"Next wave" of Catholic women's movement preach at Cleveland Magdala celebration. On July 19 over 200 people heard three outstanding homilies preached by what organizers are calling the "next wave" of the women's movement in the Catholic Church.  Cleveland's 16^th annual St. Mary of Magdala celebration focused on "unheard homilies" by younger women and was covered by the National Catholic Reporter.   

                            Megan Wilson-Reitz preaches on Hebrew Midwives 

"St. Mary of Magdala would have been proud. And I think Jesus is proud," said Sr. Christine Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch.The women's movement in the church is alive." Schenk said she hopes people come away from the Magdala celebrations with the "good news that God's love in Jesus Christ makes a difference in our world and that the good news is beautifully proclaimed through the lens of female experience. What a tremendous loss it is to our faith communities that women such as these cannot ever preach at Sunday Mass." Read more...

Over 300 Magdala celebrations planned in 2012  From July through September over 300 St. Mary of Magdala celebrations are being held worldwide, including 42 international celebrations in Australia, Canada, Columbia, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Mexico, and New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Uganda, and Zambia. In light of recent Vatican scrutiny of US nuns, FutureChurch developed a special celebration honoring women religious, and over 100 celebrations will honor the life and ministry of women religious. Local celebrants are invited to send photos an info about their celebrations to liz@futurechurch.org

Nine of eleven Cleveland parishes to reopen  

by August 15. On July 22 feast of St. Mary of Magdala, the Rev. Joseph Hilinski, led a procession of about 600 to the doors of St. Barbara parish for their first Mass since being closed two

years ago. Following a Polish tradition, he knocked three times on the door and commanded, "Open the doors so that the people of God may worship the God of heaven and earth." And thus a new era of worship in the much beloved neighborhood parish began.

Five of eleven Cleveland parishes who won Vatican appeals have already celebrated Mass in their newly reopened Churches. Four more are scheduled to reopen by August 15. Reopening dates for the remaining two have yet to be announced. Appeals lodged by parishioners of the 11 closed parishes resulted in Vatican decrees critical of Bishop Richard Lennon, stating that he did not properly follow procedures. In April, Lennon announced he would reopen the 11 churches rather than appeal the decrees. FutureChurch assisted many Cleveland parishes, including St. Barbara with their appeals.  Read more...  

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LCWR President Responds To Vatican Criticism On July 17, Sr. Pat Farrell, OSF, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was interviewed by Terri Gross on National Public Radio's Fresh Air: "The question is, 'Can you be Catholic and have a questioning mind?'. ... . if we can make any headway in helping to create a safe and respectful environment where church leaders along with rank-and-file members can raise questions openly and search for truth freely... that would be our hope." Listen to entire interview   

Catholics Pledge $88K to Nuns As of July 24, 1,000 Catholics have pledged to direct or redirect 88,478 to US sisters. Of this, the Nun Justice Project report that $53,233 was from Catholics choosing to give to the sisters rather than the Peter's Pence collection at the end of June. The remainder was pledged at Pentecost. One person from Silver Springs MD pledged to redirect $4,000 wrote: In the Church, money is power, I say, give the nuns real power, not just the pittance of Peter's Pence, which will not impress the bishops. Henceforth, I am sending most of my financial support of the Church directly to the nuns.  Pledge to support the Sisters 

Check out nationwide vigils here..

Sisters' Petition gathers over 59,000 signatures If you haven't signed it yet, click here.

Read FutureChurch Statement on mandate here 

NCR to track stories on LCWR crackdown. Follow at Sisters Under Scrutiny 

Related

American Nuns Vow to Fight Vatican Criticism (NY Times) 

"Love cannot be silenced" YouTube video expresses solidarity with Catholic sisters 

Fr. Michael Crosby Stands By LCWR remarks on women's ordination. Bishop Leonard Blair recently criticized LCWR for remarks made by well known theologian and author, Fr. Michael Crosby. At the 2004 LCWR assembly Crosby said 'we still have to worship a God that the Vatican says 'wills that women not be ordained.' That god ... is a false god; it cannot be worshiped. And the prophet must speak truth to that power and be willing to accept the consequence of calling for justice, stopping the violence and bringing about the reign of God."

