Posted on 04/17/2002 2:17:23 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1 PM EDT, April 17, 2002
CATHOLIC WATCHDOG GROUP CALLS ON U.S. CARDINALS TO AFFIRM CHURCH TEACHING WHILE IN ROME
An international group of faithful Roman Catholics has contacted Vatican prelates and all active U.S. cardinals and asked them to publicly affirm the Church's 1961 pronouncement against admitting homosexuals or pedophiles to the priesthood.
Stephen G. Brady, the president of Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. (RCF) issued a statement on Wednesday that was directed to 8 active U.S. cardinals as well as a number of additional American and Vatican prelates. The American cardinals include Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, Francis George of Chicago, Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., William Keeler of Baltimore, Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, Edward Egan of New York City, Adam Maida of Detroit, and the currently embattled Bernard Law of Boston. They will be traveling to Rome next week with National Conference of Catholic Bishops president Bishop Wilton Gregory and others at the summons of the Holy Father. They will be participating in closed-door meetings with Vatican representatives to address the scandal and damage the Church in America is undergoing due to an increasing number of sexual abuse cases coming to light. A number of prelates have been accused of protecting abusive priests and moving them to other areas, where they have repeated their predatory acts with new victims. An overwhelming number of offenses have involved homosexual acts.
"As a measure of their sincerity in addressing this horrible crisis inflicting so much damage on the souls of the innocent," Brady charged, "we challenge each and every one of these princes of the Church to sign a statement agreeing they will follow the direction of a letter issued by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in Rome." Brady is asking each prelate to affirm the following declaration: "I, ________ Cardinal ________, hereby agree to follow the direction of the letter issued by the Sacred Congregation for Religious in Rome in 1961, which states: 'Those affected by the perverse inclination to homosexuality or pederasty should be excluded from religious vows and ordination'". The Church directive has never been rescinded and is still officially in force.
"If a cardinal is not willing to sign this document," Brady stated, "then there is no point in his traveling to Rome. Moreover, if he travels to Rome and doesn't sign it, I wish he'd do us a favor and just stay there."
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. (RCF) is a not-for-profit lay organization, with many religious members, dedicated to promoting orthodox Catholic teaching and fighting heterodoxy and corruption within the Catholic hierarchy.
ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITHFUL, INC.
P.O. Box 109
Petersburg, IL 62675
Phone 217-632-5920
Fax 217-632-7054
Web www.rcf.org
Press Release
Contact: Stephen G. Brady
Phone: (217) 632-5920
Pardon my butting in here, but I think their decisions are made based on the source of the material posted. A newspaper website can be legitimately called "news", but something posted from a RC source or something from a Baptist website they are calling "religious". I have no inside information, just an observation.
I'm adding that Monsignor to my prayers!
I found it under General Discussion
A comment on this article. I agree 1000% with this proposal to ask the Cardinala to bind themselves to disallow homosexuals into the priesthood, but it raises several issues:
1. How will the seminary identify homosexual applicants?
2. What method will the church use to identify which ordained priests, bishops and cardinals are homosexual, and if so, which are sexually active?
3. Once identified, how will they be removed?
If you missed this post today, this is a MUST READ
A message from Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., Publisher, Ignatius Press.
In the papers, on the talk shows, the mantra is repeated: the cure for the present scandals is a married clergy. Of course, celibacy has nothing to do with these scandals: 1) Look at the Anglican church, which may soon be bankrupt in western Canada because of sex abuse lawsuits. 2) The majority of reported cased are of homosexual relations with young boys, not pedophilia; the perpetrators wouldn't be marrying women even if they had the chance. (And what kind of woman would marry these twisted souls?)
And, of course, all the discredited myths about the discipline of celibacy in the Catholic Church are trotted out.
For example:
Celibacy wasn't imposed in the Church until the 6th (or 9th, or 10th) century.
