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To: All
Australian Catholics
From: The Petition Coordinators,
Paul Collins and Frank Purcell
There are a growing number of parishes without priests. Because of this
there is the danger that the Mass and Sacrament centred spirituality of
our Catholic tradition will be lost for an increasing number of Australian
Catholics.
If you share these concerns we invite you to view a copy of our “Appeal
to the Australian Catholic Bishops to ordain priests for our parishes”.
Click on the link below.
If you wish to add your signature to this appeal, just follow the directions
on the petition form.
If you add your signature, could we also ask you to:
 Circulate
a copy of this letter to any Catholic contacts you have in your email
address book;
 Make
five copies of this letter and pass them on to Catholic relatives and
to Catholic friends in your parish, your workplace or school whose email
addresses you don’t have;
 Make
some copies of the hard copy of the Petition Form to pass on to Catholics
(relatives, fellow-parishioners, friends and fellow workers) who don’t
have email access. (You can print out a Microsoft word hard copy of the
petition HERE
or a PDF copy of the petition HERE.)
To view the petition see the wording
below or go to:
www.PetitionOnline.com/PF2544/petition.html
To sign the petition: Follow the
directions on the webpage at the link above.
You will receive an automatic acknowledgement if you sign the petition.
Thanks,
Paul Collins & Frank Purcell
8 August 2007
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—
The Petition Wording —
An appeal to the Australian Catholic Bishops
to ordain priests for our parishes
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To the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference
We, the undersigned Australian Catholics, wish to express
our support for our bishops who are preparing the Australian Catholic
Church for new forms of ministry and leadership. We request the Australian
Catholic Bishops’ Conference to place the following items on the
agenda for their plenary meeting in November this year, 2007.
We ask that the Bishops:
- Acknowledge that there is a major crisis in ministry within the
Australian Catholic Church.
- Acknowledge that there is no doctrinal or theological barrier to
the ordination of married men. The Australian Church has already ordained
married former Anglican priests.
- Take practical steps toward ordaining suitably qualified married
men.
- Encourage a wide-ranging discussion of the role of women in ministry
and in the authority structures of the Church, including the question
of women’s ordination.
- Establish appropriate scriptural, theological and pastoral training
programs (campus, distance and online) to prepare suitable women and
men for ministry. These candidates should have the recommendation of
their parishes and communities, and should participate in mentored pastoral
work.
- Invite priests who have left the ministry to return to active priesthood,
subject to negotiation with the local bishop.
We do this because of our growing concern that three
serious issues are putting the future of the Catholic Church in Australia
at risk:
- The increasingly acute shortage of suitable priests to maintain
our Mass-centred, Eucharistic spirituality and the celebration of the
other sacraments;
- The increasing drift of young people from the Church because
of the difficulties we face in our ministry to them;
- The lack of full leadership roles for women.
(Anyone signing this petition who would be willing to
seek written signatures from people without email, please contact the
authors at fpurcell@mcmedia.com.au)
Sincerely,
The Undersigned |
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