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International Church Reform Group Endorses Pope Francis’ World Peace Day Message, Calls for Application within the Catholic Church

[Italian]  [German] [French]

In “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace,” his message for the 50th anniversary of World Peace Day, January 1, 2017, Pope Francis has called for peacebuilding through active nonviolence. He identifies the many communities throughout the world impacted by various forms of violence, and calls on all people to commit to “acknowledge one another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity.”

We Are Church International endorses this important message, and commits itself and its members around the globe to the practice of nonviolence, community-building, and good stewardship of the earth. We commend our Pope for addressing this critical issue in a way that honors people of all faiths and ways of life.

We wish to underscore that the World Peace Day Message is a historical moment which changes course from much of the past Magisterium of the Church. Pope Francis is on the same wavelength as  the “Appeal to the Catholic Church to recommit to  the centrality of Gospel nonviolence” born from  the Conference of Rome (11-13 avril 2016), which was “an assembly with  people of God from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania included lay people, theologians, members of religious congregations, priests, and bishops”.

We Are Church International especially notes the portion of Pope Francis’ message that acknowledges, “This is also a programme and a challenge for political and religious leaders, the heads of international institutions, and business and media executives: to apply the Beatitudes in the exercise of their respective responsibilities. It is a challenge to build up society, communities and businesses by acting as peacemakers. It is to show mercy by refusing to discard people, harm the environment, or seek to win at any cost. To do so requires ‘the willingness to face conflict head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new process’… Active nonviolence is a way of showing that unity is truly more powerful and more fruitful than conflict…Certainly differences can cause frictions. But let us face them constructively and non-violently, so that ‘tensions and oppositions can achieve a diversified and life-giving unity,’ preserving ‘what is valid and useful on both sides’. “

“We call on Pope Francis and other leaders of our Church to apply this message to the governance of our own Church,” said Sigrid Grabmeier, Chair of We Are Church International. “Too often, the people of the Church have been discarded or treated with disrespect. Disagreement has been swept under the rug or seen as dangerous, even when it comes from deep love of our faith. We seek the opportunity for dialogue and creative problem-solving as part of peacemaking within our Church.”

We Are Church International has urged its members and communities to observe World Day of Peace with prayer, study of active nonviolence, and recommitment to the goals expressed by Pope Francis.

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We Are Church International (IMWAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it. 

Contact: Marianne Duddy-Burke, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +1 617 669 7810

 

Pope Francis Rebukes Curia but Needs to Increase Role of Laity and Especially Women for Real Reform

December 23, 2016. On 22 December 2016 Pope Francis rebuked the curia for the third year for not all giving their full support to his reforms.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Pope Francis said curial “reform is first and foremost a sign of life, of a Church that advances on her pilgrim way, of a Church that is living.”

Speaking to members of the Church hierarchy who have resisted his efforts to implement significant changes, the Pope said, “The reform of the Curia is in no way implemented with a change of persons – something that certainly is happening and will continue to happen – but with a conversion in persons.  Permanent formation is not enough; what we need also and above all is permanent conversion and purification.  Without a change of mentality, efforts at practical improvement will be in vain.”

"Also of great importance is an enhanced role for women and lay people in the life of the Church and their integration into roles of leadership in the Dicasteries, with particular attention to multiculturalism.”

We Are Church supports Pope Francis’ reform aims which include an “inverted pyramid” structure for our church. We agree that the Church’s focus must return to service of the poor. We encourage Pope Francis to engage far greater numbers of laity and especially women in the Vatican and throughout our church. This reform will signal the Pope’s commitment to the Catholic Church modeling equality and justice in the world.

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We Are Church International (IMWAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.

Contact: Marianne Duddy-Burke, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +1 617 669 7810

[We thank This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.for the cartoon]

Pope lays out guiding principles of Roman Curia reform

Pope Francis @ 80

 [Translations]

You chose the name Francis, after the saint of the poor. 
You went to the refugees in Lampedusa and Lesbos. 
You tell your and our church to move towards the people.
You proposed an inverted pyramid structure for our church.
You opened doors and windows for free thought and speech within the church.
You made worldwide justice and global climate change  a concern of the church.
You counter egoism and power with the globalisation of solidarity, of sharing and responsibility. 

Thank You for all that.

We pray, that the doors you opened will stay open.
We pray, that even more doors and windows will open.
We pray, that you will be able to continue your work for a church of the people of God.

AS NOVAS NORMAS PARA OS SACERDOTES SÃO UM ENORME RETROCESSO

Comunicado de imprensa 10 de dezembro de 2016

A congregação do Vaticano para o clero lançou um novo documento ( 8 de Dezembro 2016) intitulado "O Dom da vocação sacerdotal", que é um conjunto de normas para a formação dos sacerdotes. O Papa Francisco aprovou estas normas.

