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2015 Family Synod
Good News for the Synod
With less than two months before the 2015 Synod on the Family opens, there is some good news. Pope Francis has made two "Francis" appointments in the United States. Read more
 Catholic Women Speak Up in Time for the Synod This year, a new effort has been launched to make bring women's voices forward in the lead up to the 2015 Family Synod. Catholic Women Speak: Bringing our Gifts to the Table, is an extraordinary effort to make women's experience and reflections on a variety of topics related to the 2015 Family Synod available to synod delegates, auditors, experts and to Catholics everywhere. Read more
If Pope Francis Has His Druthers
If Pope Francis had his druthers, the Church would change its treatment of those who are divorced and remarried. On August 5, 2015 he shot a warning to pastors - don't treat them like they are excommunicated. Do just the opposite. Read moreCardinal Burke is Out: Cardinals Kasper and Danneels are In
Via a Vatican source, Mickens learned that Pope Francis will NOT be inviting Cardinal Raymond Burke back to the synod floor. Read more
Synod process "shows Church doesn't have all the answers
The process of conducting the questionnaire for the Synod of Bishops on the Family has shown that the Church may have no solution to some of the problems, remarked Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois to his staff or priests and laity in the Archdiocese of Paris.
During a consultation process a wide variety of views were presented according to Vingt-Trois. "Fifty years ago we thought it was natural that children were baptized, but today that's not taken for granted." Regarding marriage, he noted that the dialogue showed that lifelong marriage is no longer a fundamental value, which for him means, "the situations we face are not automatic."
"We have to accept that insoluble situations exist, and deal with the fact there is not a solution." Vingt-Trois suggested, "Our mission is to hold people's hands and help them walk." (The Tablet, 4 Jul 2015)
Kasper describes how penitential pathway might work in practice
In a nine-page essay in the German theological monthly Stimmen der Zeit, Cardinal Walter Kasper attempts to demonstrate how it would be possible theologically to allow remarried divorcees to receive the Eucharist. Each case would have to be considered individually and each person would work with a confessor. (The Tablet, 4 Jul 2015)
Cardinal Angelo Scola suggests the practice of determining nullity in marriages must be more flexible
Writing about a pilot program in the Archdiocese of Milan for divorced and remarried people, the cardinal suggests that once a person has undergone this process, she/he could perform services and hold offices in the Church for the benefit of the Christian community. (The Tablet, 4 July 2015)
African theologians, bishops cry out for more expansive synod discussions
At a July meeting in Nairobi, African theologians and bishops called for a broader focus that brings to the synod floor the concerns of the African Catholic Church. At the conference, "Gospel of Family: From Africa to the World Church," the participants brought up a diverse range of unique family topics they said are facing the church on their continent but had not been adequately discussed at the 2014 synod including gender-based violence, the missing presence of fathers, crippling poverty, corruption in government and church spheres, etc. Read more
500,000 Catholics want nothing to change
More than 500,000 people, including five cardinals, have signed a petition asking Pope Francis to reinforce Church teaching on marriage and the family at the synod of bishops in October. It has since been signed by five cardinals, 117 bishops and hundreds of civil leaders, in addition to the thousands of university students it was aimed at. The cardinals who are signatories are Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal Jorge Medina of Chile, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of the Philippines, Cardinal Alexandre José Maria dos Santos, Mozambique, and Cardinal Jānis Pujats of Latvia. Read more
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Catholics Fight to Keep their Parishes Open
What Pope Francis should know about parish closings as he travels to New York and Philadelphia
As Pope Francis travels to the United States in just a few weeks, there are a few things he should know, or rather, a few people he should meet in order to understand the suffering and loss caused by parish closures and mergers in the United States, but especially in New York and Philadelphia where he has planned stops. Read more
The Cost of Closing Parishes
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When the Pope Comes to Town
Church-4-All Initiative
 A serious pastoral crisis exists in our Church. As Pope Francis sojourns to the United States, we anticipate this will be a great opportunity for him to send a clear message to our Church, and especially to its leaders, about what the Gospel really calls us to in these times.
A whole generation of Catholics who were raised Catholic have left the Church. The most common reasons are over disagreements with Church teachings on women's leadership, sexuality, etc. In order for our Church to regain its vitality, we need to honestly discuss the lived realities of all Catholic families and take actions for justice. Until individuals and families who are marginalized are fully embraced, not just with rhetoric but in practice, we have not fulfilled the Gospel call of justice. Church structures which perpetuate these cycles of patriarchy, clericalism, and exclusion will not lead to significant, long-term change.
