We've been there before… transitioning from an community of 'reserve' priests working for reinstatement to canonical ministry, becoming an 'association' of priests and their wives collaborating on witnessing to a 'married priesthood' and encouraging members to reengage in some type of ministerial activity. We grew further as we embraced the viability of women's ordination, and as we formally recognized that an ordained priesthood,
, must truly be inclusive and supportive of our gay sisters and brothers called to ministry.
ADSUM---The clash of the immanent and the transcendent...
Jesus was priest -- mediator between God and humanity precisely because he experienced, immanently within and outside himself, the incredibly transcendent presence of God, and found himself driven to share that good news.
Adsum--May-June 2007
The other morning I participated in a corporate presentation entitled “Successfully Managing Four Generations of Employees.” Highlighted were the stylistic differences and workplace values of people across the different generations populating today’s business environs.
Adsum--May-June 2008
Maybe not as much a child of the 1960’s as some of my pre-boomer colleagues, I became captivated with folk music as I went off to college in 1964. Truth be told, I lived in a bit of a musical time warp focused around Peter, Paul and Mary, The Smothers Brothers, and The Kingston Trio until I finally connected with big band swing music and its modern jazz cousin somewhere in the late 1980’s.
Adsum--November-December
Marian loves garage sales. A true alchemist, for her they are opportunities not only to find a deal, but a way to bring new life to others' outlived possessions, pass those treasures on to a new owner at a bargain, and more importantly, keep them out of a landfill for a longer period of time.
Adsum--Outside the box.
If the end-point of our activities in working for ministry reform and renewal is simply who gets to wear the vestments on Sunday, we are probably wasting the precious moments we've been given working for something beneath the greatness of the human spirit. It is in the wider context, the Church microcosm of the world, that or activities become incredibley important. Russ Ditzel, CORPUS President.
ADSUM--President Russ Ditzel
We are looking to connect, often for the first time, with the numbers of men who transitioned from the priesthood in the 1980's and 1990's who know nothing of the CORPUS vision.
ADSUM--Renewing our outreach....
We exist as an association today because of the commitments of almost two dozen elected board members who served CORPUS during the past thirty years. To ensure connectivity with our roots, last fall we began formally including these men and women in ongoing communications, providing a formal conduit for them to share in generating ideas and supporting deliberations.
ADSUM--REVITALIZING OUR MISSION
We are in for the long haul....preparing a Church worthy of our children and grandchildren
ADSUM--RUSS DITZEL, CORPUS PRESIDENT
RENEWING OUR OUTREACH....
We spoke of our hopes and dreams for a truly reformed and renewed priesthood in our Church. We traded stories that highlighted how much further we have to go to heal the pain still manifest in both canonical and non-canonical ministry.
ADSUM--SOLIDARITY, HEALING AND WITNESS.
Our historical roots are grounded in the soil of the Society of Priests for a Free Ministry (SPFM). Created in 1968 to give a voice to the great number of Roman Catholic priests resigning from the clergy, SPFM lobbied for the rights of married priests to minister.
Adsum--Wounded healers
I was in my mid 20's, fresh out of the seminary, facing another one of those events for which we'd not been adequately prepped in our training. Then, to be fair, situations take on a whole differrent level of being when transformed from 'case studies' to incarnated events in the lives of real people.
ADSUM: January - February 2005
Being (C/c)atholic...
Each time I have the opportunity to interact with the multi-national representatives of the North Atlantic Federation for a Renewed Catholic Priesthood (NAFed) I'm humbled by the experience. To make a place at the table for those of us who are linguistically disadvantaged, the nine other member countries in this federation conduct all formal collaborations in English, rather than in German, which would be a more logical choice...
Adsum: January - February 2006
My wife Marian and I recently attended a 'celebration of passing' liturgy, held to prayerfully remember the life of our friend Kathy's father who had died rather quickly from cancer.
Adsum: January-February 2007
There is a Native American saying that “to truly understand we must walk a mile in another’s moccasins.” What’s not often quoted, however, is the other half of that statement: “Before we can walk in another person’s moccasins, we must first take off our own.”
Adsum: January-February 2008
The rabbi and I were at Cindy and Greg’s home to celebrate the Naming Ceremony and Baptism of their infant daughter, Ashley Grace, just as we had concelebrated their interfaith wedding a couple of years ago.
Adsum: July-August 2006
I was having a discussion last week with a friend and we were talking about the different ways people relate to organizations as we spoke of our children's relationship to the Church. Chris commented rather simply: “it's one thing to say that you are an affiliate, something totally different to really 'be affiliated.'”
Adsum: March - April 2006
SPEAK UP! Recently our bishop, Paul Bootkowski, announced that he was convening a Synod as part of the preparations to celebrate the Metuchen Diocese's twenty-fifth anniversary.ﾠ Speak Up sessions have been organized at the parish level to listen to the faithful; hear what is on our minds and in our hearts. The Synod organizers have mentioned that they are particularly trying to reach out to people disconnected from their local parish
Adsum: March-April 2005
If you didn't get the chance to hear him in person last June, I hope you took the opportunity to read Carl Hemmer's presentation from our Lansdowne conference reproduced in the January-February issue of CORPUS Reports. Carl thoughtfully, as usual, raised the question about our organizational future laying out several options for us to consider, providing pros and cons to each option:
Adsum: May- June 2005
The May-June issue of CORPUS Reports had traditionally been the time when the president penned a "State of the Organization" address to the CORPUS community. Having taken the opportunity for almost three years to write an article in each bi-monthly issue of our journal, you are generally up to speed on our activities much more frequently than once every twelve months, however.
Adsum: November-December 2004
For some reason this time around, this has been a very difficult article for me to write.... in fact, as I sit here typing I've already put David Gawlik behind in his pipeline. There have been so many disconnected bits and pieces of ideas and emotions that have been impacting me that I wanted to share with you. Weaving them together in some type of cogent fashion has been the hard part. I hope this works for you.
Adsum: November-December 2005
As I sit here on a beautiful day in the beginning of Autumn, I'm trying to come up with a sparkling, memorable, profound, message to share with you during this Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's triduum.
Adsum: November-December 2007
Responses to An Incomplete Journey …
I thought that it might be valuable to share a number of responses, both warm and challenging, that I received to my September-October Adsum article.
Adsum: September-October 07
As I sat writing my March – April Adsum article I found myself really in a bit of a “dark night of the soul” and feeling not in synch with my responsibilities as president of CORPUS and executive member for the North Atlantic Federation as I had narrowly perceived them… championing an inclusive priesthood ministry in our Church. I’d reached a bit of a dead end personally. Much of what I had personally tried to accomplish during the previous four and a half years hadn’t seemed to have moved us forward at all.
Adsum: September-October 2004
Taking stock of where we've been, where we are, and where we're going seems to be built into milestone celebrations. They become opportunities for serious reflection, moments to relish what has been accomplished, the chance to sharpen our goals and objectives. Sometimes they even become the point at which a real transformation becomes possible, or even necessary.
ADSUM:--JULY-AUGUST 2005
You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be
considered.
ADSUM:--September-October 2005
I hope you noticed the references to the mind-boggling statistics in the last issue of CORPUS Reports... 2,929 priestless parishes in the United States alone, 105,530 worldwide. (Not included are the over 1 million men, women and children worldwide under the responsibility of the US archdiocese for the military which has 75 - 80% fewer Catholic chaplains than 20 years ago.)
ADSUM:--September-October 2006
Pleased about CORPUS developing collaboration with other ministry-based reform organizations, in my May-June Adsum article I commented that I have hope that in the not too distant future well be discussing effective steps we can take to reunite organizationally with our sisters and brothers in the Federation of Christian Ministries (FCM).
Advent Group (UK)
Advent continues to offer support, both practical and emotional, as well as a forum for matters of justice that surround the issue of compulsory celibacy.
Advent-Christmas
The American Catholic's web site is a wonderful resource for all in Advent and Christmas' preparation.
Advent-Christmas : A Special Time on the Net
Advent: A Special Time on the Net
While the season of Advent is not seen commercially as important as that of Christmas itself, we as Catholic Christians realize its significance in the overall scheme of salvation history. Here are some of the best websites that deal solely with the season of Advent. It is our hope that these can serve as great starting points for your time of preparation
Advice that made a difference
The new year is a time for resolutions, good intentions and giving and getting advice. Advice, however, can be dangerous. Author Walt Schmidt wrote, “Advice should always be consumed between two thick slices of doubt.” And the humorist P. J. Woodehouse tongue-in-cheek said, "I always advise people never to give advice." So this new year I won’t give any either.
Ahearn, William
Allen & Sylvia Moore
THANKS to Allen & Syliva Moore, our conference coordinators.
AlterNet.org
In the U.S., there are as many as 20,000 married priests. This special page was created to showcase the stories of Married Priests, collected from alternative weeklies around the nation as part of a special AlterNet project.
Amazon.com
Find and purchase books from Amazon.com.
Ambre, Earl
America Magazine
America Press, Inc., publishes America, a weekly magazine founded by Jesuits of the United States in 1909.
AMERICAN CATHOLIC COUNCIL
In a move to unite U.S. Catholics, the newly formed American Catholic Council (ACC) called today for an historic assembly of the Catholic Church in the United States.
An Invasion of Iraq Would Be American's "Day of Infamy"
We Americans are faced with two contending obligations: One is a national security obligation by the administration that calls for regime change in Iraq. The other is a moral obligation that says that U.S. cannot take the law into its own hands.
An Online Retreat for Everyday Life
From Creighton University, A 34 week online guided retreat for Everyday Life - an unique experience of God's Grace in the midst of our busy lives.
An Open Letter to Cardinal Hummes
Congratulations on the new responsibility you have just taken on. This past April, Pope Benedict XVI granted you the power to dismiss from the priesthood and release from the obligation of celibacy, priests who are living with women, who have abandoned their ministry for more than five years or who have engaged in seriously scandalous behavior. I am one of those you will be dismissing – not for the scandal part but for the woman part.
Andrzewsk, Edward
Angels we have heard---earth
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Here’s my latest angel story. I had just parked my visiting daughter’s car in the supermarket’s parking lot. When I returned with some orange juice and milk, the battery was dead. The motor wouldn’t engage. As I turned the key all I could hear was click, click, click. It was bitterly cold. I had forgotten my cell phone. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I prayed.
ANTHONY PADOVANO'S REPORT FROM ROME
I am deeply grateful for all those who supported my going to Rome for the Conclave Project. ﾠI hope that you will find this report evidence of the value of this endeavor.
Apostles Wives' Club
NEW There are many sites for married priests, but few, if any, for wives of married priests. Priest wives have long been ignored in the celibacy discussion. They have had no voice or power. Here is a new blog, created by and dedicated to Priest Wives - a place to share stories and listen to others. This could bring tremendous healing where it is needed and a stronger sense of the right of priest wivews to be who they are.
Apple Seeds
From Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR, quotations and short stories from eclectic sources that promote positive attitudes, and development of holistic human dignity.
Are you a SBNR?
Are you Spiritual But Not Religious -- an SBNR? Many would describe themselves that way. Spirituality is fashionable today and religion unfashionable. Part of the problem is that the word “religion” carries tons of dogmatic, authoritarian baggage, but whatever the reasons the relationship of religion and spirituality is symbiotic and convoluted.
Are You Going to Watch Me?
I was taking “Lori,” one of our Village kids to her soccer game on Saturday when she asked me. Grandpa Hank, are you staying to watch me?” Lori is a quiet ten year old and normally doesn’t ask a lot of questions but this one, I could sense, was important to her. She wanted me to be more than a pick-up and take-home chauffeuring service. This little ten year old, separated from any parent or other relative wanted someone down on the field cheering her on. She needed to have “family” watching her. Needless to say, I was delighted to be able to fill that role for her.
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC)
Founded in 1980 by lay and clerical Catholics, the Association affirms that there are fundamental rights and corresponding responsibilities which are rooted in the humanity and baptism of all Catholics.
Audio Library;Selected Audio Files
Australian eJournal of Theology
A wide variety and wonderful array of reflections on theological issues ranging from systematic, biblical, sacramental-liturgical, moral-ethical and practical- pastoral areas of theology to interdisciplinary, interfaith, intercultural and gender issues.
Baggot, Joseph
Balcom, Gary
Barley Cakes : Parables for the 21st Century
Barley Cakes : Parables for the 21st Century
by Cheryl Cavalconte
Barley Cakes: Parables for the 21st Century is a collection of 30 new parables, each drawn from one line of the Gospels.
Barlow, John
Becoming a Surrogate Grandparent
It may add twenty years to my life or it may lead me to an early grave but this grandpa will soon be living in a village with twenty-four kids.
Beh, Robert
BEREAVEMENT/SUPPORT MINISTRY
CORPUS is happy to announce a new service for those who are grieving the loss of a love one.
Berrigan, Philip
Bessette, Donald
Betrayal;The Crisis in the Catholic Church.
Read excerpts from the Boston Globe's Spotlight Team's Book on Clergy Sexual Abuse.
Biblioteca Electronica Cristiana
From VE Multimedios, Biblioteca Electronica Cristiana is the largest Spanish language online library of Catholic documents on the Web.
Bishop Accountability
This Web site, launched in June 2003, will provide information on the Catholic bishops of the United States and their role in the sexual abuse crisis. We will present resources on important dioceses, as well as more general sources of information on the crisis and assessments of the bishops' use of the Internet to inform or deceive.
Blackberry Sunday
Blackberry pie. Is summer ever complete without at least one day devoted to picking blackberries and making a blackberry pie?
