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SPRING - SUMMER 2013 Vol. XVI — No. 2 A Catholic Tipping Point? Fr. Helmut Schüller to tour 15 US cities In the midst of renewed priest in good standing. hope for Church reform, Fr. Father Schüller now works as a regular parish priest in Helmut Schüller, founder of the Probstdorf, about half an hour’s drive east of St. Stephen’s Cathedral Austrian Priests’ Initiative, will in Vienna’s old town. “The church is built on the congregation,” begin his first national speaking Father Schüller said. “You can’t reduce the churchgoer to a tour in New York, this July. He consumer, receiving a service.” comes because of the initiative Schüller’s U.S. Tour comes in the midst of a steadily worsening of FutureChurch and at the priest shortage. Boston is downsizing 288 parishes into 135 parish invitation of nine other U.S. clusters and the number of available priests will drop from 316 in Church reform organizations* 2011 to 178 in 2021. A 2009 study from the National Federation of who are sponsoring a fifteen- Priests’ Councils found that for every 100 priests who retire, only 30 city tour: The Catholic Tipping are available to replace them. According to recent Vatican statistics, Point: Conversations with Fr. since 1975, the number of Catholics worldwide has increase by 71.2 Helmut Schüller. percent to 1.216 billion, but the number of priests increased by only The Austrian Priests’ 2.1 percent to 413,418. Initiative (also known as the Red ribbons, symbolizing the spirit of Pentecost and calling for Pfarrer-Initiative) was organized in 2006 to address an increasing the renewal and celebration of the rights of the laity, will be worn shortage of priests that has forced many Austrian parishes to close. by Fr. Schüller and parishioners throughout the tour. The ribbons, The initiative inspired the establishment of similar priest groups in which will be collected and carried from city to city, represent a Germany, Ireland, France, the United States and Australia. commitment to dialogue between clergy and laity. Organizers have requested a meeting with Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York, “There needs to be a revival of the president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference. They hope to present the importance of the parish for the ribbons to him at the end of the tour. Sponsoring Organizations: Call To Action - Catholics celebration of Eucharist . .” in Alliance for the Common Good -CORPUS - DignityUSA -FutureChurch - National Coalition of American Nuns - New In June 2011, the Pfarrer-Initiative issued an “Appeal for Ways Ministry - Quixote Center - Voice of the Faithful - Women’s Disobedience” calling for lay leadership and preaching in parishes Ordination Conference without a priest, permission for divorced and remarried Catholics (Quotations from this article from The Vienna Review, December 1, to receive sacraments and support for married and women priests. 2011 and The New York Times, Europe edition, March 22, 2013) According to a November 2011 survey, the “Appeal” was positively received by over 70 percent of Austrian priests: “Rather than For dates and cities where Fr. Schüller is consolidating parishes, we call for a new image of the priest,” the speaking, visit www.catholictippingpoint.org declaration reads. or the FutureChurch website. Schüller believes that Church leaders have an overly priest- centric view of Christianity that they are reluctant to give up. “They want to be accepted as the intermediaries between God and the HONOR YOUR PARISH PRIEST people yet Jesus was a layman.... And he made no effort to install a clerical class … he encouraged people to confront God on their Priesthood Sunday own.” Hence he believes the Eucharist is celebrated by a parish October 27, 2013 community and a leader together. Schüller admits that according to Church doctrine, this leader has to be an ordained priest, but he also Every October Catholics honor our hard working parish believes: “There needs to be a revival of the importance of the parish priests especially in this time of priest shortage. for the celebration of Eucharist . .” Download a free prayer service that affirms your priests The Pfarrer Initiative was rebuked by Pope Benedict XVI and includes prayers to open discussion of accepting both in a sermon last year, and Fr. Schüller, who once served Cardinal married and celibate priests and women deacons. Christoph Schönborn as vicar general, was stripped of his honorary www.futurechurch.org title of “Monsignor, Chaplain of His Holiness,” but he remains a From the Director’s Desk I will admit to feeling a bit nostalgic now and again as it begins to sink in that these are my last months as FutureChurch Executive Director. This has been offset by the excitement of receiving a generous grant to begin building a new EXECUTIVE EDITOR website (going live late Fall) and the frenzy of media work Sr. Christine Schenk csj and organizing around an unexpected papal resignation and EDITORIAL CONSULTANT Sr. Diana Culbertson OP conclave. DESIGN Given the impending conclave, I