Lettre du Réseau Culture et Foi au Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archevêque de Montréal (18 mai 2001)

Éminence,  

Dernièrement nous recevions un document  de Future Church qui décrivait de façon alarmante la pénurie de prêtres quasi généralisée dans l’Église. Par ailleurs, depuis plusieurs années, nous vivons péniblement la baisse dramatique des vocations dans notre province et dans le diocèse de Montréal. Et il semble bien que le pire est à venir.

Devant cette situation dramatique, et se souvenant des prises de position nombreuses au Synode de Montréal en faveur du mariage des prêtres et du sacerdoce des femmes, le Réseau Culture et Foi souhaite que vous ameniez ce problème de la pénurie de prêtres au très important Consistoire qui va débuter dans les jours qui viennent. Nous souhaitons que le Consistoire considère la possibilité d’élargir l’accès au sacerdoce à tous ceux qui sont appelés par Dieu et le peuple de Dieu, même s’ils sont mariés ou se sentent appelés aussi au mariage. Nous souhaitons – et nous savons combien le sujet est délicat dans l’Église d’aujourd’hui, surtout depuis les prises de position de notre pape Jean-Paul II – que soit reconsidérée la question du sacerdoce des femmes. 

Par ailleurs, nous nous réjouissons que le prochain Consistoire ait à son agenda la pauvreté dans le monde et la globalisation. Mais est-il utopique de souhaiter que notre Église – les cardinaux, le Vatican – trouve le moyen de donner à la face du monde non pas des images de fastes et de richesses, mais des images de simplicité et de pauvreté. Cela n’est pas facile avec les richesses culturelles accumulées au fil des siècles, mais ne faudrait-il pas chercher des solutions créatrices parlantes à la face du monde?

Éminence, soyez convaincue que nous prierons l’Esprit de Jésus de vous éclairer et de vous conforter dans vos délibérations pour qu’elles soient le point de départ d’un réel renouveau dans l’Église.

             Claude Giasson,  vice-président,
             Pour le CA du Réseau Culture et Foi

Lettre de John T Shea (Corpus) au Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, archevêque de Toronto (13 mai 2001)

Your Eminence:

The thoughts and prayers of many Canadians are focussed on the forthcoming extraordinary Special Consistory of the College of Cardinals called by Pope John Paul II. I am writing to you in the sprit of Lumen Gentium of Vatican II and the recent Code where we are informed of our right and duty to make our views known in matters which concern the good of the Church.

All the evidence suggests that this special gathering of Cardinals could provide a new point of departure for the Catholic Church. In the words of the Tablet "Pope John Paul II conceives the millennium jubilee experience the Church has just gone through as both freeing the Church from the sins and mistakes of the past and as preparing it for the future. Thus the special consistory has as its subject no less than the future of the Church". (The Tablet 28 April 2001).

A few days ago Il Messaggero, the Rome daily, outlined the agenda that the 183 Cardianls have been given in the approach to the process of self-examination that the Pope is asking the cardinals to undertake which amounts to a "check-up for the Catholic Church at the start of the new millennium".

It is certainly encouraging to read that one of the agenda items is "how to tackle world poverty and globalisation", a theme that brings echos of the great Pastoral Constitution on the Church and the World Today, "Gaudium et Spes" of Vatican II. However, one is greatly puzzled by that fact that one of the most urgent questions facing the Church today, the shortage or priests, is missing from the agenda.

Almost everyone agrees that the attention given to the Priesthood by Vatican II was really inadequate. The Council Document, Presbyterorum Ordinis, was hurriedly prepared without real consultation with priests and so, because of its lack of sensitivty to the life of priests living in a secular world, tended to increase the isolation of many priests.

And although the Eucharist is the centre of our Christian life we are today experiencing a worldwide shortage of eucharistic ministers. The impact of the deepening priest shortage is having a profound effect on the life of many parishes.

To deal with this urgent situation members of the Church in Canada would be happy to see your Eminence take a lead role in urging members of the College of Cardinals to look again at the options of opening ordination to all those called to it by God and the people of God including married men and women so that the Eucharist may be accessible to all the faithful.

You will be encouraged to learn that our local Ottawa-area Corpus group last evening offered fervent prayers for the success of the Consistory.