Bleidorn, Eugene
Bleidorn, Frank
Blowing Bubbles With Alex
Deep in the mountainous region of western Guatemala, where tourists rarely wander, I find myself shaking hands with a seven-year-old Mayan kid named Alex. We are not exactly strangers to one another. Alex and I have exchanged photos and letters over the past 18 months, ever since my wife and I decided to sponsor him through a non-profit agency in the United States. But this is my first face to face meeting with Alex and I'm a little nervous because my Spanish language skills are of the mui poco variety and, wouldn't you know it, the interpreter we were supposed to have is late.
Board Meeting Minutes - 02/09/07
Complete minutes of the February 2007
Corpus Board Meeting in Parsippany, NJ. Click the link above to view the
PDF file.
Bordelon, Marvin
Boston College; Church in 21st Century
The Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College seeks to be a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States by engaging critical issues facing the Catholic community. Many programs can be found online for your spiritual and theological development.
Boston Globe poll about Catholics and their beliefs.
An interesting poll conducted by the Boston Globe on Catholics and their belief. It offers the thinking of Catholics post clergy abuse scandal.
Boston Globe Spotlight on Clergy Sexual Abuse
Site is constantly updated with new stories from the Boston Globe
Boyle, William
Bread for the World
Bread for the World Institute seeks justice for hungry people by engaging in research and education on policies related to hunger and development.
Britt, John
Brooks, William Joseph
Brother Ass
Back in 6th. Grade at Holy Family School, we kids used to giggle when Sister Pius would read to us that St.Francis of Assisi referred to his bod as “Brother Ass.” The double entendre was just too juicy for our 10-year-old minds to resist. That a holy nun would utter such a naughty word right out loud shocked and delighted us.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ (BASIC)
Irish network of women and men praying and working for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church.
Buck, Joe
Buckland, Robert
Burke, Richard P.
Busted Halo
BustedHalo.com is a web e-zine that speaks candidly and occasionally irreverently on issues facing people in their 20's and 30's that intersect with spirituality. Open to dialogue and hearing the stories of young people, BustedHalo never preaches condescendingly, rather seeks to understand and to express the wisdom of Catholic and other religious traditions in away that makes sense to the experience of those "spiritually seeking."
Cable TV news--reality or hype
Steve Allen, the TV personality and comedian said, “Television is bubble gum for the eyes.” If that’s true, then around the clock TV news is a drug for the mind, which distorts reality.
Calendar of Events
Call for Presentations
ALERT 2008 Joint Conference in Boston, MA, July 18-20, is calling for presentations for 8 workshops. If interested in making a presentation please fill out application.
Click Here for further information
Call Off The Dogs
Lets be clear where I stand on the subject of
priests sexually abusing kids. Its not just inappropriate or even unacceptable. The sexual abuse of children, especially when done by a person in a position of trust, is abhorrent. It is a betrayal of trust of the worst kind. As a parent and now a
grandparent, I am appalled that this kind of behavior was allowed to continue in the Church I love.
Call to Action USA
Organized after US Bishops sponsored the original "Call to Action" gathering in 1976 in Detriot, this organization of over 20,000 has been advocating for justice in the church society for over twenty years.
CALL TO ACTION'S SMALL FAITH COMMUNITIES DIRECTORY
Updated resource for small faith communities throughout the USA.
Callahan, William
Camellini, Paolo
Campaign Launched Against Conspiracy Of Silence
CORPUS is launching a campaign to end the conspiracy of silence among Catholic church leaders around suppressed topics...
Candidates for the priesthood reflect diversity
READ Although Caucasians are still statistically overrepresented, the class of U.S. seminarians due to be ordained priests in the next couple of months shows a continuing increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of ordinands in recent years, according to data released in April by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and compiled by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
Canonical Implications Related to the Ordination of Married Men to the Priesthood.
The following report is submitted to the Canon Law Society of America by its ad hoc committee to study the canonical implications related to the ordination of married men to the priesthood of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Caporale, Rocco
Caritas in veritate
The new encyclcal of Benedict XVI, issued June 29, 2009, On Integral Human Development: In Charity And Truth
Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law.
Carney, John
Carvalho-Lehmann, Robert
Catholic Canada
This site provides Catholics in Canada with on-line apologetic and catechetic documents and articles.
Catholic Community UK
This site is specifically aimed at the Roman Catholic Community in the British Isles. Its aim is to support Catholic life and faith and to become a Roman Catholic "Mega Site" for the British Isles.
Catholic in Alliance for Common Good
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good is a lay Catholic organization that promotes increased awareness of Catholic social teaching through the media and provides opportunities for Catholics and citizens of good will to advance the common good in the public square.
Catholic Information Center on the Internet
A virtual library of Catholic information, ranging from the Magisterium of the Church, to Catholic World News and directories of Dioceses online.
Catholic Network for Women's Equality
From Canada, this organization works toward enabling women to name their giftedness, and from that awareness to effect structural change in the Church that reflects the mutuality and coresponsibility of women and men within that church.
Catholic Network for Women's Equality
Mission: to enable women to name their giftedness and from that awareness to effect structural change in the Church that reflects the mutuality and coresponsibility of women and men within that church.
Catholic News Service
Reporting the news which affects Catholics in their everyday lives. Some of that news is good and some is bad, but it is what readers need to know in order to work for salvation.
Catholic Relief Services
The official overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community,
working to support families, reduce poverty, and build communities.
Catholic Society for Marriage Education
This as an Australian Catholic Bishops Conference-related organisation that fosters marriage and relationship education for couples considering marriage, and for already married couples. Its major activities are the National Conference for Marriage and Relationship Educators (in late September this year), the publication THRESHOLD, and information about national scoring of pre-marriage inventories using the diagnostic instrument known as FOCUSS. The website includes news about CSME activities, and PDF downloads of previous Conference papers - such as Dr Ken McMaster's on the stages of change, particularly in men.
Catholicism's Big Tent
Polarization has poisoned politics in America. It has also poisoned dialogue in our Catholic Church. What should be a respectful interaction of faithful followers of Christ sharing valid insights on issues affecting life in the twenty-first century too often degenerates into name-calling and attacks among the laity, and censure and excommunication from the bishops. What would Christ expect of us? - by
Tony Kowalski
Catholics for a Free Choice
Catholics for a Free Choice, an independent not-for-profit organization, is engaged in research, policy analysis, education, and advocacy on issues of gender equality and reproductive health. Working in the Catholic social justice tradition, CFFC is affiliated with Catholic Organizations for Renewal and the Women-Church Convergence, both based in the United States, and with the European Network/Church on the Move.
Catholics Speak Out
CSO is A Movement for Justice, Equality and Democracy in the Roman Catholic Church. "Catholics Speak Out was born out of the belief that progressive Catholics, committed to the Gospel and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, have been silent too long in the face of conservative trends
Celebrate Advent
Celebrate Advent
From americancatholic.org: Celebrate the season with peacemaking ideas, inspiration and e- cards. Learn how Christians should celebrate Advent and Christmas, and read about saints whose feasts are observed during the season.
Celibacy and the Shortage of Priests
Bernard Haring critically evaluates celibacy and priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. "Whose heart wouldn't bleed to think that a Church law so contrary to the Gospel would help to cause so much pain?"
Center for Liturgy
Readings, commentary, and music for Sunday liturgy from Center for Liturgy at St. Louis, University.
Center for Progressive Christianity
The Center for Progressive Christianity provides guiding ideas,
networking opportunities, and
resources for progressive churches, organizations, individuals and others with connections to Christianity.
Centering Prayer - Fr. Tom Keating, OSCO
Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer. Trappist monk, Fr. Tom Keating leads us in developing this prayer form for the modern Catholic.
Change and chaos in our churches
Christian churches nationally are facing enormous changes. In the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, for example, scores of churches have been slated for closings. The reasons are multiple and complex: a lack of priests, lack of parishioners, deteriorating buildings, duplication of services, geographic location, the end of the immigrant parish as the children and grandchildren of immigrants move away. In some communities these proposed closings have abraded raw nerves and engendered much controversy. I’m not addressing the merits of the competing arguments. I only wish to state that change in church life, as in all life, is inevitable.
Changes in the new missal
Read the verbal changes that will take place in the third addition of the Roman missal
Chasing an Elusive God Starts with Wonder
Pardon my irreverence but haven’t you ever wondered, maybe after a couple of drinks, “Who in the heck is God anyway?” Forget for a moment all those pat answers you have heard from theologians or prophets or founders of religions. They don’t know any more than you do.
Chastity, Not Celibacy, the Heart of the Matter
On Friday, January 30, 2004, Dateline NBC aired on national television, a story that had been previously published by the Boston press. Boston Archdiocesan Chancery, ordered by legal authorites to hand over all the personnel files of priests accused of child molestations, in error, surrendered the files of a different James Foley, not those of the pedophile with the same name. Marie P. O'Brien
Children of Priests
This site is dedicated to the tens of thousands of lives effected by the fatherhood of Catholic Priests. The life of the child and mother are profoundly changed by coming into this secret, often denied subculture of the Roman Catholic faith.
Christmas Thoughts
Someone once said that there are places in the heart that you never even know exist until you love a child. I believe that. When I became a parent, I got in touch with a part of me that had never surfaced before. I found myself loving my kids with a kind of fierceness that almost scared me. I am a mild mannered guy, a peace loving man, yet I knew, just as sure as I am writing these words, that I would have killed anyone who hurt my children. Most moms and dads understand what I’m saying because they would do the same for their kids.
CHRONICLES FROM THE VINEYARD
Hospital chaplaincy is the kind of creative use of the talents of married priests that has been called for in several documents of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and numerous organizations of the Catholic laity.
Chronicles From the Vineyard---Joan and Anthony Kowalski.
When a person earnestly wants something, he fights to overcome all obstacles. Once gained, he holds on even more. So it was, by the grace of God, with my priesthood.
Chronicles from the Vineyard---John & Roberta Hydar
The Holy Spirit has surprised me three times in my life, and let me in directions that I had never dreamed possible. Indeed, the Spirit moves where She wills. God has blessed Roberta and me, and guided us in many wonderful ways.
Chronicles from the Vineyard: Don and Pat Fromm
In many ways I felt that I was starting out where I had left off at age eighteen. And I was. My naivete was quickly lost with very helpful, seasoned teachers and mostly black adults seasoned in a harsh world. These were veterans of the three recent wars, mothers and fathers on welfare, even a group of Black Panthers in uniform; this was year after the Cleveland race riots.
CHRONICLES FROM THE VINEYARD; Sowers of Peace and Justice
Since the Vietnam era, Elaine and Francis McGillicuddy have been involved in peacemaking sometimes more deeply than others. They joined Pax Christi in 1980 and have been nurtured through that community ever since.
Church Renewal Directory
Call to Actions's directory of renewal groups which include small faith communities, local CTA groups, and other groups interested in reform and renewal of the Catholic Church.
CITI/Rent-a-Priest
The organization of married Roman Catholic Priest/couples who are offering spiritual and sacramental ministry, responding positively and non-judgmentally to Roman Catholics who have not attended a parish for some time or feel uncomfortable approaching their local parish priest at a time of need.
Cleary Works
Many prayers, books, fables and music written by Bill Cleary.
Clover, Robert
Commonweal Magazine
A REVIEW OF RELIGION, POLITICS, AND CULTURE Edited by Catholic lay women and men since 1924.
Conference 2006
Weren't able to join us at the Corpus Conference this year? Well, sit back and listen to the full audio clips of talks given by Peter Manseau, Anthony Padovano, Jim Callan & Mary Ramearman and Dick Rento. Included here as well are workshops given by William Manseau and Linda Pinto.
Conference Bonuses
Bonus features include discounted airfare and car rental, extended days, shuttle transportation and parking.
Conference Registration
Download the Brochure and Registration Form for the 2010 FCM/CORPUS Joint Conference.
Conference Speakers
James Carroll, Bishop Patricia Fresen, Michael Morwood and Jason McCool will be presenting keynote addresses and leading discussions.
Conference Speakers
Anthony Padovano, Jan Phillips, Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Tom & Michaelita Quinn will be presenting keynote addresses and leading discussions.
Connell, John K
Conspiracies Show Our Prejudices
The word “conspiracy” comes from the Latin meaning to breathe together. Recently, there has been some heavy breathing -- hyperventilation really -- over President Obama’s place of birth. There’s a small but vocal group of Birthers, who persistently claim Obama was not born in the United States and therefore, in accordance with the Constitution, is not legitimately President. The evidence to the contrary, however, is overwhelming.
Conversation with Michael Morwood
An exclusive interview with Australian theologian and married priest Michael Morwood. In this interview, Michael discusses his new book,
From Sand to Solid Ground with editors of the Australian journal
Catholica.
Cordero, Donald
CORPUS BEGINS LEGACY PROJECT
In the January/February, 2005 newsletter, Carl Hemmer wrote an honest and forthright article about the future of CORPUS. I think he laid out the value of Corpus, its rightful place of leadership in the on-going dialogue (and what must seem like a monologue at times) over the celibacy issue, particularly the failure of the Church to recognize the value of bringing married priests back into the ministry.
CORPUS BOARD MEETING
NEW Minutes from the CORPUS Board Meeting, July 16, 2008
CORPUS BOARD MEETING
new Minutes from recent CORPUS Board Meeting at Convent Station, NJ.
CORPUS BOARD MINUTES
NEW The latest minutes from the CORPUS Board meeting, June 24-26 in Dallas TX.
Corpus Canada
Begunas a support group for married Catholic priests, their wives and friends, seeking acceptance by the hierarchy of an optional married priesthood, Corpus Canada is a faith community of men and women "empowered by our baptism in Jesusﾒ Spirit to reach out to others in their need as Jesus did."
Corpus Christmas Appeal
Your heartfelt generosity to Corpus this Christmas is deeply appreciated. Please consider making an online donation below.
CORPUS COMMENDS FR. ROY BOURGEOIS' FAITHFUL SUPPORT
The CORPUS Community, a National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood, commends Fr. Roy Bourgeois for his faithful support of the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska to the priesthood in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church by the Roman Catholic Womenpriests Community.
