FOCUS E-NewsAugust 13 - August 19, 2017 Edition

Honor the Mary of Magdala in your life by having hername added to our list on Catholic Women Preach!

Did you miss an issue of our weekly FOCUS E-News? Catch up!

How many priests are still active in your diocese?

Coming next week! Get priest stats by country!

Do not miss your chance to register for the 2nd retreat forwomen discerning a call to the permanent diaconate!

Did you see Joan Chittister, OSB, preachingon Catholic Women Preach this week?

SAVE THE DATE!October 27, 2017

Sr. Sandra Schneiders discusses the Gospel of John as a modelfor parish/community life today!

From the Executive Director

Transitions hold the promise ofnew beginnings, but they areoften accompanied by a senseof loss. FutureChurch's programdirector, Russ Petrus, will bemoving toward a new role in thesoftware development world andleaving FutureChurch as ourprogram director. Happily, hewill continue to work as ourconsultant on the Catholic

Women Preach initiative. Wehave been blessed and enrichedby his service and wish him allthe very best in his newendeavors.

In the meantime, we will begin asearch for the nextextraordinary program director.Please pass this job descriptionalong to those who might beinterested. The applicationdeadline is August 28, 2017.FutureChurch is an exciting placeto work! Together with ourvolunteers, supporters, activists,and educators we continue topositively impact the future ofthe Church we love!

Some may find PeterFeuerherd's case study andcomments on healing afterparish mergers/closingsbeneficial, but I am skeptical. Iendeavor to witness to thetravesty of closing and mergingparishes on such a grand scale -the shutting down of the Bodyof Christ one parish at atime. And, there is a lotof money changing hands.

I find myself hearing echoesof fiery words in Matthew'sGospel attributed to Jesus whenspeaking of the religious leadersof his day. His most cuttingcriticisms were aimed at thosewho were supposed to be God'srepresentatives and pastors.

In a world that needs the Gospelmore than ever and laborerswho are nourished in Eucharisticcommunities in order to carry outthat work, I dig in my healswhen others, no matter howcredentialed, try to normalize a

"solution" that lacks creativityand courage. When demographicshifts are used to justify thebishops' "solution", we have toask if we would close all theseparishes if there were enoughpriests. I think we know theanswer.

In the fourteenth century, whenthe church was in tatters,Catherine of Siena challengedCatholic leaders. She evenchallenged the pope. We arecalled to do the same in our age.Please continue to build thechurch for tomorrow by takingaction today!

Open the discussion with yourbishop on married priests

Write a letter to our U.S.cardinals asking them to supportCardinal Anders Arborelius' ideaof a College of Women advisorsto Pope Francis

DeaconChat: Start aConversation on WomenDeacons

Thank you for all you do!

Deborah Rose-MilavecExecutive Director

Beloved priest, friend, andreformer; Capuchin MichaelCrosby dies

Michael Crosby was a belovedfriend of FutureChurch. Heworked in circles large and smallto develop the relationships hebelieved were reflected in theTrinity.

Brian Rowe wrote an inspiringreflection on his life as a manwho could talk to corporategiants and ordinary Catholics ofall stripes.

Rowe writes, "The Capuchin friarbelieved deeply in the prospectsof engagement over otherstrategies, such as divestment,that maintaining, and building, arelationship with companies overtime could lead to positiveresults. He stressed patienceand persistence, and had areputation for viewing thoseacross the table from him aspeople, not just the corporationthey represented."Read more

Lay ecclesial ministry isbackbone of church: nearly40,000 lay ministers: 66% arewomen

According to a new report by theCenter for Applied Research inthe Apostolate (CARA), theimportance of lay ecclesialministers to the life and work ofthe Church in the United Statesof the Church in the UnitedStates is illustrated by the factthat nearly 40,000 are currentlyministering in parishesnationwide. Of that number,two-thirds are women and sixty-one percent are in their fortiesor fifties. Thirty percent in underthe age of 40.

In 2016-2017 CARA identified202 active lay ecclesial ministryformation programs. The numberenrolled in degree and certificateprograms for 2016-2017 is19,969. Of that number, 75%are working toward a certificate

in ministry and 25% are workingtoward a graduate degree. Thetotal number of enrolleesrepresents a 16 percentdecrease from the previousyear.

CARA urges that the churchunderstand the importance ofparish ministers having access tothe best possible academicpreparation and personalformation. (The CARA Report,Vol. 23 No. 1)

LCWR President: We arecalled to remake religious life

President of LCWR, MaryPelligrino, CSJ, addressed 800leaders saying, "Our own grief isa gateway to grace, not only forourselves, but for our world.The grace that will come fromembracing this paschal narrativeof communion will be costly, butit will not diminish us," Pellegrinosaid. "It will take our bestenergy and will not consume us.It will open us to the vitality thatlies deep at the heart ofcommunion with God, withanother and with the widerworld. It will help us to speaknew languages, and apprehendnew images and tell newstories.""It will remake us. And while it isremaking us, we will remake theworld."Read more

Future president of LCWR isan agent of change

On Aug. 12, 2016, Sr. TeresaMaya was chosen as president-elect of LCWR, joining thepresidential triumvirate with St.

