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Bulletin #7
Brothers,
Last week we posted the Draft of Common Statement from Priest's Associations Worldwide in BULLETIN #5 and it was very well received. Thank you for your enthusiastic response. Many made great editing suggestions, inspiring posibilities, healthy criticisms and affirmations of the Irish draft.
Creating a forum for dialogue in this way and enabling shared reflection fulfills an essential part of our mission statement. We understand that the Irish are planning on completing an English language compilation in a few weeks before the common statement will go to the German language group. Once they have received our combined input, they want to get it out to the bishops and the public before Advent.
The Irish admitted that they had not planned a process for this nor had they planned on us changing the statement substantially, but because we are a part of the larger Presbyterate and dialogue and consensus is so basic to our process, I sincerely hope that they will value our insights as they make an integrated common statement.
We have invited one of the on-line blog contributors, Jim Schexnayder (Oakland Diocese) to develop a synthesis of your many contributions for our own AUSCP common statement which will be forwarded to the Irish in about ten days. So we don't have much more time to get other thoughts to Jim. Please chat up the statement with your brothers and let Jim know what else you might have to say, either on the website or to Jim directly in the nexty week. Thank you!
Responses can be posted on our blog at our AUSCP website www.uscatholicpriests.org
or you can email your responses to Fr. Jim Schexnayder, jasbayarea@att.net
the AUSCP Leadership Team |
Draft of Common Statement from Priest's Associations Worldwide
The recent testimony of Cardinal Carlo Martini from the grave is a telling reminder of the disappointment and unease in the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world at our failure to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Priests' associations throughout the world and other Catholic groups lament the present effort to resist and even explain away the message of the Council, its status as Catholic teaching and its loss to the Church.
We believe that there is a clear connection between the failure to implement Vatican 2 and the present decline of our Church.
Therefore we call on Church authorities to respond to Cardinal Martini's plea and to the present crisis in the Church in the developed world by initiating a debate on the needs of our Church in the light of the documents of Vatican Two.
We propose:
- the full implementation of the vision and teaching of the Second Vatican Council, with its emphasis on the status and active participation of all the baptized;
- a redesigning of ministry in the Church, in order to incorporate the gifts, wisdom and expertise of the entire faith community;
- a re-structuring of the governing system of the Church, basing it on service rather than on power, and encouraging at every level a culture of consultation and transparency, particularly in the appointment of Church leaders;
- an acceptance of the primacy of the individual conscience and an end to the present secretive processes where active and loyal members of the Church are perceived as 'dissidents';
- a re-evaluation of Catholic sexual teaching and pastoral practice that recognizes the profound mystery of human sexuality and the experience and wisdom of God's people
- the promotion of peace, justice and the protection of God's creation locally, nationally and globally.
While the present Synod will make its own contribution, it is of its nature very limited because it effectively ignores most of the baptized. Our Church needs a wider, deeper, richer and structured participation from all God's People so that we might more effectively spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Therefore as priests associations throughout the world we call on church authorities to respond to the present critical situation by facilitating a debate on the issues Cardinal Martini surfaced for the good of the Church and the Gospel. |