CORPUS CONFERENCE EVALUATIONS
Read the evaluations of the CORPUS National Conference, Chaska, MN by the participants
CORPUS CRITICIZES AN UNJUST ACTION BY BISHOP MORLINO
NEW The CORPUS Board and staff wishes to convey its gratitude to Ruth Kolpack for the many years of devoted work she has given to the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin. We also wish to commend her for earning a Master of Divinity Degree in 2003 - a degree that requires many hours of study, writing and classroom interaction.
CORPUS EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTIONS IN 2005
We invite you to nominate yourself or another man or woman, who is a current CORPUS member in good standing, to serve on the CORPUS Executive Board.
CORPUS is appalled by recent Vatican announcement!
CORPUS (The National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood) is appalled by a recent Vatican announcement that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would treat any “attempted ordination of a woman” as a serious crime against the church. In fact, such an ‘attempted’ ordination would be classified by the church hierarchy as the same category of offense as sexual abuse.
CORPUS LEGACY PROJECT
Let Your Story Be Told!
CORPUS is pleased to announce the development of a much anticipated project to collect and codify the life-stories of our CORPUS family.
CORPUS Media Liaison available for tv & radio
With the release of the movie version of 'The Da Vinci Code' on May 19, it is reasonable to assume there will be general interest in the relationship that existed between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. While very little historical data exists that supports events depicted in Dan Brown's book, he does correctly draw upon recent scholarship that clears the bad reputation Mary Magdalene was stuck with for over one-thousand years.
CORPUS OFFERS TO COLLABORATE WITH BENEDICT XVI TO SOLVE THE VOCATION CRISIS.
CORPUS, a national association for an inclusive priesthood, welcomes and prays for the pastoral ministry of Benedict XVI as he assumes his new papal role
CORPUS Responds to Bishop Gregory
In a letter dated August 22, 2003, CORPUS President Russ Ditzel responds to the comments of Bishop Wilton Gregory regarding a call by a group of Milwaukee priests to end mandatory celibacy. Also included are the many comments of support sent to us by our friends. Thanks to all who took the time to respond.
CORPUS supports and congratulates new women bishops
NEW CORPUS, the national association for an inclusive priesthood, wishes to convey its joy over the ordination of four women bishops on April 19, 2009, in California.
CORPUS supports Fr. Ray Bourgeois
November 20, 2008
CORPUS, a National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood stands with Fr. Roy Bourgeois, M.M. and agrees with his conscientious support for the ordination of women in our Roman Catholic Church. We call upon the Vatican to listen to the witness of the Holy Scriptures and the voice of the faithful as we stand with Fr. Roy Bourgeois and our sisters who are responding to God's call to the ministerial priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
Sincerely,
William J. Manseau, D. Min.
CORPUS Pres
CORPUS supports gay priests and seminarians
Scapegoating gay priests will not fix the systemic problems of abuse of power we've seen facing our Church today. We affirm the sacred presence of all those touched by God's grace. We deplore the attempt to declare that God's grace discriminates in terms of sexual orientation...
CORPUS Supports our Brothers in Milwaukee
August 20, 2003 An Open Letter to our Brothers in the Milwaukee Presbyterate: High Bridge, NJ: On behalf of the whole CORPUS community, we applaud the courage and energy it took for you in the Milwaukee presbyterate to facilitate a call for dialogue on the issue of optional celibacy for all called to priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
Corpus' Membership And Renewal
Please Consider Joining The Cause For A Renewed And Inclusive Priesthood.
CORPUS' position statement regarding the Married Priests Now! organization
CORPUS’ board and staff have been approached numerous times by our members, non-members, and representatives of the media regarding our organization’s position on the
Married Priests Now! prelature. After having the opportunity to reflect, meet in person, and discuss, we feel it important to share with you our perspective...
CORPUS, Archbishop Milingo and Married Priests Now
To paraphrase the lectionary reading from Mark 9:38ff, we are thrilled that Archbishop Milingo is adding his moral weight behind calling for an end of institutional celibacy. We wish him success in his campaign. Any movement that creates the possibility of change in our present clerical system is certainly welcome. We wish that other Roman Catholic bishops who secretly call for making a celibate priesthood optional would be as public in their support
Corpus-NCR (Canada)
Corpus-NCR is an organization of married priests, their wives, and their friends working together for renewal in the Catholic Church, and for the implementation of changes advocated for the Church by the Second Vatican Council.
Corrigan, Mark
Create Your Own Wedding Ceremony
Cheryl & Charlie Cavalconte, long time CORPUS members from Rhode Island, have recently released their new book, Create Your Own Wedding Ceremony.ﾠ Both Cheryl and Charlie have had a very active wedding ministry for years. The book is intended for use by couples who want to customize a wedding ceremony. The book is extremely user-friendly and might even be a good resource for those officiating at ceremonies.
Creighton University's collaborative ministry.
This site provides excellent material on spiritual life development and ministry from Creighton University.
Cross, Lawrence
Crowley, John D.
Crtiticism--a two-edged sword
All writers, especially columnists, by the nature of their work must deal with criticism in various ways. First, hopefully they themselves are critics. They not only praise but also critique society: its trends, its movements, its politics, and its religions. In so doing others will criticize them. The only way to avoid criticism is to write blandly, saying nothing controversial or provocative. Absent such plain vanilla prose, criticism is as essential to the writing trade as word-processors and typewriters. No writer should be surprised to receive criticism. Whether it’s about typos, errors of fact, or differing opinions, it’s a gift. For public officials though, often consider it another story.
Culture as a prison
I once wrote a column about prisons, not about the correctional facilities governments build, but about the internal attitudes that restrict and confine us. I wrote of the constricting mind-sets of prejudice, religious dogmatism, bitterness and victim hood. (For those interested, it’s in “The Spirit at Your Back,” page 15). I’m writing about prisons again -- this time, about the culture itself as prison.
Culture of conversation
This new web site encourages bishops, priests and laity who are concerned about the lack of dialogue and a culture of secrecy in the Catholic Church to begin a meaningful conversation.
Current state of the Priesthood: Sociological Research
Before the election of the new pope in 2005, academics and experts made list after list of the top problems facing the Catholic Church in the world. Every list contained mention of the condition of the priesthood. Everyone agreed: there is a problem. What is it? A few defined the problem as the weakening of priestly identity, but most defined it as a shortage. In many nations the priesthood is in decline, and in a few, a precipitous decline.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READINGS
A Catholic web site for daily scripture readings,along with meditations and prayers. CHECK IT OUT!
Dallas: the latest remake of Frankenstein
Eugene Kennedy writes about the Bishop's meeting in Dallas.
Daly, John Patrick
Di Benedetto, Romeo
Did Christ rule out women priests?
From Fr. John Wijngaards: With the care and precision of a theologian, he bases his analysis on the teaching, statements and thinking of Jesus as found in the New Testament. He has, in this book, done the hard thinking that must be the ground-work of any discussion on the possible ordination of women to the priesthood.
Dignity USA
Dignity/USA is the United States largest and most progressive organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics.
Dimmishment as We Age
Ram Dass in his book “Still Here -- Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying” speaks of how he coped with his life and work after a crippling stroke made it impossible for him to continue living as previously. Before his stroke he was active in writing, traveling and lecturing. His stroke changed that drastically. Dass tells his story even more dramatically in the film “Fierce Grace.” A film that “Newsweek” considered one of the Top Five Non-Fiction Films of 2002. It provides us with a moving meditation on “consciousness, healing, and the unexpected grace of aging.” “Fierce Grace” is available on DVD.
Directory of Catholic Women Ministers
Ordained women priests for weddings, funerals, and Eucharist.
Discovering Our Power in the Sound of Silence
I’m not a snow skiing enthusiast (Hey, I got enough snow growing up in Buffalo) but on my few cross-country skiing trips, I have been mesmerized by the quiet beauty of the Sierra winter landscape. To me, perhaps even more striking than the visual beauty of the scene was the absolute stillness of the experience. I found myself astonished by the silence. I don’t think I ever realized how noisy our world is until that first time I went snow skiing in Tahoe.
Dispensations and Conscience
NEW For many decades now, the Catholic community has been in dialogue—sometimes heated—about issues of authority and ministry. Vatican II began the discussion by introducing elements that would have seemed outrageous a decade earlier. Priests were urged to gather into council or senates with their own elected representatives. Celibacy was defined as an asset to ministry but not as essentially required. Married priests of Eastern Catholic Churches were celebrated. Priests were encouraged to share prayer, worship, and even sacramental rituals in matrimony with Protestant pastors. There were instances when Roman Catholics were permitted to receive sacraments from Orthodox priests. A married deaconate was introduced and, later, even a married priesthood for convert Protestant pastors.
Doherty, Henry
DON'T FORGET!
A few reminders about membership renewal.
Don't trust the experts
Beware the experts. They know everything about their field of expertise, but that very specialization restricts their vision and wisdom. Their knowledge is exceptional and in one specialized area remarkable, but paradoxically that erudition narrows their view. The experts see things clearly and bolster their positions with logical arguments, footnotes, citations, and precedents -- but the reasoning is limited by the logic of their expertise. Remember, logic is like whiskey at some point it loses its beneficial effects -- and too much of it can make us delusional.
Don't trust the experts
Beware the experts. They know everything about their field of expertise, but that very specialization restricts their vision and wisdom. Their knowledge is exceptional and in one specialized area remarkable, but paradoxically that erudition narrows their view. The experts see things clearly and bolster their positions with logical arguments, footnotes, citations, and precedents -- but the reasoning is limited by the logic of their expertise. Remember, logic is like whiskey at some point it loses its beneficial effects -- and too much of it can make us delusional.
Donahue, John
Donald Cordero, Rest In Peace
Donald Cordero, 70, a retired counselor who was a current trustee of the West Valley-Mission Community College District, died of cancer Sunday, surrounded by his family.
Donate to the Haiti earthquake relief fund
Haiti is suffering from a devastating earthquake. Catholic Relief Service is seeking donations to help the recovery process.
Please consider making a donation.
Dooley, James Patrick
Doyle, Richard Thaddeus
Duggan, John
Dunnigan, John
During the month of November, let us remember.
As you know CORPUS has an ongoing process of collecting the names of deceased married priests and others who have "served in the marketplace." Their ministry inside and outside the "walls" is too precious a gift to the Church to be forgotten. We have gathered this information and placed it on our web site. During the month of November, let us remember in prayers and thoughts the many brothers and sisters who have gone to their eternal rest. Click to view the complete list of the deceased.
Duryea, John
Duryea, Robert Francis
E-Catholicism
This site offers many daily resources on a wide range of topics for Catholics living their faith in the third millennium.
Earth Week and Our Spiritual Life
Yesterday was Earth Day and this column appears in the middle of Earth Week. For me and for many, Earth Week is a holy week. There is something essentially spiritual about nature. My wife has an inscribed stone in her vegetable plot. It says, “The best place to seek God is in a garden.” But whether it’s in garden or forest, sunrise or sunset, in rain or sunshine, nature manifests Beauty and enables Life. It speaks of the divine. All nature is sacred.
East
Easter calls us to resurrection - our own
The old news about Easter is that it is about resurrection. The new news may be that it is not so much about the resurrection of Jesus as it is about our own - by Joan Chittister, osb.
eCatholicism.org
Some of the best Internet resources for information regarding Faith Formation, Family Ministry, Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Social Outreach, Justice/Peace and Prayer & Reflection. .
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
The Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia of his Holiness Pope John Paul II to the bishops, priests and deacons, men and women in the consecrated life, and all the Faithful on the Eucharist in its relationship to the Church
Economic and Interracial Justice
Ecumenical Catholic Communion
A list of Ecumenical Catholic Communion parishes and pastors.
Eipers, Ray
Ernst, Michael
Eugene Bleidorn RIP
Bleidorn died last week of complications from a fall. He was 94. A former Catholic priest, he was responsible for an inner-city Milwaukee parish during the tumultuous civil rights era, a period when Milwaukee had been dubbed the "Selma of the north."
Evening Prayer
Conference 2004
View the PowerPoint presentation by Bill and Mary Manseau which was used in our Evening Prayer, in Remembrance and Thanksgiving for the Holy Spirit working in the lives of the founders of CORPUS and other pioneers in the early days of reforming the Church and Renewing the Priesthood. (You will need Microsoft PowerPoint to see the slide show.)
Click Here to view the Slide Show
Everything I know about Business I learned in the Monastery.
When I lived in the monastery as a Catholic priest, 40% of my superiors thought they were divinely inspired. Now that I'm working in Corporate America, the number is up to 80%. In my company, I'm one fo the few who have a core competency for dealing with executives who believe themselves to be infallible. Kenny Moore
Evolving Visions of the Priesthood
With clarity and candor, Dean Hoge, a professor in the department of sociology at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., and Jacqueline Wenger, a graduate student and licensed clinical social worker, communicate and interpret extensive data about generational changes in the priesthood and the impact of those changes on the church in the United States.
Ex-Priest Headed To Prison For Protest
Robert Call, a 72-year-old retiree and
CORPUS member, is an avid gardener, devoted family man and regular churchgoer. But the Hasbrouck Heights resident will put his quiet life on hold when he begins serving a 90-day federal prison sentence next month for a crime that he describes as an act of patriotism.
Read the Full Article Pictures from Bob Call's Sendoff 
Read Bob's Letter from Federal Prison
Exercise is for the body, mind and spirit
NEW When we think of exercise, most of us consider only physical activity. The word conjures up images of treadmills, rowing machines and jogging tracks, but that’s only part of it. Exercise entails all that, of course, but the word has come to mean much more.
F.C.M. Ministries Directory
A list of ecumenical married priests and ministers, both male and female, and couples in ministry, who are available to serve you.
