Sample Email
Copy and paste the text below into your email program and invite your
family and friends to sign the petition to the Synod on the Eucharist.
Help us reach our goal of 2,005 signatures per state! Check
our map and see how your state is doing.
Dear Friends and Family,
I am deeply concerned about the future of our Catholic sacramental
and parish life. The statistics are alarming (see below).
Please join me in signing and circulating a petition the International
Synod on the Eucharist that will meet in Rome next October.
The petition urges our bishops to find solutions to the priest shortage
and open discussion about:
- ending mandatory celibacy as a requirement for the diocesan
priesthood
- welcoming back priests who left the active ministry to marry
- opening the diaconate to the tens of thousands of qualified
women
serving the church right now.
Re-instating these ancient practices will go a long way toward meeting
the growing sacramental and spiritual needs of Catholics all over
the world.
IF YOU SHARE MY CONCERN, LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD BY SIGNING OUR
PETITION:
http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/corpus/petition.htm
You can go straight to the petition by clicking on the link or by
cutting and pasting it into your web browser.
PS And please ask every Catholic in your email address book to sign
and circulate the petition too.
Did you know that…
Within 20 years, 10,000 U.S. parishes may NOT have a resident
priest. Currently, nearly half of the world’s Catholic parishes
and missions do not have a resident priest.
Since Pope John Paul II was elected 26 years ago, the number of
Catholics increased by 40% while the number of priests decreased
by 4%?
In the U.S., for every 100 priests who die or leave the ministry
today, only 30 or 40 replace them.
Roman Catholic priests were not prohibited from marrying until the
12th century.
Historical research shows that women were ordained to the diaconate
in the early Church. The apostle Paul describes Phoebe as “diakonos”,
the same word he applied to himself. The ordination rites for
women deacons were the same as those for men deacons and they
were regarded
as sacramental.
Most women ministers in the U.S. already have qualifications greater
or equal to those required of a permanent deacon.
Worldwide, there are 783,000 women religious serving the Church’s
1.07 billion Catholics compared to 405,000 priests. There are
2.9 million lay catechists, missionaries, and members of secular
institutions,
easily half of whom are women.
In a survey of 3,846 priests in the U.S., a full two thirds support
an open discussion of mandatory celibacy.(survey conducted by members
of Call to Action and FutureChurch)
Surveys during the past 20 years in Europe and. the U.S. indicate
that over 60 percent of Catholics are in favor of optional celibacy
and women priests and deacons in the Church .
In December, 2004 the National Priests’ Council of Australia
publicly urged the Eucharist Synod to discuss optional celibacy.
They were supported by the Bishop of Canberra and the Bishop
of Wagga as well.
Please sign the petition asking for :
Open discussion of mandatory celibacy for diocesan priests, bringing
back married priests and opening the diaconate to the thousands of
qualified women serving the Church right now.
Nearly 20,000 petition signatures and post cards have already been
collected. Please join us!
http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/corpus/petition.htm
When you sign the petition, be sure to click on Priest
Shortage USA on our web site to learn about the trends in your diocese.
The petition is being circulated by FutureChurch and Call to Action.
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