|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Holy Thursday, April 17, 2003
Contact:
Sr. Christine Schenk csj 216-228-0869 chris@futurechurch.org
Fr. Louis J. Trivison 440-232-5700 ext 512
Eucharist Encyclical Misses Mark
Half of World¹s Parishes Have No Priest to Celebrate
"While the Pope writes beautiful statements about what the Eucharist means for Catholics, most Catholics in the world have no regular access to Mass at all," said FutureChurch Executive Director, Sr. Christine Schenk. "If, as the Pope says, the Church truly "draws her life from the Eucharist,¹ then we are in danger of starving."
"We need to make our leaders understand that the Mass is more important than mandatory celibacy," said FutureChurch cofounder, Fr. Louis J. Trivison. Quoting Catholic canon law and the second Vatican Council Trivison noted: "we have the right to receive in abundance...the spiritual goods of the Church, and it is our right and duty to make our views known on matters which concern the good of the Church."
Schenk cited recent statistics from the Vatican showing 105, 530 of the world¹s 218,196 parishes do not have a resident priest. The 2001 Vatican yearbook reported that the world¹s Catholics increased by 15 million to 1.06 billion worldwide but the number of priests declined by 111 to only 404, 956. By contrast, the number of lay people people involved in pastoral care rose from 3.6 million catechists, nuns and deacons in 2000, to 3.9 million in 2001.
"It is very difficult to listen to Vatican statements, especially encyclicals, that are so far removed from the daily struggle of priests, pastoral ministers and bishops to provide even the minimum sacramental care that Catholics need and deserve," said Trivison. "Catholics in Central and South America are lucky to have Mass once a year, let alone once a week" he said, noting that in Central and South America there is one priest for 7,000 Catholics while in North America the ratio is one per 1,300 Catholics.
"Many lay pastoral ministers and catechists already serving the church would consider ordination if it were opened to them," said Schenk. "There is no need for any Catholic to go without Eucharist because we have many qualified people ready to serve as priests if the Vatican would change ordination rules."
"In addition there are an estimated 100,000 priests who left to marry and would gladly help relieve our Eucharistic famine if the hierarchy would reinstate them." said Trivison."
FutureChurch, an organization of parish based Catholics, is spearheading an international campaign to ask cardinals and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church to make the priest shortage and availability of the Eucharist Catholicism¹s first priority.
FutureChurch is encouraging grassroots Catholics to become educated about the priest shortage and possible solutions, and write, fax or email letters of concern to the cardinals of their country and send copies to their local bishops and the FutureChurch office. Activists can log on to www.futurechurch.org for education/advocacy resources and contact information for cardinals and bishops.
Participants are asked to request the reinstatement of priests who left the active ministry to marry and reconsideration of opening ordination to "all Catholics called to it by God and the people of God," including women and the married, rather than lose access to the Eucharist.
"Most bishops are already only too aware of the problems as they struggle to staff parishes" said Schenk. "Letters, faxes and emails to higher ups in the Church hierarchy can provide outside support for what the bishops already know from the inside. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly."
FutureChurch, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a U.S. coalition of 5,000 parish-based Catholics striving to educate fellow Catholics about the seriousness of the priest shortage, the centrality of the Eucharist (the Mass), and the systemic inequality of women in the Catholic Church. FutureChurch makes presentations throughout the country, distributes educational and informational packets and recruits activists who call on Catholic leadership to open ordination to all baptized persons who are called to priestly ministry by God and the people of God. Founded in 1990 FutureChurch incorporated in 1994 after 28 parishes in the Cleveland diocese supported a resolution asking U.S. Bishops to open ordination to all the baptized rather than lose the Mass as the center of Catholic worship.
|