Facchini, Rocco
Families--Holy and Dysfunctional
The liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday after Christmas. It’s fitting that the feast occurs during the Christmas season. For at Christmas we focus in a dramatic way on children, generosity and family togetherness. Moreover, this holiday season routinely brings not only Christian families but families of different faith traditions together.
Fangman, Tom
Farewill to "Old Stinky"
We had our memorial service for Penny today at the Children’s Village.. All the kids and most of the staff gathered at her yard, where the children had made a memorial stone for her. Inserted into the middle of the memorial stone, someone had put a one cent copper coin. Each of the kids held a small polished stone which they held in their hands. After a moment of silence during which the kids were asked to hold a memory of Penny in their hearts, one by one they placed the stones on Penny’s memorial stone.
Farley, Claude
Fascination with 'The DaVinci Code'
To begin, it is important to state that the DaVinci Code is a work of fiction. Yet, the assumptions and theories presented by the author are highly relevant, as they relate to current debates in the Roman Catholic Church. Certainly, as the priesthood shortage continues to be a center-stage topic, there seems to be overwhelming interest in the sexuality of Jesus. This translates to the corresponding issues of married priests and the ordination of women. Ray Grosswirth, CORPUS Secretary.
Faulkner, Thomas
Feast of All Saints
Feast of All Saints
The Feast of All Saints reminds us that we, too, are poor in spirit; we mourn, we hunger and thirst after justice. We are always moving towards the end - the end of a season, the end of childhood, or young adulthood, or of old age, the end of high school or college, the end of vacation, the end of a career or a particular kind of employment...and inevitably the end of our journey here on earth. All of these endings we should turn over to the Lord - not with fear, but with trust
Federation of Christian Ministries
The Federation of Christian Ministries is a meeting ground for people of varying faith traditions and spiritualities. As members, we comfort, encourage, support, heal, challenge and lead in many actions which reflect the warm companionship of God's presence.
Fenlon, William
Final Declaration of the General Assembly
After twenty years of existence, the International Federation of Married Catholic priests, has had its sixth international Congress in Wilhelm-Kempf Haus, Wiesbaden, Germany from 16 - 19 September 2005 with the theme: The Renewal of Ministries Today.
Find Local Married Priests
Online directory from C.I.T.I. with information about married priests in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Germany and more.
Finding a Job: 21st Century Style
The economy is down. Outsourcing is up. Globalization is in. And college grads have recently been let out. This has placed a great number of unemployed people out on the streets looking for work. Some timely advice is warranted.
Finks, P. David
Finnerty, James
Flanagan, Robert
For Catholic laity, a rallying plan
The road ahead for the Voice of the Faithful.
Forde, Vincent
Forty days to a new you! Pt1
Ever wish you had your own personal spiritual trainer? For Lent US Catholic offers you 40 of them, starting with the first 20 in Part I this month.
Forty days to new you Part ll
The second 20 days of your spiritual workout for Lent.
Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI
Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic Priest, is a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and currently is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He is an author of many books and well-known lecturer on contemporary spirituality. His writings appear in many newspapers throughout the world.
Frank Woolever, a champion for social justice, dies
Frank H. Woolever July 5, 2010 Frank H. Woolever, 77, of Syracuse, died peacefully at Crouse Hospital on Monday after a brief illness.
Freeing Celibacy
Donald Cozzens explores the history of celibacy and offers his thoughts on why this gift should not be mandated for the priesthood.
Friendship--We all need it
The American comedian Lily Tomlin once said, "Remember we're all in this alone," but she was wrong. We’re not alone. In our jobs, community work or raising families, we need help. All of us do. It would be naive to think otherwise. That’s why friends are so important; in zillions of ways they help us. We need them for the persistent and never-ending tasks involved in living, but we also need them for our well-being and mental health.
Future Church
FutureChurch is a national coalition of parish-based Catholics who seek the full participation of all baptized Catholics in the life of the Church.
Gainty, Clement J.
Garrelts, George
Gay seminarians, priests and ministers
Many main-line Christian churches are struggling with the reality of gay clergy. This situation, however, takes on added significance with the celibate clergy in the Catholic Church. About six weeks ago, the Vatican issued a pronouncement on gays in the priesthood. Officially called an instruction, it bans from seminaries men "who are actively homosexual, have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture". It would allow only seminary candidates with 'transitory gay tendencies' clearly overcome for three years prior to ordination.
Gays and the Military
Just last week, the Associate Press reported that “British Prime Minster Gordon Brown offered a posthumous apology for the ‘inhumane’ treatment of Alan Turing, the World War II code breaker who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for homosexuality and forcibly treated with female hormones.” He was only forty-two years old.
Geary, Thomas
Getting close to kids
Some days I find myself loving the kids so much it’s scary. It’s the kind of love that moms and dads know with their own children, the kind that hurts and also makes you want to sing. I have moments like that with our Village children, with 10 year old Jennie, spirited, stubborn and sweet all in one, 9 year old Danny, who threw theologians a zinger with his “Does God have a cat?” question, Matt, our future stand-up comedian. We touch one another if only for a moment. A fragile trust rises to the surface through a note, a tiny hand squeezed in mine, a confidence shared, a hug.
Getting Stuck in the Ditch.
Coming down the expressway and very anxious to get home I spied a traffic jam ahead. It was probably an accident, which would hold up traffic for an hour or more. As I came nearer the slowdown area, I could see that many of the motorists were getting anxious. The grassed medium looked tempting as a sort cut to find another route. As I was contemplating my options, a car ahead of me suddenly veered off into the ditch and came to a complete halt in the mud.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
World Food Day was October 16. There is a lot – good and bad -- going on in the world of food. First, food has been internationalized. Thank God for the variety. I was in my thirties before I discovered Chinese, but my grandchildren tasted egg rolls and chicken sweet and sour even before they started elementary school.
Global Ethic Foundation
There cannot be world peace without dialogue among and peace among world religions. Based on the work of Hans Kung, this site holds that the religions of the world can make a contribution to the peace of humankind only if they reflect on those elements of an ethic which they already have in common.
Global Ministries University
Whether you are beginning a University career or if you are seeking an advanced degree, Global Ministries University's programs provide you with innovative techniques in approaching your educational goals. The bachelor's and master's degrees offered at Global Ministries University allow students to gain the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies needed to prepare them for productive careers and future academic endeavors.
Go-carts, Cheating and the Human Condition
So I’m talking to this 12 year old boy at the Children’s Village. Let’s call him Tony.
Goin Fishin with my Pal, Tony
Even Klutzy Grandpa’s get a Pass from a Kid Who Just Wants to “Go fishin”
GOODBYE FATHER
The celibate Male and the Future of the Catholic Church. Based on the studies of Richard A. Schoenhoer and others
Gotta to find me and angel, gotta find me an angel in my life
“Precious,” the overweight, under-loved main character in the movie of the same name, was quoting Aretha Franklin’s words to herself as she was being abused by her mom and dad.
Gotterdammerung -- Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church
In Germanic mythology, Gotterdammerung is the destruction of the gods after a battle with evil, causing the violent ending of a regime or institution. It’s a fitting metaphor for the current international sexual abuse scandal, which theologian Hans Kung has called the Catholic Church’s greatest credibility crisis since the Reformation.
Grace at every turn.
In March of 1965, Tom Honor￩ was one of four black young men ordained to the priesthood in the historic Saint Louis Basilica, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Except for the one other member of that ordination class who was Anglo and a native of Massachusetts, the four African Americans were all from the deep South from places that were not more than one hundred miles from the Crescent City. The then Archbishop of New Orleans, John Patrick Cody, had sent for these young men to come to New Orleans, so that he could ordain them and demonstrate to the world the special significance of that moment in the history of the U.S. Catholic Church and in the history of the Josephite Fathers.
Grandpa to a Children's Village
A personal story of what it's like for a man in his 70's to move in with a passel of abused and neglected kids, share their lives and take on a new identity as a grandpa to a children's village. The author's job description as a live-in grandfather at the inter-generational village is to be a giver of unconditional love to twenty-four foster children ranging in age from five to sixteen.
Great ideas for Lent
What plans do you have for your parish to deepen their experience of the season? Lenten Resources from the San Francisco Office of Religious Education and Youth Ministry.
Greed is killing us
Gordon Gekko is a fictional character in Oliver Stone’s film “Wall Street.” In that film Michael Douglas won an Oscar for the role, in which Gekko notoriously proclaimed the Wall Street mantra, “Greed is good.” The Gekko character is loosely based on the market manipulator Ivan Boesky and the (in)famous corporate raider Carl Icahn.
Greenspun, William
Groppi, James
Grott, Raymond
Harris, James
Hassett, Fran
Hastings, Ed
Having kids sure make a difference
Jason Kendall, the catcher for the Oakland A's baseball team, gave me a chuckle the other day. He was talking to a reporter about how, when he was a
young player and had gone hitless at the plate or made an error in the field, he used to beat himself up over his performance.
Henderson, Henry
Henri Nouwen's Spirituality of Peace
Sept. 21 marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Henri Nouwen, one of our most popular writers on the spiritual life. One might surmise that here was a strict ponderer of the inner life. Or a guide to navigating one's private relationship with God. But Henri's thinking surged beyond such narrow channels. Few realize the full spectrum of his spirituality.
Henri Nouwen's Web site
Perhaps you have never heard of Henri Nouwen or you may be quite familiar with his writing. Either way we invite you to explore this site and discover why the themes of his many books resonate so deeply with people all over the world.
Hezel, Herbert J.
hi
L ent is a time to remember we are desert peoplecalled to risk following Jesus into his desert and our own. Deserts come in many guises: geographical and spiritual, searingly hot or witheringly cold, bathed in all-exposing light or swathed in impenetrable darkness. Whatever its character, the desert leaves you with little choice but to attend to the call to go deeper, to journey closer to the core of your being.
Last year I spent part of Lent in the deserts of southern California, and the lessons of the landscape came beating in: the badlands, so barren, unyielding, resistant to any kind of encounter and so much a part of my own heart. But between the rocks were the first glimpses of the wild flowers that would soon make the desert bloom. It reminded me of a chance meeting in the Sinai desert with a Bedouin wanderer who amazed us by taking a dry seed in the palm of his hand, spitting on it and inviting us to watch as it literally burst forth into green growth before our eyes. Lent is also an invitation to let that fresh new growth begin in our hearts.
If you ask for the grace to put down a deeper root, God will not fail to surprise.
By contrast, a more recent experience showed me that life, like that little seed, is not just a promise for the future but something we hold in the palm of our hands here and now, if only we could recognize and celebrate it. It happened in a small town in northern Canada. The invitation to visit this community took me completely by surprise, to say nothing of taking me to what felt, in the bleak dark of a winter night, like the middle of nowhere. The snow-filled streets seemed to rise out of the gloom as the aircraft touched down. In hindsight, I think the town was trying to tell me, even then, that it was incubating remarkable things, but at that first moment of my arrival it felt like a dark night and a desert landing.
The town lies at the intersection of the east-west and north-south highways connecting the Pacific coast to the prairies and the East, and the wilderness of the Yukon to the balmier clime of Vancouver. There you can stand at that physical crossroads and allow the world to unfold around you as if you were at the focal point of a Google map. The world that unfolds might seem pretty desolate to the casual observer. But what if you move inward instead, into the soul of this place, into your own soul and see what seeds might be waiting there, to bloom and bear fruit when the time is right?
I did not have to wait long for the opportunity to do just that. I soon discovered in this small town, at the meeting-point of so many possibilities, a vibrant ecumenical group of Christians with all shades of theology but just one passion: to follow where Jesus leads them, out into the world and closer to God and each other. I found myself in two places at once: in a diocese that is bigger than Germany and at the same time in the intimacy of a family home, in conversation with new friends around a coffee table at which Henri Nouwen once celebrated the Eucharist in this same room with these same people.
It was there that I heard about a very particular vision of reconciliation, the Returning to Spirit program. It makes authentic and compassionate space possible where Native American people, damaged by the experience of being forcibly taken from their families to the harsh regimes of some of the mission boarding schools, talk with representatives of the church organizations responsible for doing the harm. Together they can reflect deeply on their experience, meet one another in it and move beyond it. Heal-ing happens at the intersection of two raw experiences of pain, where the truth can be spoken and honestly heard. It is a visionary model for genuine reconciliation that will surely inspire healing in other areas of festering resentment and conflict. And it is all about returning to the true core of our being, where the spirit of God dwells, and honoring that spirit in each other. That same Lenten call re-echoes in our hearts every year at this time.
I cherish both these personal experiences of what at first appeared to be desert space, but where deeper reflection disclosed radical new growth. They are two different examples of the same truth: If you stand still and ask for the grace to put down a deeper root, God will not fail to surprise you with new possibilities. They are two different kinds of desert journey, back to the heart and true spirit of things, acknowledging the badlands and accepting Gods invitation to smell the flowers.
Hogan, Bill
Holy Week--Dying and Rising with Christ
Holy Week; Dying and Rising with Christ
As we walk with Jesus through the incidents of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we recoil again at the ugliness and horror of his rejection, betrayal, condemnation, passion and crucifixion. We study His courage, His struggle to bend His will to the Father's. We understand His agonizing sense of abandonment. We feel His hurt at the treachery of His friends, and ultimately His trusting embrace of the Cross - and the shameful death it promised - knowing that the love and power of His Father would sustain Him and carry Him through to the triumph of Resurrection and New Life.
Honesty in Public Speech
The presidential candidates’ “debates” together with the visit to Columbia by Iranian president Ahmadinejad, and the President of Duke University’s belated apology to his lacrosse team trouble me. They forced me to reflect on the honesty and integrity of public speech and how the culture has severely compromised it. I chuckled remembering the tongue-in-cheek comment of George Burns, "Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake THAT, you've got it made.” Still I’ve grown nauseous watching politicians and figures spin, fudge, posture – and attempt to manipulate us with insincerity and sound bites.