Joseph Sr. Mary Pellegrino aspresident and St. Joseph Sr.Marcia Allen as past-president.

This responsibility was inaddition to her role ascongregational leader for theSisters of Charity of theIncarnate Word, a four-yearterm that began in 2014."When I look back on the lastfew years, I realize my ministryis no longer education. It'sreligious life itself: ensuring itsviability, ensuring it staysfocused on its mission, our ownkind of love for our own life"she said. "It's been a newlearning. As I had to learn to beprincipal, I had to learn this is acalling."Read moreSee Sr. Maya preach forCatholic Women Preach

Pay gaps exist for thoseworking for the Church

Michael O'Loughlin reports onCARA's study of salaries andbenefits in the Catholic Churchfor administrative personnel,priests, and lay ministers.

O'Loughlin writes that, accordingto the report, a large gap existsbetween the median salaries ofadministrative positions andpastoral positions. Read more

Also read Nicole Sotelo's reportThe Church's wage gap

New to FutureChurchWebsite! The latest prieststatistics by country!

Center for Applied Research in

the Apostolate reports that inthe last year the number ofCatholics in the world increasedalong with the number ofbishops, deacons, and graduatelevel seminarians. But thenumber of priests, religioussisters, and religious brothersdeclined (Vol. 23 No.1) Next week FutureChurch willprovide the unique opportunityto see the current prieststatistics by country.

Stay tuned!

CARA believes Sherry A.Weddell's book presentssolutions for the future of thechurch

Center for Applied Research inthe Apostolate writes thatForming Intentional Disciples bySherry Weddell may hold animportant key to rejuvenatingthe church. Weddell says thereis a chasm "the size of the GrantCanyon" between the Church'stheology of the lay apostolateand the lived spiritual experienceof the majority of Catholics.

Most Catholics, even activeCatholics, are at the "early,essentially passive" stage ofspiritual development." Accordingto Weddell this learned passivityhas "shaped our communityculture, pastoral assumptionsand pastoral practices withdevastating results."

"Many pastoral leaders do noteven possess a conceptualcategory for discipleship," saysWeddell.

That means the Church's

teachings on the theology of thelaity and on social justice andevangelization are "dead letters"for the majority of Catholics.

To overcome the discipleshipdeficit, Weddell proposes fivethresholds for conversion:

1. Initial trust2. Spiritual curiosity3. Spiritual openness4. Spiritual seeking5. Intentional discipleship

(The CARA Report, Vol. 23No.1)

Tens of millions of dollars tobe made on shutteredchurches under CardinalDolan's watch

The New York Times reportsthat the rusted gates at theCatholic Church of St. John theMartyr in Manhattan remainedpadlocked on Sunday, as theyhave since the Roman CatholicArchdiocese of New York closedthem for the last time in 2015.

This year would have been thechurch’s 130th anniversary as ahouse of worship, but theChurch of St. John the Martyr issacred no more.

The church, on East 72nd Streeton the Upper East Side, was oneof 18 shuttered churches thatthe archdiocese deconsecratedrecently, paving the way for theproperties to be repurposed orsold, which appraisers say wouldbring tens of millions of dollarsto church coffers.Read more

Jennifer Mertens asks ifChristianity has a "Wonder

Woman"

Jennifer Mertens, M.Div,teaches religion at an all girls'high school and was surprisedby her own hunger for theWonder Woman story.

She writes that I've watched"Wonder Woman" three timesnow in theaters and still can'tget enough. Returning home, Ieagerly research trailer clips,cast interviews and box officestatistics — totally fascinated bya movie that reflects somethingI've never quite seen, and amessage I can't fully describe.I'm not the person you wouldexpect to write a column aboutthis character or movie, WonderWoman. I can't pretend to be acomic book fan or superheroguru. My husband spent weeksjust trying to convince me to seethe movie for the first time. Atthat point, my knowledge ofWonder Woman was limited tothe Wonder Woman T-shirts thatsome colleagues and I oncewore for Halloween — and whichI now regret giving away!

As one of millions who havebeen introduced (orreintroduced) to Wonder Womanas a contemporary cultural icon,I have been surprised by myown hunger for her story, andby the extent to which thishunger is evidently sharedaround the world, by women andgirls, and also men and boys.Read more

Association of Catholic Priestsin Ireland opposesArchbishop's move toimplement the male-only

diaconate

The Association of CatholicPriests (ACP) is in full support ofa parish priest in the Irish townof Limerick who has publiclyopposed moves by his Casheland Emly archdiocese to havemale-only deacons.

