Catholica Information Story: Petition to Australian Catholic Bishops

Text of letter to All Australian Catholics...

Details of the petition appeal to the Austrfalian Catholic Bishops to ordain more priests for our parishes

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

— The Petition Wording —

An appeal to the Australian Catholic Bishops to ordain priests for our parishes

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

If you would like to comment on this information you can do so via our Forum.

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