Info and Tickets Here 

 

Jason Berry achieved prominence for reporting on the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis in Lead Us Not Into Temptation (1992).

 

Sr. Joan Chittister had this to say about Berry's newest book:  " A captivating read, Render unto Rome is an astounding revelation of the church's financial system and required reading for those who donate to the church or are interested in the ongoing effot to restore the credibility of the church and its heirarchy" 

Order Render Unto Rome here

 

Check out:  

Jason Berry's website 

NPR interview on Vows of Silence 


So All Can Be at the Table
women deacon
Optional Celibacy
and Women Deacons

To send an electronic postcard asking to restore women deacons, 
click here 


To send an electronic postcard asking to restore optional celibacy
,

click here

To sign Open Letter to US Bishops

click here

 

 
More info... 


 Women Leaders in Early Christianity CD and Presenter's Guide
WOEC
Includes 43 images of catacomb frescos and sarcophagi friezes of early women leaders and an extensively researched 16 page presenter's guide. Click here to order

Organize to keep
P
arishes Open! SOPC image

Download Free Canonical Appeal Resources here

Order the Save Our Parish Community packet
here!
 
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Magdala Market Online Store

 

View inspirational
Vatican II video by Fr. John O'Malley SJ
here
Video Pic

A Million Voices
A Million Voices: Gospel Nonviolence for the Life of the Church
Educates about Gospel nonviolence when a Catholic's right and responsibility to speak on a "matter concerning the good of the Church" (Canon 212.2) is violated. ($5.00)

Info and download here 

 
Free Sample!  Women and the Word for Educators:  
Essays, prayer services and student work sheets about notable women such as Prisca, Phoebe, Dorothy Day and St. Mary of Magdala.

dinner dove 


email:  [email protected]


To  Purchase A celebrating Women Women Witnesses packet
click here

Spanish Resources here


 
Dear Friends:   We hope you enjoy our AUGUST
E-Newsletter.
Share it with others by
  
 

Pray with us! Opening lament prayer (created by FutureChurch) at the American Catholic Council  

(15 minutes..well worth the time!)

Opening ?Lament Prayer? at the American Catholic Council

Download a copy of the prayer service


View photos and FutureChurch write up of the ACC
 

Over 3000 (so far) sign Open Letter From the People of God to U.S. Bishops  "Silence, blind obedience, and unquestioning trust on the part of faithful Catholics can no longer be viable options if the Church with the Eucharist as the center of its life is to survive. Now is the time to act as well as to pray."   FutureChurch's new Open Letter has already attracted over 3000 paper and online signers with many more to come.

 

According to a 2008 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate study, in just eight years, we will have only 13,500 active diocesan priests to serve 18,000 parishes, presuming ordinations remain constant as they have for the past decade.  Read more... 

 

READ and SIGN the Open Letter  

 

Download paper copy to circulate  

 

Download free Open Letter organizing kit with ideas to inspire dialogue around optional celibacy.

 

Send electronic postcard to ROME 

 

DONATE TO HELP COVER  COSTS

 

Cleveland Homilies Empower, Inspire "I've heard five great homilies in my life.  Two were at St. Michael's, thecleveland mag preaching folks other three were here tonight."  So said a woman who just happened to wander in from a nearby WeightWatchers meeting to  Cleveland FutureChurch's July 20, St. Mary of  Magdala celebration. Over 100 people heard three women preach the homilies they would love to preach at Mass if only they were permitted.  Over 350 St. Mary of Magdala celebrations were held all over the world. (More about those in the next e-news)

 

Read NCR article about Cleveland FutureChurch celebration. 

 

View video of Cleveland homilies
 

"Misguided Missal" Website A new website has been launched by an anonymous group of lay and clerical Catholic leaders to educate about the new Roman Missal, call for its immediate withdrawal and reconsider using the 1998 Missal blocked by the Vatican even though it had been approved by the world's English speaking bishops' conferences. The new site compares three translations: the current translation, the new controversial translation (slated to begin in Advent 2011), and the 1998 translation which is also available for free download.

