The Catholic Tipping Point:
Conversations with Helmut Schüller
"Creativity, Courage & Conscience--
Re-Imagining Church Governance
And The Voice of the Laity"
Internationally acclaimed Austrian priest activist,
to tour fifteen US cities July 16-August 7
For dates and cities, click here
Greetings!
Fr. Helmut Schuller is the charismatic founder of the Austrian Priests' Initiative, (Pfarrer-Initiative) organized in 2006 to address a deepening shortage of priests forcing many Austrian parishes to close. His work inspired the establishment of similar priest groups in Germany, Ireland, France, the United States and Australia.
His 15-city US tour is a result of an invitation by FutureChurch and the work of a coalition of nine church reform organizations*.
In June 2011, the Pfarrer-Initiative issued a "Call to Disobedience calling for lay leadership and preaching in parishes without a priest, permitting divorced and remarried Catholics to receive sacraments and support for the ordination of women and married men.
Schüller's visit comes in the midst of a steadily worsening priest shortage. A 2009 study from the National Federation of Priests' Councils found that for every 100 U.S. priests who retire, only 30 are available to replace them.
Red ribbons, symbolizing the spirit of Pentecost, and a commitment to dialogue between clergy and laity, will be collected and carried coast to coast. National organizers hope to present them to Church officials at the tour's conclusion. Schuller's US sojourn is being called Catholic Tipping Point because priests and people worldwide are creating a critical mass transforming the Church from the bottom up.
For list of dates and cities, click here
Your prayers, activism and generous donations make ground breaking initiatives such as this one possible.
Gratefully,
Christine Schenk, csj
Executive Director
For more info:
http://www.CatholicTippingPoint.org
http://www.pfarrer-initiative.at
*Sponsored by: Call To Action, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, CORPUS, DignityUSA, FutureChurch, New Ways Ministry, National Coalition of American Nuns, Quixote Center, Catholics Speak Out!, Voice of the Faithful, and Women's Ordination Conference
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