556 Reasons For Hope

CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter

September 10, 2004

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Dear Friend,

You're going to like this.

For a while now, it seemed like news about the priesthood was
becoming increasingly dim. On the one hand was the problem of abusive
priests; on the other, the problem of good priests being overworked
and weighed down by the general condemnation of the media.

And then, last August, another blow. A group of 163 priests in the
diocese of Milwaukee signed a petition that they sent to Bishop
Wilton Gregory, the president of the USCCB, urging him and the rest
of the bishops to lift the requirement for priestly celibacy.

(Predictably, the mainstream media gave it lots of coverage.)

At the time, I noted that signing the petition didn't actually
constitute dissent, since priestly celibacy is a tradition (or
discipline) of the Church and not a doctrine. But I was nevertheless
saddened, since I do think there are a number of good reasons to keep
the tradition alive. Happily, Bishop Gregory wrote a strong and
eloquent response to the priests, explaining why the tradition should
(and would) remain in place.

Nevertheless, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad sign
for the future. What about the priests who DON'T want a married
priesthood... would their voices ever be heard?

Well, it looks like I didn't have to worry. Those priests have
spoken up for themselves.

The week before last, news came that two seminarians at St. John
Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota started a petition of
their own. Gary J. Kasel of the St. Paul-Minneapolis diocese and
Franz S. Klein from the diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, were worried
about the potential negative impact of the petition from Milwaukee,
so they began circulating another petition to support celibacy among
seminarians at their college.

What followed was truly a grassroots effort -- seminarians at St.
John's sent the petition to friends they knew in other seminaries,
encouraging them to do the same. There was no public crusade, no
far-reaching organization, no media outlets eager to promote their
agenda -- just word of mouth spreading the petition through the
various seminaries.

The results are in. A total of 556 seminarians from 13 different
seminaries signed the petition to Bishop Gregory. That's over three
times the number of names on last year's petition.

Not surprisingly, most of the media took a pass on the story.

Among other things, the petition read, "We are writing today to
affirm our support for Holy Mother Church's teaching on the place of
celibacy in the priesthood.... We, to whom the precious gift of
divine grace to live as celibates has been given, yearn with all our
hearts to offer this celibacy up to the Lord with undivided hearts,
at the service of his Church."

When interviewed about their efforts, Klein simply stated, "This
letter is meant to indicate only exactly what the Holy Father has
spoken of as being something of great value to the type of priesthood
that the Latin rite needs at this time. This important element is the
grace given to those who make a single-hearted sacrifice and choose a
life of celibacy."

I don't need to tell you how incredibly gratifying this is to hear
-- and from our seminarians, no less. It's easy to get discouraged
about the future of the Church with all the things going on nowadays.


But these seminarians ARE the future, and they're making themselves
heard loud and clear. And soon, not even the mainstream media will be
able to ignore them.

I'll talk to you next week,

Deal


P.S. We at CRISIS will offer our thoughts and prayers tomorrow for
the victims of September 11, 2001. For this one day, I hope we can
unite as a nation to mourn those we've lost. We'll never forget
them.


***** LEARN THE REAL CAUSE OF THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH *****

Sex abuse scandals... irreverent liturgies... homosexuality in the
seminaries... liberal theology preached from the pulpit...

You know all about the crisis in the Church. But you've never heard
the full story. When did the collapse in the Church occur... and what
REALLY caused it?

Fr. Benedict Groeschel knows. He was there when it happened... 10
years BEFORE Vatican II.

What he saw will surprise you.

Click here to learn more:

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[Cut and paste into your browser if the link isn't active]

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