Hope for the Church
This year's Call To Action Conference which took place November 4 - 6 was a greaat success.. Corpus was there, and our own David Gawlik conducted some impromptu interviews. Listen to what some folks "Hope for the Church."
Hope is A Dialogue
Hope is a Dialogue - by Dr. Anthony Padovano
The best of Dr. Anthony Padovano's presentations at various reform group meetings. All the material has been updated together with new material. Anyone who has read any of Anthony's 26 award winning books will be rewarded with his 27th book!
Hope--in State and Church
During the recent presidential campaign, President-Elect Obama ran on the theme of hope. Although hope is a virtue – less than love (1 Cor 13:13) and rooted in faith, Obama’s critics derided hope as being non-specific, theoretical and airy-fairy. That criticism had some validity and his campaign became more specific with emphasis on change.
Horton, Joseph
Houle, Harry R.
Hourihan, Timothy
How does one go about "Eldering?"
Life never quite lets us off the hook does it? Even when we are retired from the workplace, the kids are grown and we are free to do whatever we want to do with our days, there is still a catch. But this kind of “catch” is good for us. It means we still have a role to perform, a part in the drama of life.n, but unless they have the capacity to love much, their “eldering” won’t change a life or change a world.
How Much Change is Necessary?
John Shelby Spong, the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ wrote his conclusions, the culmination of his lifetime in the clerical profession, WHY CHRISTIANITY MUST CHANGE (Harper Collins). This thinking began with radical departures from traditional Christian theological thought that were part of his professional formation in the 1960s. Larry Roegner.
Human Rights and Global Restoration
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
NEW The popular Irish Rock group has contributed some beautiful music to this generation but no song more hauntingly beautiful than this one, “But I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The refrain speaks to our human condition, our yearning to be more than we are, to fulfill our longing for happiness while, at the same time, acknowledging that we are not there yet and perhaps will never realize the dreams that lie buried within us.
Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for the Corporate Person
ISECP has been providing spiritual exercises and workshops since 1977. It is a joint Canadian-American project to explore the grace that is in a working group of people.
In Memoriam Pat O'Brien 1930-2004
A funeral of a priest is a unique experience. If he is a celibate, then he will be dressed out in his coffin with the vestments of his sacerdotal rank according to the tradition of the clergy. If he has been married and eliminated from the clerical state, then he will dressed as an ordinary lay person. It is reasonable that his family will activate their creativity to express his priestly ordination in some manner to those who have come in contact with him during his life. Herein lies the wonder of the people of God.
Infantino, Stephen
Inmates are a different species!
True story. A sub compact car with a family aboard was rear ended and burst into flames. A man in his late 20’s ran to the burning vehicle and at considerable risk to his own life, managed to pull a little boy free. The boys clothes had burned off so the man took off his own shirt, to douse the flames and cover the boy’s naked body. He cradled the little guy in his arms until emergency help arrived. As I write this, the boy is in critical condition but, thanks to the heroism of the young man, there is reason to hope he will survive.
Inside the Vatican
This is the web site of the world's most well-informed and comprehensive monthly magazine on what is going on "Inside The Vatican."
Insights Outside The Walls
As I Understand God - Spiritual Meditations of a Gay Man Outside The Religious Norm - a blog with insights and spiritual reflections.
Intentional Eucharistic Communities
Directory of intentional eucharistic communities in the USA & Canada.
Inter Insignores (1976)
CDF Declaration on the question of the admission of women to the ministerial priesthood.
Irish drunks, Jewish mothers and Chinese auctions
I’ve been thinking recently of how often our words even our well-meant words betray us. I’ve been reflecting on how insensitive we are to the full implications of the things we say about other people and groups.
Is Time Money or Life?
A Time-Warner Business TV ad, parroting western efficiency experts tells us, “Time is money.” Do you know what the Buddhists in the East say? They say, “Time is life!” Now that’s food for thought -- and a topic for a column.
It's better and worse than we think
Imagine you’re reading this column on March 27, 1908. A century ago women would not have the vote. The Senate of the United States would still be refusing to condemn lynching. Even though almost 4,700 Negroes, as they were called then, would be lynched because of their race. Unions were just beginning to protect workers. Safety and child labor laws were spotty and enforcement uneven. In the past century we’ve improved.
It's now or never
NEW A verse in Cardinal Newman’s famous hymn, “Lead Kindly Light,” has often called out to me.
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene; one step enough for me.
James, Jean
Jarry, Dennis
Jesus' Anger in his prophets and martyrs
It was an intelligent question, but my answer was not very articulate. Only when driving home did I think of Archbishop Camara. His observation seemed to fit. His relentless advocacy for the poor caused much tension with the authorities, but though he upset the leadership in both church and state he persisted in his pursuit of justice. His efforts brought hostility and death threats, but he persevered because he loved.
Joyce Rupp
Through her books, tapes, and retreats, Joyce Rupp has touched deeply the lives of many. The website of this spiritual writer can help many become acquainted with Joyce's work.
Julian of Norwich
Our pick as the best of the websites dedicated to the 14th century mystic, Julian of Norwich.
Justice for Priests and Deacons
Many priests and deacons are unaware of their rights under Canon Law. Justice for Priest's and Deacons seeks to serve the needs of clergy and are available for consultation and representation, to advise priests and deacons about their rights under Canon Law and to process appeal cases. Currently 22 canon lawyers are available.
Kavanaugh, James
Kellen, Robert
Kelly, Bernard
Kelly, Kevin
Kelly, Raymond
Kennedy, Raymond
Kennedy, William
Keynote Addresses/Talks
Conference 2005
Weren't able to join us at the Corpus Conference this year? Well, sit back and listen to the full audio clips of talks given by Andrea Johnson, Tom Doyle, Tom Fox and Dick Scaine.
Kids and Geezers
I took my two grand daughters (ages 3 and 6) to visit my ailing sister-in-law at a convalescent hospital last week. Neither of the girls had seen my sister-in-law in a long time, nor had they ever been to a convalescent hospital, so I was nervous about how they would react. I needn’t have worried.
Kids can heal your soul
I suspect that parents, dealing with their kids being home from school over the holidays, might choose to differ on the “soul-healing power of kids.” Words like “frustrated” or “challenged” or “driven berserk” are a few of the more polite descriptive words that might come to mind when big people spend school vacation time with the little people in their lives.
Kienzle, William
Kilbride, Fintan
Killing the Buddha
A year long road trip to discover the underbelly of America's religious culture.
Killion, Matt
Kohles, Donald
Kolesar, John (Jack)
Labor Day--All Work is Holy
Labor Day in the United States is the first Monday in September. It has been a federal holiday since 1894. Its original purpose was to honor and recognize the unionized work force. The evolution of the holiday, however, has eclipsed blue-collar workers and their unions. It has evolved into a gigantic national barbecue – even at our country clubs. Labor Day is a major holiday. It’s a watershed date on our calendars, but its blue-collar origins have been forgotten. It’s now an end of summer feast.
Lang, Gordon John
Lang, Jack
Laplante, Richard
Last Call for early bird registration for ACC meeting.
ALERT Last call for early bird registration for the American Catholic Council meeting in Detroit, June 10-12, 2011. The deadline is
August 7th.
Late Fee
Please register early. A late fee will apply for registrations after May 25...
Laughter--for body and soul
Laughter is something else altogether. It erupts out of humor, and humor is a surprising shift in perception, a sudden, jarring change that points out the incongruity in the situation. It is the juxtaposition of two very different ideas linked by a punch line, which suddenly makes us aware of the absurdity. Sometimes it’s a pun on words.
Leahy, William K.
Legacy of the Heart
Recently, an acquaintance of mine had the misfortune of losing his Dad in an automobile accident. As the only child, it fell to Dan to go through the apartment where his Dad had lived alone since the death of his wife three years earlier.
Lemon, Robert F.
Lent is for giving not giving up
Most religions have their sacred days and times. Jews celebrate the Sabbath. Muslims keep Ramadan. Hindus practice Purnima, and some Christians observe Lent. Such observances have great spiritual meaning, but they can also lead to some bizarre, legalistic craziness.
Lenzi, Umberto
Lesinski, George
Lessons from the Amish
In Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania the Amish have torn down the one-room schoolhouse in which five of their young girls were murdered. A neighbor Charles Roberts IV with premeditation and in cold blood had shot them in the head before taking his own life. Only ten days after the massacre a construction company hauled away the blood splattered debris. The Amish have leveled the land and planted grass. The spot will revert to pasture. There will be no marker or plaque. The Amish community didn’t want the site to become a morbid tourist attraction.
Let Morning Begin
by
Kay MullenPaperback - 65 pages (September 2001)
Caritas Communications; ISBN: 0966822862
Let us remember our brothers & sisters
During the month of November, let us remember all faithful brothers and sisters who labored in the "marketplace".
Letter to a Lost Boy
I picked you up from school today as usual. You looked pretty sharp with your new jacket but I knew enough not to call attention to your appearance. I asked the standard dumb question, How was school today, big guy? You gave the safe answer. “Good.” I knew better. There were two “f’s” on your latest progress report but I didn’t want to go there at the moment.
Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
I know you’re getting many recommendations on Afghanistan. Democrats and Republicans, Generals and politicians, liberals and conservatives are giving you advice. I’m about to add mine.
Letting Mom Go
“This is a nightmare,” said my young friend. “The hospital called me last night asking if they could take my mom off life support. I told them I needed to talk to my younger brother and sister first. His voice broke over the phone. “I don’t know what to do.”
Licteig, Franz (Bernie)
Life and Death and Lent
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. For many Christians it was the beginning of Lent.
Lindgren, Richard
Liturgy Planner
Liturgical planner updated daily from Creighton University.
Living in the Presence of God
The Sacredness of the Present Moment - An article by Kerrie Hide, in which she draws our attention to the sacredness of the present moment in which we dwell and shows how we can nurture a spirituality of Presence through the practice of centering prayer
Living with Diversity
Those of us over 40 also tend to forget that a significant portion of our Church was not alive to experience pre-Vatican II Catholicism. Time and again, when we scratch beneath the surface, we are brought to stark awareness how different our formation in faith has been. Russ Ditzel, CORPUS President.
Looking to the Future of the Women's Ordination Movement.
As the Women's Ordination Conference approaches our 30th Anniversary in 2005, we've begun to look back and evaluate our past successes. Upon examining them, we've discovered a great diversity of thought and opinion within our movement. A diversity that brings us back to some important questions.
Love is difficult, demanding and wonderful
Because it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m writing about love. It’s not an easy topic. It’s difficult to deal with without getting sentimental, cynical or bookish, but I’m game to try it with realism, humor and spirituality.
Lynch, Leo
Macera, William
MacGillivray, Leonard
Magdziak, John
Magmer, James (Jim)
Mahony, Jack
Make Time for the Inner Journey
Travel has a way of changing you, shaking up those
brain cells and rearranging them so that you begin to
think differently about life. Anyone who has had the
opportunity of spending some time in a foreign country
knows how exciting and challenging it can be.
Making Do with a Fantasy Dad
When a fifth grade boy in a school in Texas was asked to write an essay about “My Very First Dad,” his essay pulled at his teacher’s heart strings.
“I remember him like God in my heart. I remember him in my heart like the clouds overhead and strawberry ice cream and bananas when I was a little kid. But the most I remember is his love, as big as the State of Texas when I was born.”
Malzone, George
Mandatory celibacy substructure has collapsed.
Many of us stay in not because we believe the official ideology of celibacy anymore, but because we believe in our work, we love the people, and we also know God's mercy.
Manseau's Proposal to the CORPUS Board
Bill Manseau, Director of the CORPUS Pension Advocacy Campaign, has presented CORPUS with a new organizational proposal.
Marriage - Negotiations, Compromises, Forgiveness
We are approaching the wedding season - a good time to think about marriage. So my apologies up front to the celibate, the single and the partnered who work out their lives with other people in different ways. This is for the married and soon to be married.
Married Catholic Priests
Married Catholic Priests,Their History, Their Journeys, Their Reflections by Anthony P. Kowalski
Masotti, Bruno
May BLEEP bless us all
An Associate Press story last month caught my eye. Jaguar Distributions, a firm that supplies movie DVDs to airlines for passenger viewing, distributed copies of the Oscar-nominated film “The Queen” in which the world “god” had been bleeped out. The president of the firm said it was a mistake made by an over zealous censor whose job it was to edit out all profanities and blasphemies. Airline passengers viewing the film heard the word “god” bleeped seven times. In one scene a servant is heard to say to the queen, “May bleep bless you, ma’am.”
Mc Fadden, Mike
McCallion, Gerry
McCarthy, Dennis
McCarthy, James (Jim)
McCormick, Thomas Michael
McCrossin, Michael
McCusker, James
McEntee, James
McGee, William
McGill, Joseph
McGillicuddy, Francis
McGoldrick, Bernard (Bernie)
McHugh, John
McLaughlin, John E.
McManus, Patrick
McMillan, Angus James
McNally, Owen
McNamara, Joseph
Membership Directory
Please check the membership directory on the home page
Membership Directory
Memories of childhood
Out walking the other day, I had the pleasure of witnessing something that both tickled my funny bone and darn near made my gray hair turn brown again. I
spot this eight-year-old boy dressed in a red t-shirt and blue shorts tumbling down a hill as his mom watched and yelled encouragement. The little guy is
going fast. All I can see is this blur of red and blue. All I can hear is a child’s laughter and a mom’s applause. What a moment! I stopped long enough to
watch him dust off his pants and do a repeat performance and then follow with an encore tumble.
Mennit, Louis
Meyers, Eugene J.