On July 24 in a National Catholic Reporter online article, Crosby stood by his words saying "I deeply believe that the governance model of the Trinitarian God must be replicated in the structures of the church of Jesus Christ if it is to be perfected in the way God is Perfect Trinity. This demands nondiscrimination among persons at every level, nondomination in all our relationships, including the way authority is exercised in our church structures, and nondeprivation of women from having full access to all the

sacraments in our church, just as men." Read more...  

 Ed note: Crosby's recent book Repair My House : Becoming Kindom Catholics provides excellent biblical and theological foundations for his position.

New Women Deacons: Why Not Now? resource now available Are you curious about why women have been defined out of the diaconate, what roles women served in the past, or how the Roman Catholic Church can restore the female diaconate? FutureChurch's newest education and advocacy resource is designed to help Catholics learn the rich history of female deacons, discover why the Church should restore the female diaconate, and implement a discernment process to surface women candidates to present to the bishop of their diocese.  

Read more   and  order here..  

Leader of Austrian nuns, German lay organization support women deacons. In a June interview, the president of the association of Women Religious in Austria called for ordaining women deacons. In a June interview published in the Austrian monthly Kirche IN, Sr. Kunigunde Fürst asked: "Why should it not be possible to ordain women deacons? Could it be that the hierarchy is afraid that women will get too close to the priesthood and then perhaps even move on to becoming bishops?" Eighty six percent of Austrians agree that priests should be allowed to marry and that women should be ordained. An organization representing 24 million German lay Catholics is also calling for women deacons and married priests. (The Tablet 6/16/12 p. 29 and 5/12/12, p. 29).

Graying priesthood keeps faith: the average age of Roman Catholic priests in the United States rose to 63 in 2009 from 35 in 1970, according to a recent study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. And with fewer young men entering seminaries, more priests are working past 75, the formal retirement age under canon law. In the New York Archdiocese, about 25 men over age 75 are still working as priests, and several are older than 85. Read more... 

Just one ordination for New York Archdiocese. This year the New York Archdiocese has ordained only one new priest, Rev. Patric F. D'Arcy. It is the first year that has happened since the archdiocese opened its seminary more than 110 years ago.... Since the mid-1990s, most graduating classes have had fewer than 10 priests. The archdiocese estimates that it needs 20 new priests a year to fill all open positions and allow priests to retire as they age. Read more... 

Record decrease in Brazilian Catholics According to new figures, less than two-thirds of Brazilians identify as Catholics, marking a record decline in what is considered to be the world's largest Catholic country. Eighty percent of Catholic Sunday services are led by laity in Brazil because the institutional church has failed to address the priest shortage.Read more... 

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 More Parish Closing and Appeals News  

Hundreds of Catholics 'hug' church, win appeal. Hundreds of St. Mary's parishioners gathered hand-in-hand Sunday and sang The Beatles' "Let It Be" as if it were a hymn. But Bishop Walter Hurley said Sunday afternoon that given the changes happening in the dioceses, it must adapt. "Because quite frankly, we don't have the clergy to staff these parishes.  That would be one issue, and we are also faced with the changing demographics," Hurley explained to 24 Hour News 8. Later, according to involved parties, parishioners learned that the Bishop would not close the church. Read more...

Peoria Catholics Organize Ahead of Reconfiguration: Peoria Catholics organized across parish boundaries in 2010 to have input into a diocesan wide parish reconfiguration plan. Calling themselves The Doors of Hope Fellowship of Catholic Laity they drafted a position statement  that was influenced by FutureChurch's 2006 "Do Not Stifle the Spirit" statement naming eight best practices for preserving parishes in a time of fewer priests. The group's input has already been recognized by the diocese as having important wisdom to offer. Bishop Jenky will announce his decisions in September, with implementation scheduled to begin in January 2013. Peoria has 190 widely dispersed parishes and will have only 96 aging priests in 2022. Read more...

Vatican denies Scituate St. Frances parishioner appeal. In May, the Vatican denied an appeal by parishioners holding vigil since 2004 at the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate. They had appealed the deconsecration of the church. Despite the Vatican's ruling, parishioners vowed to keep fighting. Read more...

Download Free Canonical Appeal Resources here.

Order the Save Our Parish Community packet here.  

Philadelphia Church Official Sentenced to 3-6 Years in Prison Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday, July 24. Read more...