Father Roy Donovan, parishpriest of Caheronlish in CountyLimerick, objected to thedecision by Archbishop KieranO’Reilly of Cashel and Emly, tointroduce male-only permanentdiaconate in thearchdiocese, reports The IrishTimes.

“Roy’s objection is based on thefact that currently, the churchconfines the lay diaconate tomen, even though Pope Francishas a commission working onthe history of women deacons inthe early church, with a view topossibly opening the diaconateto women also,” the associationsaid in a statement appearingin The Irish Times.

“We would further call on everydiocese in the country to holdoff on the introduction of thepermanent diaconate until suchtime as the Vatican commissionreports, and Pope Francis makesa decision based on that report,”it said.

“We believe that proceeding withthe introduction of male deaconsat this time, and thereby addinganother male clerical layer toministry, is insensitive,disrespectful of women andcounter-productive at thispresent critical time,” the

association said.Read more

Curing clericalism

Fr. Peter Day writes that it issad to admit, but the evidence isclear. The church in Australia issick to its institutional core. Ithas a nasty, though treatablecancer that is being fed by apervasive clericalism. While mostof the offenders are actuallyReligious, they share a culture inAustralia with that created bybishops and priests.

Together they were the heroesof a tribalized and excessivelyritualized Catholicism that camefrom Ireland: a hard culture thatwas spiritually superficial,authoritarian, Papalist andclerical, sweetened only bycharity and piety.

However, unless treatedaggressively and decisively, thecancer will metastasize – andthe church will continue to beone that re-crucifies Christ overand over: just ask the childrenand their families who’ve beenscourged and nailed to crossesby religious brutes and cowards.So, where to from here? How toreclaim the servant leadership ofChrist?Read more

The post-Vatican II Churchthat gives some converts adisproportionate voice

Massimo Faggioli wipes awaybinary comparisons anddescribes the complexities oftoday's Catholic conversions.

He writes that the public face ofwhat I have called here “theconvert movement” (implying ananalogy with other, previousmovements of Catholic renewal)is a largely conservative groupof converts that seems to havedisproportionate representationand voice in comparison to thelarger number of recent convertsto Catholicism; these are theones who seem to be finding aneasier welcome into a Churchthat they then go and criticize.They have not faced the samekind of scrutiny or lengthy testand evaluation that groups witha visible and recognized leaderand a unified culture andstructure faced in the post-Vatican II Church, especiallyuntil the end of the pontificateof Paul VI (the example ofCommunion and Liberation inItaly is paradigmatic on thisfront). They have taken a spaceof their own because they havebeen able to claim it in a waythat was not possible untilrecently. The weaknesses ofCatholic ecclesiology that someconverts now denounce as post-Vatican II illnesses are actuallythe same weaknesses that havemade it easy (institutionally andtheologically) for them tobe accepted in the CatholicChurch.

The post-Vatican II Church somelike to criticize is precisely thepost-Vatican II Church thatmade their conversions soseamless. The post-Vatican IIChurch they don’t like may infact be their own.Read more

The Spiritual Cost of Scandal

Rita Ferrone is troubled by herown reactions to stories ofscandal. Upon reading aboutcharges of corruption againstCardinal-elect Jean Zerbo, sheimmediately assumed he wasguilty.

"I noted my gut reaction withchagrin, but there it was. Sopervasive has clerical scandalbeen in my lifetime, includingcases of mismanagement ofchurch funds, it was only tooeasy to believe him guilty.Easier, in fact, than to imaginehe was innocent. And I had justfinished praising these cardinalsas men of integrity whoexhibited virtue! I felt cheated,taken in. I had trusted too muchin the glowing reports I hadread. I ought to have been morecynical."Read more

Archbishop saysdecentralization plan willempower laity in governanceroles

Archbishop Leo Cushley hasunveiled radical plans to stripdown the curia of St Andrews &Edinburgh Archdiocese toempower priests and laity toevangelise their localcommunities.

The present set-up will bereplaced by a decentralisedmodel where the curia will existprimarily to fulfil those tasksrequired by canon or civil lawthat cannot be done at a local ordeanery level.

“It’s now four years since Pope

Francis sent me here with amandate to reform and renewthe Archdiocese of St Andrews &Edinburgh so that we could moreeffectively share the joy of theGospel—this announcement is asignificant step towards that,”Archbishop Cushley said, addingthat after much observation,thought and prayerfuldiscernment, he had ‘decidedthat this is the way in which Iwish to move forward as weendeavour to build and live a ‐Vatican II Church.’

A consultative archdiocesanpastoral council will beestablished to bring layexpertise and clerical advisorsinto the decision-making processin five areas: justice and peace,catechetics, marriage and thefamily, ecumenism and inter-faith relations, and care of theclergy and religious.Read more

What will Pope Francis do withCardinal Burke?