Michael Jackson and other celebrities
As I write this, the media is overwhelming us with coverage of Michael Jackson’s tragic death. We are hearing not only about his extraordinary talents, but also about his drugs, his doctors, his debts, the custody of his children, his Neverland Ranch with its bizarre lifestyle. The media covered his memorial service from blast-off to re-entry. You'd think we were burying the assassinated John Kennedy at a pop concert.
Milhaven, John
Milner, Jerry
Ministry Jobs
A very effective Listing Service for those seeking positions in the ministries at all levels.
Ministry of Compassion
It has been a while since I wrote to connect with you, my brothers and sisters of the CORPUS Inclusive Ministry Community.
I am at my computer this Holy Thursday evening hoping to enroll you into a vision of possibility that many of you, despite having much on your plate and perhaps being even a little more grey around the temples than you’d like, could consider embracing.
Minutes from recent CORPUS Board meeting.
CORPUS Board meeting's minutes from January 25, 2008 meeting in Parsippany, NJ.
Mohr, Maurice
Monarch Catholic Ministries
The website of David Casey and Doug Tooke, who have been doing the traveling piece of youth ministry for a number of years with an immense amount of success. They write new material for all of their events as well as introduce successfully proven methods of the past.
More Small Faith Communities
Moroney, Francis J.
Mother's Day
After breakfast the phone rang. It was my wife Marie. She had left earlier for a meeting, but after her meeting had a fender bender. No one was injured, but understandably unnerved she was waiting for the police. She had promised Susan my daughter in law to baby-sit three of our grandchildren so she could teach her college class. It was late. Would I alert Susan and go to Silver Creek and baby-sit? I said, No problem, not to worry. Glad she wasnt hurt. Id take care of it. Little did I know what was ahead.
Mulchay, Donald J.
Mulhern, Emmett
Mulligan, James
Murnane, Jay
Murray, Bernard J.
My Hound Dog
Ten O’clock at night. I hobble to my bed nursing a sore ankle from a tennis injury. Oh! Finally getting in bed never felt so good. Then, I hear the sound of Penny, my basset hound at her water dish. Her collar rattles the metal container, letting me know that she is out of water. I groan. “No, I don’t want to get up again. Penny, can’t you suck it up for a night without water?” No response except another rattle of the water dish.
MY HUSBAND, THE PRIEST
But there's something different, too. I told you about my history. Then there's his. He's a Catholic priest. Yes, out for several years, formally laicizedﾗ"reduced"ﾗas official church lingo puts itﾗto the "lay state."
National Catholic Ministry to the Bereaved
National Catholic Ministry to the Bereaved
Called by the healing ministry of Jesus, the National Catholic Ministry to the Bereaved is committed to serve all people who have experienced the death of a loved one. Our holistic care is dedicated to the spiritual support of individuals, parishes, and communities.
National Catholic Reporter
NCR's vision of the Church is that "of a compassionate and inclusive Catholicism, a church in which the People of God gather to pray and work to build a more just and peaceful world."
National Institute for the Renewal of the Priesthood
Statistics (a list showing how many priests have been asked to leave each diocese), a discussion board in which viewers can participate, and other information about the Catholic priesthood.
NCR Cafe
National Catholic Reporter sponsors this meeting place for conversation about church and world.
NCR REPORTS ON THE 2008 JOINT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
NEW Author and lecturer Matthew Fox, speaking at a Boston conference July 19-20, gave his personal blessing to chaos, calling it a necessary prelude to new birth.
Needing Someone To Worry About You
Many years ago, my neighbors owned a basset hound with the unlikely name of Courtney. She was a wag-the-tail, people-friendly old pooch who seemed most content hanging out with kids and lying on her back getting her ample belly rubbed. With her distinctive physique (we never quite knew if she was sitting down or not) she was the kind of dog that made you smile just looking at her.
Nelson, Bernard J.
Nelson, James
New Corpus Board Members
Reflections on the vision of Corpus from the newly elected members of the Corpus Board...
New Visions Community Brings New Life and Hope
By Mary Grace Crowley-Koch
Mary Grace served as a Region Two Coordinator for CORPUS. She is a hospice chaplain and active in the marriage ministry with her husband Ron in the greater Chicago area.
New Year's Resolutions
Believe it or not this column started out to be on laughter, about its therapeutic effect for our bodies and souls and the need for more of it in our lives. I was reading Norman Counsins’ book, “Anatomy of an Illness” in which laughter was one of the strategies he and his doctor used. They actually watched Marx Brother movies and recorded a significant increase in pain-free sleep and lower blood sedimentation rates and determined that laughter was beneficial in treating his diseased adrenal system.
Nichols Basil H.
North
North Atlantic Federation for a Renewed Catholic Priesthood Press Release.
Wiesbaden, 31 August, 2004 -- Women and men representing ten countries in the North Atlantic Federation for a Renewed Catholic Priesthood, in Wiesbaden, Germany, gathered to discuss the theme: "Power and Sex in a Renewed Church".
O'Brien, Marie P.
O'Hearn, Fred
O'Malley, David
O'Neill, Thomas
O'Neill, William
O'Rourke, Joseph
O'Sullivan, Daniel Rev.
Obama's Strengths Are His Weaknesses
This column is about President Barack Obama, but I want to start by talking about all of us. The psychological cliché, “Our strengths are our weakness” is true for everyone. Our personality traits are a continuum running from one extreme to the opposite extreme. If we are passionately committed to gardening, for example, then we will grow extremely impatient when a fungus rots the tomatoes. The passion and impatience are the extremes of the same personality trait; they are two sides of the coin.
On the collaboration of men and women
The latest document by the Vatican on the role of women in society and the church today.
ON THE EDGE OF CHANGE
A new moment for the Church, a new challenge for CORPUS. CORPUS REPORTS--July-August by Mary Ann Cejka.
On the Vatican's response to the Ordination of Women
July 10, 2010
CORPUS (The National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood) is appalled by a recent Vatican announcement that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would treat any “attempted ordination of a woman” as a serious crime against the church. In fact, such an ‘attempted’ ordination would be classified by the church hierarchy as the same category of offense as sexual abuse.
One Man's Vocation
On a spring day in 1944,two seminarians chatted about ordination to the diaconate with its commitment to celibacy, scheduled for the following morning in the seminary chapel. I remarked, "For heaven's sake, John, if you can take the step, I certainly can. John's response was unnerving: "Well, Harry, I have news for you. I won't be here tomorrow. I'm out of here." I was the one who stayed, however much I questioned the rule of celibacy. I felt called to priestly ministry and trusted, perhaps naively, in the assurances of church authorities that celibacy enhanced one's spiritual life and ministry.
ONE YEAR LATER, THE VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL FACES NEW TESTS.
NORTH BABYLON, N.Y. -- Sleet was still coating the roads of central Long
Island as the cars pulled into the parking lot outside a drab suburban high
school and several hundred middle-aged Catholics filed into the auditorium
to vent their frustration with the leadership of their church.
Online Ministries
From Creighton University, a prayer site featuring Scripture meditations, preparation for Liturgy and a 34-week online retreat.
Online Retreat
34 week online retreat from Creighton University's Online Ministry.
Open Letter to the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops
The members of CORPUS, a National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood, join with you in responding to Pope Benedict XVI’s call to observe the Year for Priests in our Church and each of us in our own ways are doing that.
Opium of the people
Karl Marx, the father of Communism wrote volumes of philosophy. The line, however, for which he is most famous is: “Religion is the opium of the people.” In 1843 when Marx made this comparison to religion, opium was a popular medicinal and recreational drug used both to relieve pain and escape reality -- much as cocaine is today. Some have misinterpreted Marx’s famous statement by implying that the bourgeois ruling classes deliberately used religion as a tool to quiet and control the workers. Marx’s meaning, however, was more complicated and nuanced.
Opportunities Available
COLORADO
Light of Christ Ecumenical Catholic Community
Light of Christ Ecumenical Catholic Community in Longmont, Colorado is seeking a Lay Pastoral Associate. This is a part-time salaried position with a three year old community that is a member of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. Light of Christ has over 250 members, is financially sound and shares space and occasional worship services with a Lutheran Church.
For further information, please visit our website: www.LightofChristECC.org. or contact LOC Church Office at 303-772-3785.
SAN DIEGO
Dignity, San Diego
We are currently looking for priest(s) willing to assist us in our masses.
Contact: Bridget Wilson
NEW JERSEY
Center for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care
1900 Raritan Road
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
Needed: Priests who would be open to some chaplain work, especially to be called upon to celebrate the sacrament of the sick with patients at home or patients who are residents at Father Hudson House in Elizabeth, NJ.
Contact persons:
Rev. Bonnie Fee: 908-889-7780; 908-288-9113 [or]
F. Conoscenti: cann941@aol.com - 973-773-1253
TEXAS
Dignity Dallas
http://www.dignitydallas.org/index.php
Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road in Dallas, Texas
Needed: A priest to help with 6 PM Sunday night liturgy.
Contact person:
Jon Garinn
1510 Hollywood Avenue
Dallas, TX 75208
214-621-9530
jongarinn@sbcglobal.net
FLORIDA
Dignity Sarasota
Unitarian Universalist Church
Needed: We have lost our regular minister and are looking for an Ordained Priest to celebrate our service on Saturday at 4:00 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Fruitville Road in Sarasota. We have a small community but we have potential for growth. There is no salary but if growth is achieved I am certain that an appropriate stipend would be arranged.
We are looking for a person, in good standing, who would actively participate in the community.
If anyone is interested is serving please contact me at bartsrq@tampabay.rr.com, Dignitysarasota@tampabay.rr.com or phone, (941) 359-3236.
Thank you,
Bart Coyle
bartsrq@tampabay.rr.com
Virginia
Seeking volunteer clergy to assist in Chaplain's Office at large, mental hospital. Eastern State Hospital is the oldest mental hospital in U.S. located in Williamsburg, Va. Help needed for pastoral visits with patients, support to staff, Bible Study, lead in devotions and some sacramental activities. Will try to match interests with hospital needs.
Contact person:
Chaplain George F. Spellman, 757-253-5308
Optional Celibacy Survey Results
Call to Action and other reform groups surveyed priests in various dioceses about celibacy. Read the results of their surveys.
Click Here
Ordaining Elders for the Eucharist
Take the test. U.S. Catholic is exploring the idea that was proposed by an African bishop of ordaining elders in the community for Eucharist. Information will be used in an upcoming article.
Ordaining Married Men as Catholic Priests
As the white smoke drifted away and the church bells grew silent, questions already formed in the minds and on the lips of Catholics around the globe. What type of papacy might be expected from Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who for the last twenty-four years had earned a well-deserved reputation as the hard-line enforcer of church dogma and discipline?
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994)
John Paul II: On Reserving the Priesthood to Men Alone
Ordination itself may be the real problem
My wife of 43 years died in January of 2005 after a long illness. During the many months preceding her death, I had diligently saved on my computer disk all of the wonderful Mirabile Dictu issues that David Gawlik produces-planning to read them when I got the time.
Our Dark Side Has Two Sides
Recently a fifteen-year-old girl was savagely beaten and raped on a schoolyard in Northern California while twenty schoolmates watched. A few of the boys participated in the violence but most were passive spectators, too scared to confront the perpetrators.
Out of the Mouth of Children
Just got word today that my oldest brother, Joe, was admitted to Mercy Hospital in
Buffalo, N.Y, in critical condition, apparently a relapse after a gall bladder operation. I was trying to absorb this troubling news when in pops Danny. Seeing my face, Danny said “What’s the matter Grandpa Hank. Are you sick?” “No,” I answered. “I just found out my brother is very sick.” “I’m sorry,” the little guy answered. “Is he gonna die?” “I hope not Danny but, tell me something, do you ever pray?” “Yes, sometimes,” he answered shyly. “Would you do me a favor and say a prayer for my brother?” “You mean NOW?” he asked.. “If you want to,” I said, not really expecting such immediate action.
Palmer, Anthony
Panowicz, Thomas
Parents of he Village Kids, Human Beings Not Ogres
Kids who come to Children’s Village are sent from the court because they have been abused or neglected by their parents. Almost from the beginning, I wondered what kind of parents would abuse their children. My first inclination was to look upon them as people I’d just as soon avoid.
Parsons, John Bartholomew
Part II of the Pew Study of the U.S.Religious Landscape Survey of Americans' religious beliefs and practices.
NEW Part II of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey explores Americans' religious beliefs and practices as well as their social and political views. The survey finds that most Americans have a non-dogmatic approach to their faith; for example, most do not believe their religion is the only way to salvation. The survey also finds that religion is closely linked to political ideology.
Path to and idols before God
NEW Here’s a great paradox. The three things that have most helped the human race in its quest for God are the self same things that are its greatest obstacles.
Pay Attention to Your Tears
Frederick Buechner once wrote that “Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears. It is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you the secret of who you are, but more often than not of the mystery of where you have come from and are summoning you to where you should go next.”
Peace and War--and Peace Poles
A few weeks ago I participated in a peace walk and rededication of the peace pole on campus of the local university. A peace pole is a handcrafted monument carrying the multi-language message and prayer: “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” There are more than 200,000 Peace Poles on every continent in different countries around the world. They link the human family with one another and are reminders to work and pray for peace
Pension Advocacy
CORPUS Pension Advocacy has been a strong voice for fairness and justice for the pensions of married priests.
Pentecost is just the start
From the Tablet: We need to remember, as we celebrate Pentecost, that progress in the Spirit is by fits and starts. The gift of the Holy Spirit is something we need to get used to, and the Holy Spirit needs to get used to us.
Pew Forum Religious Landscape Survey
Landmark study by the Pew Foundation on religious affiliation in the United States
Pfeifer, Carl
Photos of 2008 Call to Action Conference
Dave Gawlik has taken some excellent photos of the 2008 CTA Conference.
Photos of 2009 CTA meeting
View the latest photos by Dave Gawlik at the 2009 CTA meeting in Milwaukee.
