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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sr. Christine Schenk, (FutureChurch)
216-228-0869 ext.4 (office)
216-513-3647 (cell)
chris@futurechurch.org
Catholic Groups Call For "Best Practices" In Time Of Fewer Priests
Use Lay Ministers, Deacons and Parish Leaders to Keep Parishes Open
Priest Shortage, Abundant Parish Assets Poor Reasons to Close Parishes
A national coalition of Catholic groups and lay leaders have endorsed and are circulating a statement listing eight "best practices" for keeping parishes open in the midst of a steadily worsening U.S. priest shortage. (see attached)
The statement, "Do Not Stifle the Spirit!" (Thess 5:19) cites the positive example of eight U.S. dioceses that "chose creative solutions such as entrusting the pastoral care of several parishes to one priest, to a team of priests, or to competent lay ecclesial ministers, deacons and religious."
It calls for "creative and constructive conversations with priests, parishioners, pastoral ministers and all ecclesial leaders about how to keep our parishes vibrant and fruitful."
FutureChurch, a national coalition of parish centered Catholics based in Cleveland Ohio, is spearheading the initiative, which has been endorsed by six other Catholic organizations as well as nationally known theologians and lay leaders concerned about the future of U.S. parish life. More endorsements are expected.
"We have sent the statement to tens of thousands of U.S. Catholics asking them to encourage their priests, pastoral ministers and diocesan leaders to discuss the best practices we identified. We also sent the statement to every U.S. Bishop asking them to to welcome Catholics who want to talk about these important issues and to let us know their views," said Sr. Christine Schenk, FutureChurch Director.
"If the Toledo Diocese had these practices in place, it might have kept many parishes open that should never have been closed," said Chris Cremean of United Parishes, a Toledo group formed in the wake of of parish closings in that diocese.
"We were very heartened by the recent letter sent from the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy telling U.S. Bishops that assets from closed or merged parishes must accompany parishioners to their new parish home rather than be given to the diocese as some bishops had directed," said Schenk. "It reduces the temptation to close a parish simply because it has substantial assets. Now we need to make the point that parishes don't need to close at all if we use the abundance of lay ministers and deacons God has already provided."
The Do Not Stifle the Spirit! statement is part of FutureChurch's new Save Our Parish Community effort designed to provide educational and organizing resources to Catholics discerning an appropriate response to diocesan decisions to close or merge their vibrant, solvent, and apostolically effective parish. (http://www.futurechurch.org/sopc/index.htm) It also educates about effective diocesan processes already in use (http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/vibrantparishlife) that invite parishioner involvement in deciding the future of their parish.
Because of the priest shortage, U.S. dioceses will be forced to reconfigure parishes well into the foreseeable future. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, 75% of the 18,000 active diocesan priests in the U.S. are over 55 years old, but the U.S. is only ordaining about 350 new diocesan priests each year. In 20 years, presuming ordinations remain constant, the U.S. could have as few as 11,500 active diocesan priests for our 19,000 parishes. At the same time, numbers of deacons and paid lay ministers have increased significantly to 14,000 and 30,000 respectively. Presently "parish life coordinators" are pastoring an estimated 600 U.S. parishes.
FutureChurch is a coalition of parish centered Catholics who seek the full participation of all Catholics in the life of the Church. It strives 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 calls for opening ordination to all those called to it rather than lose the Eucharist as the center of Catholic worship and seeks to participate in formulating and expressing the Sensus Fidelium (the Spirit inspired beliefs of the faithful) through open, prayerful and enlightened dialogue with other Catholics locally and globally.
For Official Catholic Directory priest shortage statistics for every U.S. diocese, and a free Save Our Parish Community "Crisis Kit"
visit www.futurechurch.org
Contact Information for Endorsing Organizations and Individuals:
Organizing Sponsor
FutureChurch
Sr. Christine Schenk
216-228-0869 ext. 4 216-513-3647 (cell)
chris@futurechurch.org
Organizational endorsers
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
Len Swidler 215-204-7251 dialogue@temple.edu
Call To Action
Nicole Sotela 773-404-0004 ext 285 nicole@cta-usa.org
Linda Pieczynski 630-655-8783 630-399-6924 (cell) Lpiec@att.net
Voice of the Faithful
John Moynihan 617-558-5252 jmoynihan@votf.org
VOTF, New Jersey
Theresa Padovano 973-539-8732 tpadovan@optonline.net
Elephants in the Living Room
(a Detroit group of priests and laity committed to preserving urban parishes)
Tom Kyle tjkyle@peoplepc.com
United Parishes
(A Toledo group formed in the wake of parish closings in that diocese)
Chris Cremean 419 866-5955 chriscremean@yahoo.com
Dan Thiel danthiel@udata.com
Individual endorsers**:
William A. Clark SJ, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA. And author of A Voice of Their Own: The Authority of the Local Parish.
(508) 793-2717 wclark@holycross.edu
Jon Nilson, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago, and former president of Catholic Theological Society of America. Author of Hearing Past the Pain. Towards African-American/White Catholic Theological Engagement. (Paulist, 2007), 773-508-2374 jonnilson2003@yahoo.com
Ruth Wallace, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, George Washington University. Author of They Call Her Pastor: A New Role for Catholic Women and They Call Him Pastor: Married Men in Charge of Parishes. 202-244-5787 rwallace@gwu.edu
Paul Wilkes, Author of Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices and The Seven Secrets of Successful Catholics. 910-815-0694 paulwilkes@ec.rr.com
*As of 10/5/2006
** Organizations listed for identification purposes only
FutureChurch
17307 Madison,
Cleveland, OH 44107
216-228-0869
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