Pope Francis has given us a new moment to change the Church. As he travels to the United States, we As the Body of Christ, we must undertake every opportunity to call for and cultivate transformation. Learn more
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Stemming the Priest Shortage
 #openordination
In four short years half of active diocesan priests in the U.S. -- nearly 9000 of 17,900 -- will reach retirement age. New vocations will not come close to replacing those retiring. Fewer and fewer priests will be called to serve greater and greater numbers of Catholics thus creating an unprecedented strain on the community, resulting in greater numbers of parish mergers and closings. FutureChurch is urging U.S. bishops to - return to the early Church's practice of ordaining both married and celibate priests
- restore our early practice of ordaining female and male deacons
- invite priests who left the active ministry to marry, to return.
Ireland: Commission to consider married priests and female deacons Bishop Leo O'Reilly of Kilmore, wants to set up an episcopal commission to explore the ordination of married men and female deacons. A diocesan pastoral plan states that the Bishop of Kilmore with liaise with the Irish bishops' conference "to explore the establishment of a commission...to study the possibility of ordaining married men to the priesthood as well as appointing women deacons." Of Kilmore's Diocese's 77 priests, 52 are aged 60 or older. (The Tablet, 20 Jun 2015) Up to 10 bishops in England and Wales would like to ordain married men As many as 10 bishops in England and Wales are so short of priests that they would welcome the change for the Church to discern whether ordaining married men would be the way forward. The Bishop Emeritus of Portsmouth, Crispian Hollis, recently wrote that he is increasingly convinced that the Church in Britain "will have to move towards the ordaining of married men...sooner rather than later." Citing the priest shortage crisis he noted that six to ten diocesan bishops in England and Wales (out of 22 dioceses) would welcome the chance to discern the way forward on ordaining married men. (The Tablet, 04 Jul 2015) Related
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 #reclaimmagdala
The prayer for the Jubilee Year of Mercy is beautiful, yet in one area, it falls short. Pairing Mary Magdalene with "the adulteress" and claiming that she too sought happiness "only in created things" reinforces a centuries-long - but historically and biblically incorrect - view of Mary as a prostitute or public sinner. We ask Pope Francis to issue a statement publicly correcting record on Mary of Magdala.
Sign our petition asking Pope Francis to correct the record on Mary of Magdala and making an important contribution to the role of women in the Church.
Mary of Nazareth and the Feast of the Assumption
 Like many Catholic women, I have struggled with some of the imagery surrounding Mary of Nazareth. Was she a doormat? A "yes" woman? A docile, passive type - who obeyed rather than questioned?
Women Deacons: Building for the future
FutureChurch developed the first phase of its educational and  outreach program for women deacons in 2010. That effort has helped spark new conversations and raised consciousness about the possibility of women entering the permanent diaconate.
This year, we welcome Luke Hansen, S.J. to FutureChurch. Luke will serve as a program intern expanding and strengthening our Women Deacons initiative through education and advocacy from the grassroots level to our bishops.
To learn more or contact us about our initiative, please contact debrose@futurechurch.org or russ@futurechurch.org.
LCWR: Avanti
Avanti! This Italian word for "forward!" seems to have been the unofficial theme of the 2015 Assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. To applause, LCWR President, Sharon Holland, IHM urged her fellow sisters "Avanti" several times in her presidential address. Read more Related
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FutureChurch celebrates
25 years of working for reform in the Catholic Church
Thanks to the vision and efforts of co-founders, Sr. Christine Schenk and Fr. Louis Trivison, and so many reform minded Catholics along the way, we are celebrating 25 years of working for the rights and responsibilities of all the baptized in the Catholic Church.
Oct 2 & 4, 2015 (Cleveland)- Screening of Radical Grace followed by Q & A with Sr. Chris Schenk. Get tickets
November 12, 2015 (Cleveland) -
Quarter Century Club
Support the work of FutureChurch today. Become a Quarter Century Club member and help us expand our initiatives and programs. Become a member
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Events you should know about
 Gender, Gospel and Global Justice
DO YOU SUPPORT WOMEN'S EQUALITY IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH?
JOIN WOMEN'S ORDINATION WORLDWIDE IN PHILADELPHIA
SEPTEMBER 18 - 20, 2015 Women's Ordination Worldwide will sponsor a unique event featuring world class speakers from around the globe discussing women's equ ality in the Church. Do not miss this wonderful opportunity! Register  Call To Action Conference is right around the corner! Love Radically. Live Faithfully.
NOVEMBER 6 - 8, 2015
This year's conference features Sr. Joan Chittister and other world-renown speakers. Register
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