PHOTOS OF THE 2007 CTA CONFERENCE
Our roving photographer, Dave Gawlik, was capturing some of the many sights at 2007 CTA Conference in Milwaukee. TAKE A LOOK!
Photos of the CORPUS National Conference
See the photos of our recent Conference at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE, June 23, 24, 25, 2006.
Photos of the National Catholic Ministerial Alliance
View the photos from the CTA Pre-Conference, Bridging the Gap, sponsored by the National Catholic Ministerial Alliance at the National CTA Conference in Milwaukee.
Photos of WOW CONFERENCE AND ORDINATION
Photos of the WOW Conference in Ottawa, Canada and the women's ordination on the St. Lawrence River
Plato, Paul
Please read and sign petition
A petition for the reform of the Catholic Church, based on the Declaration of Independence, is asking for reform-minded Catholics to sign. Please take a moment and read.
Politicians, prostitution and perfection
A few weeks ago David Shuster of MSNBC made an outrageously offensive comment about Chelsea Clinton. After an on-air apology, MSNBC suspended him. Shuster had said that the Clintons had “pimped out” Chelsea by having her telephone celebrities and super delegates on behalf of her mother’s campaign. Certainly Shuster’s comment was shamefully inappropriate, but it reminded me of President Ronald Reagan who once said with only half tongue in cheek, "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
Prayer
This web site centers on prayer and presents different prayers for all situations. Check it out!
Prayer of St. Francis
On October 4 the Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran calendars commemorate Saint Francis of Assisi. Such recognition is fitting. Protestants recognize him as a church reformer long before Luther and Calvin. Catholics see him as a loyal son of the medieval church. With his Canticle to the Sun, Mother Earth, Sister Water and Brother Wind, environmentalists claim him as their own. His famous visit to Sultan Malik al-Kamil in Egypt has endeared him to ecumenists as a bridge to Islam. (Pope Benedict would do well to follow his inter-faith example.) We cannot cavalierly dismiss Francis as the stereotyped saint of birdbaths. G. K. Chesterton called him “the only true Christian who every lived.”
Prayer Space
Prayers for Agnostic and the Puzzled
I just finished watching a DVD of “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” More than anything on the holocaust I’ve seen or read, that movie gave it a human face. It also helped me recall the story about a group of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz who met secretly at night in their dormitory. This particular night they met to put God on trial. They argued that if God were really all-powerful and loving, they would never be suffering the chilling evils of slave labor, starvation, gas chambers and genocide.
Praying Advent & Christmas
From the Online Ministries at Creighton University, simple ways to enter into this Advent season, week by week, in the midst of our everyday lives.
Praying Lent
Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. Collaborative Mininsties offers resources here to assist our entry into this wonderful season, from our preparing to begin Lent to our preparing to celebrate the holy three days following Lent.
Prejudice against Gays and Lesbians
“Guns, Gays and God” are hot button issues again. They are the preferred distraction of the political right. For the common good you’d think today they’d be rallying instead for peace, energy diversity, health care and sanity in the stock market, but they prefer simplistic slogans about “values.”
Present Status of Celibacy in the Catholic Church
From Christus Rex, a quick look at how The Latin Rite and the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church follow different rules with respect to celibacy.
Press Release: December 15, 2005
CORPUS THANKS GAY PRIESTS FOR THEIR MINISTRIES
December 14, 2005
CORPUS, the National Association for an Inclusive Priesthood (
www.corpus.org), wants to take this opportunity to say thank-you to the multitude of gay priests in the United States, and throughout the world, for their generous ministries they continue to share within their Roman Catholic faith communities.
Press Release: Excommunication and women's ordination
Priesthood serves the People of God by bringing healing and hope through sacramental celebration and pastoral care. It is God’s People who must discern their leaders and it is the bishops of the Church who are called to validate this in the normal course of events.
Press Release: Excommunication and women's ordination
NEW Priesthood serves the People of God by bringing healing and hope through sacramental celebration and pastoral care. It is God’s People who must discern their leaders and it is the bishops of the Church who are called to validate this in the normal course of events.
Priestly Ministry and Celibacy
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Church has been blessed by leaders, who have had great vision and courage, and who thus were able to transform the world. But She has also been led and influenced by human beings who have the same makeup and all the faults of other human beings, and throughout the centuries some of these have led to major catastrophe.
Priests for Equality
Priests for Equality is a movement of women and men throughout the world - laity, religious and clergy - who work for the full participation of women and men in church and society.
Priests in search of a role
Hundreds of priests who have married and left active ministry would like still to serve.
Prindeville, James
Pritscher, John
PROFILE; Thomas Merton
From Religion and Ethics Online: There are ceremonies and gatherings all over the country this month and next remembering the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton on the 40th anniversary of his untimely death. Through his prolific writing, Merton opened the door to spirituality for generations of believers, as Judy Valente reports.
Pruss, James
Public Prayer
Some years ago Cardinal Spellman, the Archbishop of New York pontificated that God should be more prominent at the United Nations. Most likely he envisioned that the UN should open its meetings with prayer and that someone should invoke the name of God. He imagined chaplains, politically appointed and rotating among the world’s religions, daily intoning a simultaneously translated prayer to a generic almighty invoking his blessings on the UN’s agenda.
Raging against the night
I picked up an old movie poster of the film Casablanca at a flea market last week for one dollar. Such a deal! Placed strategically over the toilet in my bathroom, I can be a multi-tasker, viewing the rugged face of Humphrey Bogart and the beautiful Ingrid Bergman as I go about my business. Other names and faces from this classic flick captured my interest. There’s Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre and Claude Rains. I shake the cobwebs from my memory. Haven’t heard those names for a while but, my gosh, weren’t they great?
RC Womenpriests
The goal of the group "RC Womenpriests" (Roman Catholic Womenpriests) is to bring about the full equality of women in the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time we are striving for a new model of Priestly Ministry.
Re-Igniting the spark
I've had good cause to be grateful for the friends who have been part of my life. The boyhood pals who made me part of the gang even though I was a fat kid, my seminary friends who shared my dreams, the Japanese teachers who helped me learn a difficult language, the Afro-American parishioners who accepted their honky priest as one of their own, senior center folks who have remained loyal friends through the years.
Rebuild My Church
Without healthy priests and courageous and imaginative leadership, we are in danger of losing the richness of the "sacramental church."
Redemptionis Sacramentum
The latest document from the Vatican on certain matters to be observed or avoided in the Eucharistic Celebration.
Reference List
Books, articles and references of helpful aids for Small Faith Communities...
Reflections From The Eye Of The Hurricane
Fr. Thomas Doyle, who worked for the pope?s representative in the United States in the early 1980s, was one of three drafters of a report given to the United States bishops in June 1985. That report was largely ignored (NCR, May 17). Since then, Doyle has been an outspoken critic of the bishops in their handling of the sex abuse crisis.
Reilly, Francis
Relighting the Fire
I had the honor recently to be one of the judges for a writing contest for kids 13-18 sponsored locally by the Sonoma County Juvenile Justice Commission. The kids eligible for the contest were not high achievers. They sent in their essays of 500 words or less from places like Juvenile Hall, the Probation Camp, Sierra Youth Center, Hanna Boys Center, and several group homes. These were troubled kids, “wards of the court,” sent to institutions because their parents were unwilling or unable to take care of them.
Remember our deceased brothers and sisters
November is a special time to remembers our brothers and sisters who have labored in the vineyard and have gone to the Lord in 2008-2009. Please hold them in your hearts and prayers.
Renew-L
The focus of this list is to reflect on how we as individuals are renewing our church as we live out our faith traditions(in particular, those dealing with peace and social justice issues) in our lives, in our families and in our work, as well as in the larger community and the world.
Reopening Closed Doors
by Frank Baiocchi: The Birth of Jesus Our Shepherd Community, Nenno, Wisconsin. Visit their website at www.jesusourshepherd.org
Report; 2008 Congress in Vienna
The way consciousness evolves and develops is most fascinating. It does so, often subtly, in a manner that we are hardly aware of until the process is complete.
So it was at the 2008 Congress in Vienna. This was the tenth Congress of the International Federation of organizations seeking reform and renewal in priesthood and ministry. During that time, the Federation has had three names and has celebrated Eucharist in very different ways. A look at these titles and celebrations reveals astonishing changes in consciousness.
Republicans for Voldemort
My granddaughter, a passionate Harry Potter fan, spotted a “Republicans for Voldemort” bumper sticker in parking lot. Her parents more prudent than grandpa were definitely not interested, but I found it at stampandshout.com, a liberal button and sticker website. My granddaughter literally jumped with joy when she saw it on my Prius. I suspected she’d be delighted, but I did not foresee the reactions of others. I’ve been chuckling for weeks.
Rescript (Laicization) Procedures
Current Vatican officials have used a very narrow interpretation for the ﾓpastoral emergenciesﾔ when a resigned or dispensed priest may appropriately respond using his sacramental powers, but the fact that they continue is accepted by all. - by Patrick Callahan.
Resources for Small Christian Communities
...including faith sharing, group activities, ice breakers, prayer, retreats for facilitators, small group development, and training of facilitators.
Responsum ad Dubium
Cardinal Ratzinger's response letter of 28 October 1995.
Rethinking Celibacy, Reclaiming the Church
Fr. Michael Crosby, a Capuchin priest, examines celibacy in light of today's needs in the Church.
Richard Scaine's new book
Richard Scaine has published a new and timely book on dialogue with Islam. You may order a personal autographed copy from Dick.
Richard Sipe
Richard Sipe explores the priesthood, celibacy and sexuality. This former Benedicting monk has over 30 years of research in these areas.
Richard Sipe's web site
Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine priest, has spent over thirty years researching and writing about the priesthood, celibacy and sexuality.
Ritzel, Gerard Francis
Rochon, Jean
Roll Away the Stone
A formation process in Spirituality and Nonviolent Direct Action to bring about justice in the Catholic Church and to demonstrate concern for human rights both inside the church and out.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) is an international initiative within the Roman Catholic Church. The mission of Roman Catholic Womenpriests North America is to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of Church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.
Rome's letter to the Bishop's Conference
Giovanni Battista Card. Re, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregations of Bishops, letter to Bishop Gregory.
Ryan, John
Ryan, Joseph
Sacramentum Caritatis
Benedict XVI issues a new document on the Eucharist.
Sacred Space
Produced by the Irish Jesuits, Sacred Space guides you through daily prayer, centered on a different passage of scripture every day.
Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus and Gift-giving
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stocking were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.
Clement Clarke Moore first published this Christmas classic in 1822. Some say Major Henry Livingston originally wrote the poem in 1807, but no matter. Who was this Saint Nicholas of whom Moore and perhaps Livingston wrote?
San Francisco Bay Catholic
Every serious issue within the Catholic Church has two sides. San Francisco Bay Catholic attempts to provide arguments on both sides of the important Issues facing Roman Catholicism today. We bring you Catholic articles - by Catholics.
Scerbo, John
Scheven, Albert
Schmitz, Tom
Schoenherr, Richard
Schulte, James
Schulz, Joseph
Schulze, David
Schuster, Joseph
Sclabassi, Antonio
Second Sunday in Easter
SEND AN ELECTRONIC POSTCARD TO THE VATICAN
ALERT Would you like to see a married priesthood?
PLEASE send an electronic post card to the Vatican asking for this change.
Sere, Joseph
Service Initiatives
We certainly have evolved since the founders of CORPUS banded together for mutual support, encouragement, and witness in the early 1970's. Russ Ditzel provides a glimpse of Corpus' vision and goals for the months ahead.
Seventeeth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Practicing Eternity
In the continuing miracle that we celebrate in the Eucharist, Jesus is teaching us how to practice eternity, giving us the nourishment we need to yield inwardly for the sake of God and neighbor, and just for a moment, giving us the vision and experience in the present of what our eternity can be...
Sexual Harassment - No Laughing Matter
Last week David Letterman, CBS’s longtime late night comic in a misleading routine “confessed” to having had sexual relations with some of his staff. Until the very end of this carefully worded “confession” the audience thought it a joke. It wasn’t. Letterman admitted his sexual dalliances only because Robert “Joe” Halderman, a colleague at CBS had blackmailed him. Halderman has pleaded not guilty to first-degree grand larceny and is free on bail. What impact this will have on Letterman’s job, however, is a huge question. CBS claims that no one has brought sexual harassment charges against Letterman, who was a confirmed bachelor before his marriage last March to his long-time girl friend, the mother of his six-year-old son
Shannon, James
Sherman, George
Should celibacy be reconsidered?
Boston Globe has put together several articles written by wide range of Catholic writers on this question
Sign the petition and/or write your Bishop to delay implementation of the new translation
Read the reasons for the delay of the new translation of the missal and also, if you desire, sign the petition to Rome for the delay. Also you are encouraged to write your Bishop. Sample letters can be found at the web site.
Sign the petition to save Ruth Kolpack's employment!
HELP On March 12, 2009, Ruth Kolpack was fired from her position as Pastoral Associate at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Beloit, Wisconsin. She had served the parish for the past 35 years.
The decision to fire Ruth, effective immediately, came after a ten minute meeting with Bishop Robert Morlino of the Catholic Diocese of Madison.
During this meeting, Ruth was asked to denounce her master's thesis, titled, "Inclusive Language for Naming God: A Challenge for the Church," in order to keep her job; she was given no opportunity to defend her work, nor explain why it would be dishonest for her to conform to the Bishop's request.
READ MORE ABOUT THIS INJUSTICE IN THE CORPUS FORUM.
Sims, Michael
Small Faith Community of Vista, CA
Name: Small Faith Community of Vista, CA
Membership: About 50, representing a wide variety of ages and backgrounds.
Location: Vista is 35 miles from San Diego. Community members are parishioners of St. Francis of Assisi Church. Organization: Very informal. Members regard liturgy in its literal sense as "a common work" and take turns handling the details. The group sponsors an orphanage in Sri Lanka, and most members are active at St. Francis in the soup kitchen, the Cursillo, RCIA counseling.