The motive for imposing celibacy was to prevent Church property from being inherited by the children of the clergy. The truth is that the Church's obligation of celibacy goes back to the apostles in an *unbroken* line. And the motivation for celibacy was the closer following of Jesus Christ, who required his apostles to leave wife and family, to become "eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom". But don't take my word for it. Ignatius Press has published three books which demolish the myths and provide compelling evidence for this unbroken tradition, the jewel of the Catholic priesthood:
The Case for Clerical Celibacy by Cardinal Alfons Stickler. This short (106pp) book masterfully sums up the results of the most authoritative scholarly research.
The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy by Fr. Christian Cocchini, S.J. This more extensive (466pp) book is the definitive scholarly study on this subject. It has never been refuted for the simple reason that it is irrefutable--all the evidence we have is clearly and cogently presented.
Celibacy in the Early Church by Stefan Heid. This book presents a penetrating and wide-ranging study of the historical data from the early Church on the topics of celibacy and clerical continence.
You'll also learn that the much-vaunted married clergy in Eastern churches was an innovation of the 7th century (Council *in Trullo*, 691--never recognized by Rome) based on documents later found out to have been forged. Skeptical? Read it for yourself.
By the way:
If you want to follow these and other controversies, get the inside information, and the unvarnished truth, you'll want to subscribe to Catholic World Report.
The Gay Priest Problem - Check out this special preview article from our upcoming May issue: Fr. Paul Shaughnessy's hard-hitting article on the Gay Priest Problem. Find out how problems in the Church have led to the current situation--and how we can prevent more abuse from happening.
If you are interested in learning more on these highly-charged topics, here are some other Ignatius Press titles you should consider: NEW - Priesthood and the Deaconate Deaconesses
Women in the Priesthood?
Truth about Homosexuality
Thanks. Interesting...
I don't believe that for a second. Some do but very few and that is the problem. For the most part parents in families have failed to hand down our sacred traditions. They brag about using artificial means of birth control. Look around you in your churches. How many families have more than three or more children? Very few. How many do you see involved in invalid marriages are marching up to receive communion? Look at the way the laity dress when they come to Mass. The signs are there for people who come to Sunday Eucharist to come modestly attired and still they come in haltars, tanktops and short shorts.----They have ignored the teaching of the Church proclaimed by many good priests throughout this nation. How many families gather with their children for an evening meal and then say the Rosary together every night. Most of our children don't even know the Rosary and many of the parents don't either.
Two hundred years ago in this nation the Catholic populace was more instructed in the teachings and practices of the Church than the children of today and they didn't have the advantage of Catholic schools and there were only a handful of priests in the whole nation. Yet the faith flourished because the homes were Catholic.
Basketball and tball and sports have replaced the Church and Christ as being the center of family life. I recently heard of one Catholic family who wouldn't let their daughter go see the Pope in Canada this summer because to do so she would have to miss her basketball camp. The girl wanted to go and the parents would not let her.
Don't go giving me all this "the faithful" bit. We are as much to blame and even moreso than our priests and bishops for this mess we are in.
"The bishop shall take care that they (Seminarians) be present every day at the sacrifice of the mass, and that they confess their sins at least once a month; and receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ as the judgment of their confessor shall direct; and on festivals serve in the cathedral and other churches of the place.
All which, and other things advantageous and needful for this object, all bishops shall ordain-with the advice of two of the senior and most experienced canons chosen by himself-as the Holy Spirit shall suggest; and shall make it their care, by frequent visitations, that the same be always observed. The froward, and incorrigible, and the disseminators of evil morals, they shall punish sharply, even by expulsion if necessary; and, removing all hindrances, they shall carefully foster whatsoever appears to tend to preserve and advance so pious and holy an institution."
Seems straightforward to me.
I see your thread is still up.
I'm certainly no pollyanna, this scandal has thrown me for a loop but my faith is strong. And I can only do what I can do, ask God to have mercy on His Church and pray. I can and do try to be informed about what I should know as a Catholic and I know many more than myself. Are there misinformed people out there? Yeah, sure! Some are just plain ignorant and want to stay that way, some want to believe what they want to believe because they think it makes life easier for them and some could care less but the core of the laity, is informed and filled with faith. They can't change everything that is wrong overnight but their perseverance will pay off in the long run.
ROFL! =)
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