| Leading Catholics call for married and women priests |
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| Written by Administrator | |||
| Thursday, 16 August 2007 20:39 | |||
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AUSTRALIA A GROUP of prominent Australian Catholics is calling on bishops to consider the ordination of married men and women to deal with what they call "a major crisis of ministry and leadership in Australian Catholicism", writes Mark Brolly. The 36-strong group - which includes priests, religious, author Dr Paul Collins, former Australian Broadcasting Corporation board member Sr Veronica Brady, New South Wales judge Chris Geraghty and leading Catholic philosopher Max Charlesworth - sent the letter outlining their proposal to each of Australia's bishops in June. It was published last week on the website Catholica Australia, which reported that 11 bishops had replied - eight sympathetic to the petitioners, one negative and two non-committal. "While it is true that bishops are constrained in what they can do by the Vatican, the Catholic tradition is clear: the bishop's primary responsibility is to his diocese and more broadly to the national Church," the letter said. The group identified several areas of concern - "the increasingly acute shortage" of priests to meet eucharistic and other sacramental needs, the drift of young people from the Church and the lack of women in church leadership roles. They urge bishops at their November meeting to take steps towards ordaining suitably qualified married men because "there is no doctrinal or theological barrier to the ordination of married men". They also call for wide discussion on the role of women in ministry, including women's ordination, and for priests who have left to return to active priesthood, with the agreement of local bishops. The group is asking for more signatories to the letter on the Catholica website. So far more than 200 people have signed it.
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