went to Rome a few days Stellar Design Inc. ahead of our previously planned pilgrimage (see next page). BOARD OF TRUSTEES And so it was that I found myself huddled beneath a red umbrella on a cold, rainy night CHAIR: Marie Graf watching white smoke billow from the Sistine chimney. But it is too early, I thought VICE-CHAIR: Rita L. Houlihan with dismay. Church pundits predicted that an early election would mean a conservative TREASURER: Jim Connell Italian cardinal had won. I couldn’t express my distress aloud however, because I was SECRETARY: Barbara Guerin being filmed for a documentary on sisters. I didn’t want to be recorded for eternity as DEVELOPMENT: Arline Nosse going negative on the next Pope. So I held my peace. (By the way, the documentary is PROGRAM CHAIR: Brother Tom Carroll OFM teaching me the ballyhooed “fifteen minutes of fame” is way overrated. I got sick of me PERSONNEL: Bill Wisniewski many moons ago. I can’t understand why the filmmakers aren’t sick of me. But that’s STRATEGIC ISSUES: Rita L. Houlihan another story). AT LARGE At last, the Lisa Barczyk • Fr. Gerry Bechard massive doors swung Brother Tom Carroll OFM • Jocelyn Collen open and the world Diana Culbertson OP • Bill Daly • Mary Lou Hartman Anthony Kowalksi • Gene Kramer learned that an EX OFFICIO Argentinean, Cardinal Sr. Christine Schenk CSJ Jorge Mario Bergoglio, had been elected. OPTIONAL CELIBACY NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE And he had taken Lisa Barczyk, Milwaukee, WI the name Francis. Bill Daly, Portland, OR • Ron Dubois, Braintree, MA Francis! Would he Anthony Kowalski, Catonsville, MD Rosanne Santos, Hanover, NH be someone close to Bill Wisniewski, Ravenna, OH the people? It didn’t WOMEN IN CHURCH LEADERSHIP take long to find out. NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Francis proceeded Marianne Bernard, Clarkson, MI • Rita L. Houlihan, to stand protocol New York, NY • Therese Koturbash, Edmonton, Sr. Chris Schenk, with filmmakers Shuling Yong and on end by humbly Alberta, CA • Elizabeth McGann, St. John’s New Rebecca Parrish in St. Peter’s night of papal election. Brunswick, CA• Robin Senior, Syosset, NY asking a blessing Visit http://sisterthefilm.com. Deb Rose, Milavec, Cincinnati, OH from the crowd before Jocelyn Collen, Fairfield, CT bestowing his own. A deep hush ensued as our new Pope bent low to receive the prayers Focus on FutureChurch is a quarterly publication of the People of God. When Francis referred to himself as the “Bishop of Rome” (a title of FutureChurch, a national organization of parish- we haven’t heard for 30 years), I was moved to tears. Something new is being born - centered Catholics working for full participation of all Catholics in the life of the Church. The newsletter at least symbolically - in our Church I thought. A Pope who recognizes the mutuality features information and commentary related to the of spiritual giftedness and himself as “first among equals,” will have far reaching mission of FutureChurch and reports on Church reform issues not prominently covered elsewhere. implications for how we relate to one another. No advertisements are accepted, though letters So, as I transition to my next adventure (taking longed-for time to complete a book to the editor are always welcome. project) it is with great gratitude for indescribable experiences such as these. It has been FutureChurch is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit a tremendous gift to work for renewal and reform of a Church I love deeply, sometimes in organization. Parts of this publication may be spite of itself, (and truth be told, sometimes in spite of myself). reprinted after obtaining written permission from FutureChurch. On a more practical level, our extraordinarily competent search committee has been hard at work interviewing some truly excellent candidates for FutureChurch’s next FutureChurch Executive Director. They hope to present the final candidate for approval at our June 17307 Madison Avenue Board meeting. As soon as I know who it is, you can be sure we’ll let you know. Lakewood OH 44107 216-228-0869 Maybe we’ll figure out a way to do a little white smoke. email: [email protected] Visit our website www.futurechurch.org Chris Schenk CSJ, Executive Director ‘Providential’ Rome Pilgrimage Inspires, Energizes During a week of visiting the canon lawyer and praying where early Christian who helped reverse women leaders lived and prayed, Vatican policy on thirty- five FutureChurch parish closings, regaled pilgrims saw an excited Italian listeners with stories Church welcome their smiling, of church politics pastoral new “Bishop of Rome” past and present. A -- as he prefers to call himself. terrific documentary With providential timing, crew, Rebecca Parish FutureChurch’s third pilgrimage and Shuling Yong, to Rome sites of women leaders from InterChange in the early Church occurred Productions shot Agape at Catacombs of Priscilla in the midst of Pope Francis’s footage for a new film installation as the 265th about Catholic sisters.
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