Estas normas são um tremendo insulto  aos milhares de homens gays que serviram e continuam a servir a Igreja com honra e dedicação, disse Sigrid Grabmeier, Coordenadora  do "Movimento Nós Somos igreja Internacional.  Estas normas estão em total contradição  com o famoso comentário do Papa Francisco "Quem sou eu para julgar?"

Estas normas reforçam a percepção que as pessoas gay são falhadas, inadequadas para o ministério, e membros de segunda ou terceira classe da Igreja. As normas também prescrevem que as pessoas que  apoiam a "cultura gay", o que que quer que isto seja, não são dignas do sacerdócio.

As pessoas casadas são todas excluídas porque o celibato é uma exigência absoluta. As mulheres também são completamente ignoradas. "Ao continuar a limitar o sacerdócio    aos homens celibatários, o Vaticano está a garantir que as mulheres e as pessoas com família, permaneçam excluídas de qualquer influência significativa na doutrina e na prática pastoral da Igreja, uma vez que a ordenação é um requisito imperativo para a realização da grande maioria dos cargos com poder. Ainda mais importante, a exclusão de gays e mulheres dá razão aos muitos países e culturas onde eles são humilhados, atacados e até assassinados." disse Grabmeier

"Nós Somos Igreja acredita que Deus chama as pessoas para servir a Igreja, independentemente do sexo, orientação sexual, relação ou estado civil, idade   ou qualquer outro atributo humano" continuou Grabmeier. "Nós insistimos firmemente para que estas orientações sejam retiradas".

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Marianne Duddy-Burke
Coordenadora dos Media, We Are Church International This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

New guidelines for priests are a backward step

[Portuguese]

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy has released a new document (dated December 8, 2016) entitled “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation,” which is a set of guidelines for priestly formation. Pope Francis has approved these guidelines.

“These guidelines are a tremendous insult to the thousands of gay men who have served and continue to serve the Church with honor and dedication” said Sigrid Grabmeier, Chair of We Are Church International. “These guidelines are also in complete contrast to Pope Francis famous comment ‘Who am I to judge?’”

The guidelines reinforce a sense of gay people as flawed, unfit for ministry, and as second- or third-class members of the Church.

Married people are all excluded as celibacy is made an absolute requirement. Women are also completely ignored. “By continuing to limit priesthood to celibate males, the Vatican is ensuring that women and people with families remain excluded from having any significant impact on dogma and pastoral practice in the Church, since ordination is a de facto requirement for holding the vast majority of positions of influence. Even more importantly, the exclusion of gay people and women gives support to the many countries and cultures where they are demeaned, attacked and even killed,” said Grabmeier.

“We Are Church believes that God calls people to serve the Church regardless of gender, sexual orientation, relationship or marital status, age, or any other human attribute,” continued Grabmeier. “We strongly urge that these guidelines be withdrawn.”

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We Are Church International (IMWAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.

 Contact: Marianne Duddy-Burke, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +1 617 669 7810

[Pictured: Krzysztof Olaf Charamsa]

Géén priesterwijding voor homo's, vrouwen en gehuwden


Comment from Eric (Sweden)

The key lines highlighted by "America" magazine suggests to me that we are witnessing yet another act of old homosexual self-hatred from the darkness within the clerical closet. God knows they are many acts of self-hatred in homosocial male societies like the military and  the Church. As old Freud noted, male patriarchal bonding demands a combination of a perverse culture of silence as well as an homoerotic element of power and seduction. The great enemy of that male power game in the military as well as in the Church has always been a "gay culture"and post-freudian feminists able to expose male ambiguity and self-hatred.

"Deep -seated homosexual tendencies" as well as a the notion  of a unified "gay culture" are old technical terms inherited from documents issued by JP 2 and B 16. In their original context they where supposed to suggest the CV of a future pedophile. I guess that connection is not explicitly made today, but is it still implicit, as "America" seems to suggest?

So friends, I am very happy with our press release and with all comments. Yes, priests and bishops who identify themselves as "gay" are a great treat to the clerical institution and we can extend support and solidarity. Yet, first and foremost, I believe we desperately need the inverted pyramid fight in exposing the liberating anthropology and indeed ecclesiology of the Gospel. Maybe, it is enough to witness in silence and in shame how the old clerical structures of abuse and self-hatred destroy themselves in these days, since most of "our" seminaries are empty? But as long as there are still young  people exposed to these seminaries and structures and many more to suffer as victims of  clerical abuse, I think we need to be outspoken!