Sincerely in Christ

               John T. Shea

Lettre de la Fédération internationale des prêtres mariés - section Nimègue (5 mai 2001)

Monsieur le Cardinal,

Les 21-24 mai prochains, vous serez à Rome avec tous les autres cardinaux pour l’assemblée d’un Consistoire. Avant cette rencontre, à la suite du mouvement américain, FutureChurch, nous voulons vous alerter sur l’urgence du problème des prêtres dans l’Eglise catholique : les chrétiens souffrent du manque de prêtres dans le monde entier. Le Peuple de Dieu est parvenu à un moment critique de cette crise, dont l’une des causes majeures est l’obligation du célibat ecclésiastique, dont nous demandons le changement de loi canonique depuis des années.

Nous portons à votre connaissance l’étude mondiale de la situation à partir des nombreuses données officielles recueillies dans les services et les publications de l’Eglise catholique.

En raison de la gravité de la situation, nous ne doutons pas que vous examinerez attentivement la question et que vous l’aborderez dès les 21-24 mai au cours du Consistoire avec tous vos collègues cardinaux.

Nous espérons aussi que vous aurez la liberté d’inscrire réellement cette question à l’ordre du jour du Synode des évêques d’Octobre prochain, dont les prêtres sont les collaborateurs les plus proches.

En vous renouvelant notre communion de foi dans le service du Peuple de Dieu, nous vous assurons de notre respectueuse considération.

                        Julio Perez Pinillos, président

Lettre de CFFC Canada (Catholics for a Free Choice)
au Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, archevêque de Toronto
(17 mai 2001)

To: Cardinal Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto
From: Catholics for a Free Choice Canada

Knowing that your eminence is about to depart for the special consistory of
cardinals to be held in Rome from May 22-24 to reflect on the direction for the Catholic Church in the twenty-first century, Catholics for a Free Choice Canada would like to take this opportunity to share our perspectives on some of the issues that have been selected by Pope John Paul II for discussion at this meeting. We do this in the conviction that this important event is one which will touch the lives of all the People of God and which has the potential to be a trans- formative moment for the Church.

The Pope has expressed concern that there is a discrepancy between the views
of ordinary Catholics on sexual and family matters and official Catholic teaching. Indeed, evidence from all parts of the world shows that the majority of Catholics do not agree with or follow the Vatican's teachings on contraception, AIDS prevention, premarital sex and homosexual relationships, and believe that birth control and abortion are matters of personal conscience. If the cardinals wish to avoid reaching a complete impasse within the Church on these issues, they need to begin to listen to the wisdom of the laity in areas such as sexuality in which they and not the clergy have a lifetime of experience. Open and honest discussion on sexuality without fear of reprisal at all levels in the Church would help to break down the gulf which separates the official version of Church teaching from the reality of most people's lives.

We also believe that a clearer recognition of the role of men in the family and in sexuality as equal partners with women would promote a strengthening of relationships. Also, the Church's insistence of the role of women as biological mothers and on the nuclear family as an ideal social structure no longer reflects the experience of contemporary adults and children, nor does it take account of the fact that Jesus envisaged the ideal human community as one which transcends traditional familial bonds.

We would suggest that the cardinals also seize this opportunity to initiate a
frank and open discussion on sexuality and the priesthood. With widespread
evidence, including the latest reports from Africa, South and North America,
Europe and the Philippines, of covert, dysfunctional and even criminal sexual
behavior on the part of both gay and straight members of the clergy, we believe it is time for the Church to give serious consideration to a return to the more ancient practice of optional celibacy for priests. The admission of married couples and women to ordination would also serve to make the priesthood more attractive to youth and also more reflective of the glorious diversity of the People of God.

The Pope has expressed concern that the Church needs to communicate its
message better. We suggest that one barrier to communication is that the
language employed in Church documents and liturgical readings is reserved to
the male gender only. In today's society, which has by and large adopted the
convention of inclusive language as a given for all official documents, this is interpreted not only as a deliberate affront to the dignity and full equality of women, but also as a means of silencing women as potential contributors to policy making at all levels of the Church and society.

Finally, on the pressing problems of world poverty and globalization, we believe that the Church's frequent calls to affluent nations to work towards a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources would carry more weight if the Church itself gave a lead by example as well as by exhortation. Located as it is in the heart of Western Europe, the state and corporate headquarters of the Church in Rome still bears the marks of the style and substance of privilege. A divesting of some of the Church's inherited assets and a return to a more simple lifestyle would be a powerful example for other western states which have similarly benefited from inherited structures of wealth and power.

In conclusion, we hope and pray that in this holy paschal season, when we are
preparing to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, that the Spirits' gifts of wisdom, discernment and courage may accompany and sustain you during and after the consistory in Rome.

We remain at your disposal for further conversation on any of the above points.



            The working group of Catholics for a Free Choice Canada