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CORPUS is a faith community affirming an inclusive priesthood rooted in a reformed and renewed Church.
CORPUS, celebrating forty-four years of service to the people of God, is one of the oldest reform groups in the Catholic Church, and is active in reform movements both in the U.S. and abroad. We are committed to working for a renewed priesthood of married and single men and women dedicated to serving God through the Community of Believers.
Petition to Reinstate Rev. Roy Bourgeois
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The Corpus Executive Council is very pleased to present this petition for reinstating Rev. Roy Bourgeois — who is being unjustly punished for preaching at a woman’s ordination. He told the Vatican that it was against his conscience to say that he did not believe in the ordination of women. Because Corpus is on record for favoring the restoration of a married priesthood in the Western Church, and for reviving the ordination of women in the Catholic Communion of Churches, we ask Pope Francis to follow the majority of Catholics who stand in solidarity with Rev. Bourgeois.
John and Maureen Sheehan, Gloria Durka, Paul Bumbar, Jim Ewens, John Shankey
A message from CORPUS' Co-Chairpersons
We are writing to inform you that our three year term, as Co-Chairs of CORPUS, expires on December 31, 2018. After prayerful deliberation, we have chosen not to run for re-election. We are appealing to you, our members, to run for office or to nominate candidates to fill the position of Chairperson so that the work of the past three years can continue to grow.
In the last three years, we have
Completed a Survey of our members
Established a Planning Committee to develop a Three-Year Plan.
Set up an enhanced communication system with Constant Contact, a new digital CORPUS REPORTS, and working closely with e-Corpus.
Consolidated all Finances under CORPUS control.
Filled the position of TREASURER.
Hired a new Bookkeeper.
Appointed a new EDITOR of CORPUS REPORTS.
Coordinated monthly meetings of the CORPUS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, via Conference Calls.
Reached out to collaborate with other Reform Groups such as, Federation of Christian Ministries ( FCM), Association of ROMAN CATHOLIC WOMEN PRIESTS (ARCWP), and FUTURE CHURCH.
Collected all CORPUS Records from Texas and Wisconsin, seven large boxes with 40 years of history in them. We are sorting through each box and saving all important documents.
All old, non-essential records will be shredded. We are down to the last box.
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The need to belong to the inner circles can be found in all age groups, cultures, religions, nationalities, races and in both genders. It can be the source of peer-pressure, bullying, partisanship and polarization. And it can lead to the self-inflicted wound of blinding oneself to the larger picture, the broader outlook, the more hopeful vision... As followers of Christ, we are in a “process of becoming" and for us there should be no such thing as the "inner circle."
A CALL TO ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF CORPUS
A CALL TO ACTION BY THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF CORPUS August 31, 2018
As did Rachel (Jer. 31:15), the People of God weep for the children and cannot be comforted by words. Pope Francis’ recent expression of shame and sorrow over sexual abuse committed or countenanced by bishops, priests and religious is welcome and necessary, but very far from sufficient.
CORPUS joins with all who demand a change in behavior in the Catholic Church, so that:
1. victims of sexual abuse and their families at long last be treated with justice and compassion, and given support – without cost to them for as long as needed, regardless of when the offences occurred;
2. in each diocese there be standing committees, led by qualified lay people, to ensure that all credible allegations of sexual offences – whether of commission or omission - are reported, investigated and prosecuted according to the requirements of civil law and authority; and,
3. credible suspicion of abuse results in suspension from ministry during the investigation, and proven violation of the law results in permanent removal from Church ministry.
Along with these changes in behavior, Corpus calls for a radical change in thinking to heal the Church from its cancer of clerical sexual abuse. Institutional clericalism allowed systemic abuse to exist. It must die so that a reformed Church can be born: the death of the grain bears much fruit (John. 12:24).
Actions must be taken now. Words alone will not eliminate wolves who enter the sheepfold or remove the millstone now weighing down the Church. CORPUS, sensing the pain of the victims of sexual abuse and echoing cries of the people, demands that Church leadership ensure all necessary action be taken. CORPUS stands ready to assist.
John and Maureen Sheehan (Co-Chairpersons)
Gloria Durka / Paul Bumbar (Co-Secretaries)
John Shankey (Treasurer)
Jim Ewens (Editor, CORPUS REPORTS)
Andre L. De Beis
REST IN PEACE
February 27, 2018
Andre L. De Bels, a former missionary in Mozambique who later taught at Cardinal Gibbons High School, died of a dementia-related disease Feb. 27 at the Charlestown Retirement Community. The Catonsville resident was 92.
Born in Bruges, Belgium, he was the son of Fernand De Bels, who worked with Belgian tax collecting services, and his wife, Esther.
While in his teen years, he witnessed the German army’s occupation of his country beginning in 1941. The front of his house was bombed during World War II. The German soldiers forced him and other teens to dig trenches. As a form of resistance, he threw the soil he had cleared back in the trench at the end of the day.
According to a biography supplied by his family, Mr. De Bels entered the Missionaries of Africa seminary and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1949. After his studies, he went to Mozambique as a missionary and spent 20 years as professor at the Catholic Zobue Minor Seminary. He was also rector of his seminary.
Joseph Ciarocchi
REST IN PEACE
October 20, 2010
Dr. Joseph William Ciarrocchi, a former priest, author, professor and chairman of pastoral counseling at Loyola University Maryland, died of multiple myeloma on Oct. 22 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Baltimore. The Columbia resident was 66.
Dr. Ciarrocchi was born during World War II in San Francisco, where his father was stationed at the Presidio army post. The family of three later moved to Philadelphia, where his mother died when Dr. Ciarrocchi was 9.
His father remarried, and Dr. Ciarrocchi gained two sisters whom he adored: stepsister Maria Greenwald, who grew up to be a mayor of Cherry Hill, N.J., and was killed in a car crash 1995, and a half-sister, Lucia Lawrence of Lyndhurst, N.J.
The Ciarrocchis settled in New Jersey, where Dr. Ciarrocchi's father worked as an electrical engineer for RCA Broadcast Systems, helping develop technology that improved portable videotaping.
During his high school years, Dr. Ciarrocchi attended St. Fidelis College & Seminary in Herman, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh. He graduated at 17, having skipped a grade early in his education, and went on to earn a master's degree in theology from Capuchin College in Washington.
From there, Dr. Ciarrocchi entered the seminary and was ordained a Catholic priest in September of 1969. He left the priesthood two years later, however, drawn to the idea of starting a family.
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