 

View Misguided Missal website

  

Compare translations

 

Download 1998 Missal (free)   

 

Related Articles:

Changes to Roman Catholic Mass Will Surprise Majority in the Pews, Survey Says (77% of Catholics didn't know about changes)

 

3000 pastoral musicians meet to prepare for new Missal

 

Vatican orders investigation of Cleveland bishop The Vatican sent retired Bishop John M. Smith to Cleveland from July 11-16 to assess the leadership of Bishop Richard G. Lennon. A June 24 story by veteran Vatican journalist, Marco Tosatti, had reported the Vatican intended to investigate the Cleveland bishop. An estimated 25-30 people met with Smith during the week. Among those interviewed were leaders of parishes Lennon closed. Some fifteen Cleveland appeals are now pending in Rome. On July 12, the FutureChurch Board of Trustees issued a statement welcoming Bishop Smith to Cleveland and asking that the report be made public.

Related

FutureChurch statement on Cleveland visitation

 

Bishop Richard Lennon's Cleveland Catholic Diocese church closings under investigation by Vatican, Italian newspaper reports

 

Visiting bishop will review Bishop Richard Lennon's leadership of Cleveland Catholic Diocese

 

Jason Berry shows Irish Bank underwrote payouts for US abuse settlements   The Irish media recently picked up on investigative journalist Jason Berry's report that the Catholic church used $400 million in loans from the Allied Irish Bank (AIB) to pay US sexual abuse victims. Berry's recent book Render Unto Rome reported that one of the payments, $250 million, went to the Los Angeles  diocese.                        

Render Unto Rome


A recent investigation by the Irisn news outlet, Mail on Sunday,
established that in a few short months in 2007, the AIB emerged as the lender behind abuse settlements for four separate dioceses, and the true figure was almost twice as high. It also found that while AIB was used to pay the bulk of the Church's abuse claims, the dioceses were able to hold on to most of their properties. Read more...    
  

FutureChurch review of Render Unto Rome 

 

Chicago Tribune Review of Render Unto Rome 

 

FutureChurch Statement and suggested ACTIONS for financial accountability in the Church.
 
Email Peter's Pence, asking for annual accounting

 

Read Excerpt of Render Unto Rome.
 

God's Diplomat called home: Archbishop Sambi RIP From Joseph K. Greiboski of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy:  "On July 27, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio to the United States, died on of complications from lung surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Sambi was the consummate diplomat, respected highly by the White House, State Department, as well as the American bishops. In Washington, after he arrived as nuncio, he told Catholic News Service that in his travels as a papal diplomat, it was 'difficult to find a part of the world where the charity of U.S. Catholics did not reach the poor or sick people.'"   Read more... 

 

From John Allen at NCR: "During his tenure, the Church in the U.S. faced some difficult challenges. Sambi, in conjunction with Cardinal Justin Rigali, handled the delicate task of removing Bishop Joseph Martino from Scranton. Martino had alienated his clergy and his flock. Removing a bishop is a rare event, but Sambi handled the situation with delicacy but firmness. Likewise, he played a role in transferring then-Archbishop Raymond Burke to Rome in advance of the 2008 elections. Some note that the appointment was a promotion, but most observers concluded that it was an instance of promovere ut movere - promote in order to move." Read more....

 

Priests support Fr. Roy who then receives second warning   On August 1, the press reported that 157 Catholic priests in good standing signed a letter to Maryknoll to support the priesthood of Fr. Roy Bourgeois "and his right to speak from his conscience." On August 8,, Bourgeois received a "second canonical warning" and faces expulsion from his U.S.-based mission society if he continues publicly advocating for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic church  Read more here 

And here...

 

Women's Ordination Conference PETITION TO SUPPORT FR. ROY    

 

FutureChurch statement on Fr. Roy Bourgeois. 

 
Phoenix Cathedral bans altar girls Girls can no longer serve at Mass at the cathedral of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Phoenix. The rector, Rev. John Lankeit, said he made the decision in hopes of promoting the priesthood for males and other religious vocations, such as becoming a nun, for females. The altar-server corps in American churches has included girls since 1983. Girls and boys regularly serve together at churches throughout the Phoenix Catholic Diocese.  Read more...