Robert Mickens offers a fewsuggestions for what couldhappen to Cardinal Burke.

He writes that there have beenreports in the past several daysthat the Vatican is moving closerto rehabilitating the PriestlySociety of St Pius X (SSPX), theschismatic ultra-traditionalistgroup founded by the late-Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The idea is that it wouldeventually be made into apersonal prelature, that strangecanonical creature that wasinvented for Opus Dei during

John Paul II’s pontificate.In exchange, the SSPX wouldlikely have to agree to stopcriticizing the Church reformsand changes (including theliturgy) that came during andafter the Second Vatican Council(1962-1965).

Then the Lefebvrists wouldbecome similar to other smaller,more disparate groups of Neo-Tridentinist Catholics (that are incommunion with Rome). Theseare the ones a certain Germantheologian-pope helped spawnthese past several decades.Their members formally professacceptance of Vatican II, butthen continue their retrodox wayof Church life as if the Councilnever happened.

If Pope Francis were to put allsuch groups under one personalprelature, it would be interestingto see how quickly it startedtearing itself apart andhemorrhaging members. (Thinkof what’s happened in theAnglican Ordinariate).

But Francis could also go onestep further than his saintlyPolish predecessor and addanother rung of episcopalauthority to this curiousecclesiastical structure.He could call it a cardinalispatronus or whatever else hewants.

At any rate, he’s already founda good candidate for the job –Cardinal Raymond Burke.Read more

The wrong message on media

Robert Mickens believes PopeFrancis missed a goldenopportunity. It was the chanceto use his annual WorldCommunications Day message tospeak out strongly against agrowing and worryingphenomenon in the media –namely, people (including and,perhaps, especially politicianslike US President Donald Trump)who deliberately invent “facts”and tell outright lies as if theywere the truth.

Instead, the pope’s messagewas an appeal to mediaprofessionals (and anyone elseinvolved in what it calls “grindingout information with the aim ofproviding rich fare for those withwhom they communicate”) to“break the vicious circle ofanxiety and stem the spiral offear resulting from a constantfocus on ‘bad news’ (wars,terrorism, scandals and all sortsof human failure)”.Read more

Diocese helps women inKashmir stand up for theirrights

Darshana Devi, in India'snorthern state of Jammu andKashmir, recalls the ordeal oftrying to find out why her namedisappeared from the records ofa government scheme providingmonthly pensions to destitutewidows.

The 56-year-old, from isolatedDansal village, lost her husband15 years ago, but her monthlypension of 1,500 rupees

(US$23) kept the rice potboiling. She was never told whyshe was removed from thebeneficiary list in 2014.Repeated attempts to solve theriddle failed, shetold ucanews.com. After suffering hardship, Devicame to know about a programrun by Jammu-Srinagar Diocese's CatholicSocial Service Society underwhich village women are trainedto press for their rights andentitlements. The diocese coversthe entire Jammu and Kashmirstate.Read moreNPR story

Pope Francis puts his trust inthe sensus fidei

According to Christopher Lambof The Tablet, whether it's listingtheir “spiritual diseases” ordenouncing them for living likeprinces, throughout his papacyFrancis has been tough on anypriest or bishop he thinks isclinging on to old privileges andrigid certainties.

Lamb says this papacy has putits trust in the faith of thepeople, the sensus fidei.Read more (subscription link)

Second in command atSecretariat forCommunications has skills butnot a fan of Francis

Robert Mickens reports that MgrLucio Ruiz, the second-in-command at the Secretariat forCommunications, is fromArgentina like Pope Francis.He’s worked in the Vatican since

1997 in the former Internetoffice where he became thesocial media whiz kid forCardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos,the archconservative formerprefect of the Congregation forthe Clergy.

The 52-year-old priest – like afew of Francis’ other compatriotswho’ve had long careers in theRoman Curia – never seemed tobe a great fan of the pope whenhe was still just the cardinal-archbishop of Buenos Aires.According to a well-sourcedanecdote, when the new popemet with Vatican media officialson March 16, 2013 – just threedays after his election as Bishopof Rome – he greeted Mgr Ruiz,a priest from Argentina’sArchdiocese of Santa Fe, likethis:

“Ah, Lucio! Now that I’m thepope are you going to say nicethings about me?”

And yet the pope appointed hisfellow countryman to be MgrDario Viganò’s right-hand man inthe overhaul of the Vatican’sdiverse operations in thecommunications and mediasector.Read more

In case you missed it: Whenthe clergy are the 1%

The incisive blogger who writes"Questions from a Ewe" pondersan invitation she received fromthe Pontifical North AmericanCollege to join their exorbitantlypriced pilgrimage. Read more

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