March 28, 2018
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, U.S.A. have begun a global revolution.
Pictured is just the gathering in Washington D.C. alone. There were "March for our Lives" rallies in 800 cities around the world from London to Berlin to Sydney. Young people are behaving like adults and too many adults are behaving like children. Martin Luther King's nine-year-old granddaughter led the crowd in cheering : "I have a dream: enough is enough!"
In the wake of this global movement, and coming on the heels of a meeting of 300 young people from various religions and cultural backgrounds who met with the pope, in his Palm Sunday message in St. Peter's Square, Francis urged young people to keep shouting and not allow the older generations to silence their voices or anesthetize their idealism.
This summary of the pre-synod meeting with young people was written by a team based on the input of all the participants from 20 different language groups and 6 from social media. They told the Vatican that they want a more transparent and authentic church. Their message will be delivered to the Bishops who gather for the Synod on Youth scheduled to be held in October later this year.
Future of the Church Depends on All of Us
So much of our Christian social justice values overlap with our political values today. Young people are standing up and speaking out. All of us need to listen to these vibrant and deeply committed voices and give them a platform to join all people of goodwill towards building a more just and caring society. The future of our families, our communities, our nations, and our world depends on all of us. Together we must change the way we govern ourselves. Together we can bring peace to our war-torn world. Together we can create a Church that is truly open, inclusive, and welcoming to all. We join with Pope Francis in asking you, young people, to inspire us saying: ""It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders, some corrupt, keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?"
We invite you to "cry out" and make your voices heard on our Facebook page . Go there now and let tell us what is on your mind.
We acknowledge that our organization is mostly comprised of older members of the Catholic community. But we assure you, our younger sisters and brothers, that we want to hear your voices. Please share with us your thoughts, your perspectives, your ideas and your aspirations for our Church and our world.
Gratefully,
Rene Reid
CCRI director
3 February 2018
The Vatican has barred former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, from participating in a conference to mark International Women's Day which was originally scheduled to take place at the Casina Pio IV within Vatican City. The venue has now been moved to a site away from the Vatican and McAleese continues to be a speaker. McAleese, who is a criminal lawyer, has a doctorate in canon law and is the mother of a gay son. She has been outspoken in her criticism of the Church's position on women and LGBT issues. "It's hard to believe in Pope Francis's vision of a 'welcoming Church' when a Dicastery of the Vatican, that is meant to support women, censors their voices," says Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, Advisory Board member of Voices of Faith and a Strategy Team member of Catholic Church Reform Int'l. Although the event has been held in the Vatican for four years, not a single Cardinal has ever attended it.
In June 2017, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois ordered priests of his diocese not to preside at a gay marriage, not to give Communion to married gay couples, and not to allow a church funeral for a deceased same-sex spouse. Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, through his vicar general, followed by denying a Catholic funeral to a "Person in a Homosexual Civil or Notorious Union." Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, which actively supports the LGBT community, said that while other bishops, like Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia and former Archbishop John Myers of Newark, N.J., have issued similar decrees, none has gone as far as Paprocki, especially in denying church funerals and punishing pastoral ministers.
CCRI calls on the faithful to speak out against such exclusion. "Who is unforgivable: gay couples or bishops who ban them from the Sacraments?" asks Rene Reid, director of CCRI. "It is time for the People of God to support women in leadership roles and welcome practicing gay couples who present themselves in good faith to the sacraments."
Bishops and others who believe that committed same-sex couples are in a sinful union need to be reminded of Jesus inviting the one who is without sin to cast the first stone. CCRI supports Pope Francis who has said the Church must no longer sit in judgment of those who fail to live up to the Gospel's ideals of marriage and family life. In his Amoris Laetitia, Latin for "The Joy of Love," Pope Francis establishes that he sees individual conscience as the most important principle for Catholics attempting to navigate difficult issues surrounding sex, marriage, and family life. "We have been called to form consciences, not replace them," said the pope. We applaud Francis as he continually guides his bishops to shift from emphasis on doctrine to mercy in confronting some of the "irregular" situations facing the Faithful.
One bishop who has walked this path is Patrick J. McGrath of the diocese of San Jose, California who issued a letter stating that when it comes to "members of the LGBT community," his diocese "will not refuse sacraments or Christian Burial to anyone who requests them in good faith." We congratulate the majority of Catholic bishops worldwide who, at the end of the 2015 Synod on the Family, called for a more welcoming and inclusive church endorsing Pope Francis's call for a more merciful and less judgmental church.
We are disillusioned however, by a Church that preaches inclusion but continues to practice exclusion; that upholds equality but discriminates within its fold; that reaches out to the margins but marginalizes its own; that takes a courageous stand for justice in the world but sacralizes gender injustice; that is sensitive to the invisible and the silenced but has no space for different voices. "It is a matter of conscience and our Christian duty," says Rene Reid, "to stand in solidarity with all those who are finding it difficult and painful to stay in the Church because of its exclusivist policies. CCRI calls upon all people who see the injustice of such behavior to go now to www.ThePeopleSpeakOut.org and make your voices heard by adding your signatures and/or your comments.{jcomments on}