If you wish, call  Phoenix officials: 

Rev. John Lankeit, SS Simon and Jude Cathedral: 602-242-130

Diocese of Phoenix: 602-257-0030

 

Parish Closing and Appeals News  

 

Boston Archdiocese decides on vigiling churches, Cardinal Se�n P. O'Malley has decided on the status of eight church buildings related to parishes that had appealed their closure to the Vatican. Six of the churches will be "relegated to profane use" and another two will continue to function as places of Catholic worship, but will not be reopened as parishes. Read more... 

 

Boston Catholics unwilling to give up Parishioners of 6 Boston churches told to close,  have begun new appeals Read more... 

 

Boston Related :  

Archdiocese will seek bids for secular uses

 

Taking on the church he loves: Closed Catholic parishes find a fighter in Charlestown's Peter Borre

 

In wake of church closings Cleveland 'Roamin' Catholics' look for home "They call themselves "Roamin' Catholics," traveling from church to church each Sunday, looking for a new place to worship since Cleveland's oldest black Catholic church was shut down more than a year ago. Initially, there were nearly 50 of them from St. Adalbert Catholic Church on East 83rd Street after it closed June 6, 2010, as part of a diocesen wide downsizing. But some found other worship communities -- both Catholic and Protestant -- while others just quit church, cold turkey." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)  Read more.. 

 

Download Free Canonical Appeal Resources here 

Order the Save Our Parish Community packet
here! 

 
Other Church News

 

WYD: The event cost 50 million Euros and was entirely self-financed  The cost of the World Youth Day caused much controversy, sparking protests by a number of lay Spanish associations. The organisers of the event have revealed the final calculations for the total cost of the event. "The total cost of this year's WYD has been calculated at 50 million Euros, financed mostly by the pilgrims (70%) and the rest from donations (30%)." In return, "the WYD will bring over 100 million Euros to the Spanish economy."(Vatican Insider) Read more..

 

US lawyer says Vatican knew of priest's sex abuse In April, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman in Oregon ordered the Vatican to produce documents in the case that alleged a cover-up of priest sex abuse. At the time, the judge's order was termed a "historic step" by attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who sued the Holy See in Rome and US archdioceses and church officials on behalf of an unnamed man in Oregon. Anderson said on Aug 22, an analysis of the 1,856 documents written in Latin, Italian and English showed the Vatican had direct control over the placement and laicization of Rev. Andrew Ronan, who left the priesthood in 1966 and died in 1992. (Reuters) Read more..  

  

Vatican publishes documents related to Oregon sex abuse cases The Vatican has published online more than 70 pages of documents which, it said, prove the Vatican had no knowledge of a priest's sexual misconduct until he and his religious order petitioned for his laicization. (NCR)  Read more...

 

Pope planning 'radical' changes to Irish Catholic Church Pope Benedict is said to be planning some "dramatic" changes for the Irish Church, according to the influential Irish Catholic newspaper columnist David Quinn and leading Irish theologian Father Vincent Twomey, changes could include significantly reducing the number of dioceses and replacing most of the current bishops. (Irish Central) Read more...

 

Related articles  

Cardinal Bevilacqua ordered to appear in court in abuse case

 

Belgium launches legal action against the Vatican for sexual abuse by paedophile priests 

 

Dublin Archdiocese on brink of financial collapse due to abuse payouts    

 

New!

Women and the Word education/advocacy kit
This free kit includes tools that encourage our parishes, small faith communities, schools and dioceses to make visible the rich tradition of women leaders in the Church. Sample educational programs on women in scripture and church history, articles by scholars and activists and sample postcard and background info about women deacons are also included. Download here.... 

 

 
To donate to FutureChurch or renew your membership,  please  click here 

We now have a monthly giving option that provides an easy way to manage your donation and saves on administrative costs for FutureChurch. You can participate in the monthly giving program using your credit card or checking account (if using your checking account please send an endorsed and voided check to FutureChurch at 17307 Madison Avenue, Lakewood Ohio 44107)
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Phone: 216.228.0869 

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