Small Groups at the UpperRoom Ministries
Recognizing that small groups take many forms and serve many purposes, this link offers different resources for small groups, including accountabilty groups, study groups, intercessory prayer groups, and devotional materials for small groups.
Some Wisdom from William Blake
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is, in the eyes of others, only a green thing which stands in the way. As a man is, so he sees."
Sometimes Contradiction Is The Most Catholic Thing
...while 256 Roman Catholic bishops from 118 countries prepared to assemble in Rome this week for a synod on the Eucharist,
Corpus, an organization of married priests that has long supported the notion of a married priesthood (it was formally named the Corps of Reserve Priests United for Service), initiated a program that could certainly enliven the discussion. Maybe even start a revolution of its own.
Sonnenschein, Hubert L.
Sorohan, Patrick
Soto, Anthony
Soul Murder Part 1
An interview with Dr. Leslie Lothstein, Director of Psychology at the Institute of Living, a treatment center for priests and ministers of all faiths.
Soul Murder Part II
We have to have a culturally healthy narrative for sexuality that goes beyond sin and disease because if you donﾒt have a narrative for sexuality you wind up being either an abuser or being abused...
Soulful Living
Begin your journey with SoulfulLiving.com! Let our online magazine, devoted to personal and spiritual growth, help guide you along your path. Together as a community, we will experience the fullness of life, grow personally and spiritually, and discover the unfoldment of joy, inner peace and soulful connection.
South
Speaking of Faith
Krista Tippett moderates this excellent web site and provides many interviews with leading religious leaders of all faiths.
Spellecy, William
Spirituality and Practice
NEW Spirituality and Practice
The site's name reflects a basic understanding: spirituality and practice are the two places where all the world's religions and spiritual paths come together. With respect for the differences among them, we celebrate what they have in common. A special e-course on
catalyst for change is offered in January. CHECK IT OUT!
Spirituality of Nonviolence & Peacemaking
Spirituality/Justice Reprint
Responses to the CDF document by Joan Chittister, Augustine De Noia, Avery Dulles, Hans Kung, Nicholas Lash, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Robert McClory, Rosemary Ruether, Francis A. Sullivan.
Stages of Faith in Our Lives
In our search to find purpose and meaning we go through different stages in our lives. Most people navigate this on-going search through religion, but religion does not have to be involved. All of us, religious and non-religious, seek meaning and purpose -- and this seeking evolves as we age.
Stoegbauer, Donald
Stuff - Don't Squirrel It Away; Move It Along
I’ve been thinking about those storage facilities that are sprouting up all over the county. You know the kind where you rent a good-size shed to store your belongings. For some in transition between stable residences, they provide a needed service. But more and more of them are becoming a quasi-permanent storage space to collect the overflow from our closets, garages and attics. All our excess possessions can now be stashed away-- indefinitely.
Suicide--A Growing Problem
Here are some eye-opening statistics on suicide. Experts tell us that in the United States someone dies from suicide every 16 minutes. That’s about 90 every day, over 33,000 every year. Do the math yourself. For my local readers that’s more than the combined populations of the City of Dunkirk and Village of Fredonia -- including the entire student body of the local campus of the State University of New York. Suicide is a massive problem.
Sullivan, Rev. James
Supple, Colin
Support our Women Religious--SIGN THE AD
PLEASE You can show your support for the U.S. women religious and all that they have done for the Catholic Church in America by signing this ad that will appear in the National Catholic Reporter.
Support US women religious
Please support the American women religious during this difficult time of the Vatican investigation. You will find many articles dealing with this investigation in the CORPUS FORUM.
Sutton, Edgar
Sweeters James
Taize, an ecumenical community.
An international, ecumenical community founded in 1940, Taize, France by Brother Roger.
Take Back the Truth
Joanna Manning, author of Is the Pope Catholic?, identifies the issues concerning much-needed change in the Catholic Church today in her new book.
Take Back the Truth
Confronting Papal Power and the Religious Right
by Joanna Manning
Joanna Manning introduces readers to the growing polarization within Christianity and its relationship with the modern world. She warns against the ongoing retreat into fundamentalism and exclusivity and points the way toward inclusivity and compassion.
TALK IS CHEAP AND SOMETIMES TOXIC
It has been attributed to Buddhist gurus and their emphasis on mindful speaking, but no matter what pulpits preach it, it makes great sense. What is that distilled wisdom? We should ask ourselves questions before we speak. Is what I’m about to say kind? Is it necessary? Is it true? Does it improve the silence?
Ten Commandments of Church Renewal
- by Paul Wilkes
Individual conversion, systemic change for laypeople and the hierarchy
Paul Wilkes is the author of "The Seven Secrets of Successful Catholics" and many other books on religious belief and spirituality.
Ten Ways to Make the World Better
Most of us lead busy, hectic lives, but we still care deeply about helping others. In only a few minutes of a single day, you can make a difference in the world. Here are some practical suggestions from Karen Jones, founder of the organization Benevolent Planet, that are easy to fit into your day.
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Thanks and Giving
This Thanksgiving Day column begins with an extended and adapted selection from Melannie Svoboda about putting away the groceries. It’s from her book, “Everyday Epiphanies: Seeing the Sacred in Every Thing.” Svoboda tells us that there are essentially two attitudes toward coming home after food shopping.
Thanksgiving, Food and Hunger
We tend to celebrate our holidays with special meals. More than most holidays, however, we celebrate Thanksgiving with distinctive food. Most American families will gather this holiday not only to break bread but also to carve turkey.
THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Assessing the past, discerning the future. Anthony Padovano gives a short history of the development of the American Catholic Church.
The American Catholic Church--Part II
In October 2003, our own Anthony Padovano addressed the Call To Action convention in Milwaukee. His excellent thoughts, now titled "The American Catholic Church," were carried in the November-December issue CORPUS REPORTS of that year. For those of you without easy access to that article, I will summarize his thoughts and suggest where we go from here, the changes that must AGAIN occur in our Church if the current ugly impasse is to be broken.
The Atheism Theism Debate
There has been a lot of print, talk and footage recently about atheism. Books such as Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and Jonathan Miller’s public television series “A Brief History of Disbelief” are just the tip of the iceberg. The subject is clearly in the public forum. The arguments supporting atheism, however, as Terry Eagleton in the “London Review of Books” and Peter Steinfels in the “International Herald Tribune” have pointedly noted are not as logical as one would expect. The arguments wander down all kinds of alleys, which have little to do with God’s existence or nature.
The birds and bees---and interdependence
All over the world colonies of bees are dying. Hives of honeybees are collapsing not only in the United States, but also in Brazil, Canada and parts of Europe. The United States Department of Agriculture is working feverishly to determine the cause. Congress has held hearings on these disappearing beehives.
The Boy Who Never Smiled
These early experiences of violence in the home had left Eddie bowed down by life. He had become old for his years. The anger he felt at being rejected by his parents occasionally exploded into acts of violence but mostly it stayed within. The sadness never left his face.
The Catholic Internet Directory
One of the most complete sources of Catholic Information available on the internet. A must visit!
The Catholic Kiosk
Home of the St. Catherine Review, the Catholic Kiosk is a resource site for Apologetics and current Catholic news issues.
The Changing Face of the Priesthood
- by Donald B. Cozzens
The Changing Face of the Priesthood is a remarkable survey of the state of American Catholic clergy today. Donald Cozzens, the president-rector of Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland, combines personal reflection and analysis of empirical data in this brief but wide-ranging book.
The Church in Crisis
Transcript of the March 31, 2002 "Meet the Press" with guests: Ray Flynn, former U.S. Ambassador to Vatican; Father Richard McBrien, Univ. of Notre Dame; Father John McCloskey, Catholic Information Center; Father Donald Cozzens, former Vicar of Priests, Cleveland, OH; Father Thomas DOyle, former canon lawyer.
The Church in Crisis
A compilation of articles, editorials and web links concerning clergy sex abuse dating back to September 23, 1983
The Church is a Democracy
The papacy as we have it was not part of the original ecclesial communities.
The Cosmic Christ; From Paul to Teilhard de Chardin to Matthew Fox
From Richard Scaine, John XXIII Community: The recent past has dwarfed our understanding of the post-Easter Christ by confining his Spirit to the Sacraments as signs instituted by Christ to give grace, or to one’s heart where he dwells as a personal house-guest. A new story of the Easter mystery is developing in the new millennium.
The Earth Charter--Values and Principles for a Sustainable Future
The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.
The Earth is Holy
This column will see the dark of print and the light of day on Earth Day itself. Earth Day’s purpose is to increase awareness and appreciation of our environment. I hope this column will do that -- and I hope it will do much more.
The end of Harry Potter and Tony Soprano
It’s an unlikely jump from the garish Bada Bing Go-go Bar in Newark, New Jersey to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the foggy forests of England, but Harry Potter and Tony Soprano have something in common.
The Father of Earth Day
The media has recently exposed many negatives about politicians. I plead guilty. I’ve written my share of critical copy. This column, however, will praise a politician fulsomely. Neither am I alone in singing his praise. He has received countless awards from the State of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin, even from the United Nations. President Clinton awarded him the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I write of former Senator Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day.
The Feast of the Holy Family
Humble Beginnings
We approach the new year with high hopes and dreams. Today especially, we pray for all families: small and large families, those coming to grips with sickness or death, those struggling to find employment or a home, dysfunctional families, single-parent families, those torn apart by disharmony or anger. May the faith and trust of Mary and Joseph touch our lives and hearts as we journey t
The Ferns Report
"The Inquiry wishes to acknowledge its debt to the courageous people who spoke about experiences of abuse. Without exception the witnesses who attended the hearings impressed the Inquiry with their dignity and clarity. Many offered an invaluable insight into the nature and extent of the problem and the lasting trauma it can cause. It would not have been possible to produce this Report without their cooperation and help." Ferns Report, p. 4.
The flag--do we measure up?
It’s Flag Day and logically enough I’m writing about the flag -– and our country. As we say in the pledge we’ve all recited since grammar school the flag is the symbol of “the republic for which it stands.” Undeniably, it’s the most important symbol of the nation.
The Future of Ministry in the Catholic Church: Our Best Hopes
Since the close of the Second Vatican Council (1965), a rolling sea change has been in progress with Catholic ministry. This is all the more amazing, given that Vatican II generally favored the ontological divide between clergy and laity, still designating the former for the "sacred" ministries of the Church and assigning the laity to the "secular" work of building up God's reign in the world--with occasional opportunities to participate in volunteer "apostolates." Upon checking the Index of Abbott's Documents of Vatican II, you don't even find the term "ministry," and under "ministers" - previously considered a Protestant term - it says, "see Clergy, Priests."
The Inclusive Community
By Anthony T. Padovano, Catholic Theologian, and CORPUS Ambassador: - The Word of God proclaimed without division
The Internet Padre
Fr. Ronald M. Vierling, Webmaster, provides a trusted resource for all those who desire to know the Church's authentic profession of faith. All direct links touching upon Church teaching have been chosen for a thoroughly Catholic perspective.
The Intimacy Dance
One minute the little six-year-old girl at our Children’s Village was giving me a hug. Moments later, she gave me a punch in the belly and challenged me to beat her in a race. “Shauna” was acting out, in her own childlike way, the dance of intimacy. She wanted, to be close to someone she could trust. At the same time, she needed distance.
The Iraq War and Jehran Omran
The American Friends recently brought a traveling exhibit to Erie, Pennsylvania on the human cost of the Iraq War. The exhibit displayed one hundred-eleven pairs of military boots in honor of the hundred and eleven Pennsylvania soldiers and marines killed in Iraq. The Quakers do not have a similar exhibit for New York State. Sadly, there are far too many pairs of empty boots to transport and display.
The Legacy of John Paul II by Anthony Kowalski
I approach the legacy of John Paul II with mixed feelings. ﾠThis arises on the one hand from pride in my Polish heritage and on the other hand from pride in my married priesthood. ﾠLet me explain.
The Life and Papacy of John Paul II
The Boston Globe in a special edition explores the life and papacy of John Paul II.
The Love Bug Lives
Once upon a time, millions of years ago, a tiny little bug was born. People called it the love bug because wherever the love bug landed, people would change and become more loving.
The Mass--A Multitude of Meanings
From the Tablet: The Mass today is both fundamentally the same yet radically different from the celebrations of our forefathers. In the first of a new series for the Year of the Eucharist, Eamon Duffy examines changes to the liturgy and to ritual, and how these affect the beliefs at the core of Catholic faith .
The Merton Foundation
The Thomas Merton Foundation supports the preservation of Thomas Merton archives, and is dedicated to raising awareness of the spiritual discipline and contemplative practices of Thomas Merton.
The Murderer Within
Of all the so-called seven deadly sins, Americans are probably least likely to be accused of sloth. This is one failing we are more likely to attach to the stereotype of a Latin sitting in the sun shaded by his big sombrero and putting off real work until tomorrow or maybe next week.
The Nativity of the Lord
Keeping Watch by Night
In the quiet and promise of Christmas we rediscover the incredible power of God's love. We realize once again that He continues to be present to us, that He is aware of our needs, concerned for our pain and our sorrow. He is as near as our very breath, within us, around us. Christmas is a journey of the heart.
The Next Step
Available Here in PDF format Job Marketing Campaign Essentials (Copyrighted Material used with Permission - Licensed to Corpus Members for Personal Use Only)
The Ordination of Lay Men and Women
Come, follow me .... a discussion of the ordination of lay men and women into an inclusive priesthood.
The Other Side of the Altar.
Paul Dinter, a New York priest, explores his journey in the Catholic Priesthood.
The Price of Gasoline, Energy and Prayer
Have you ever heard of Rocky Twyman and his Pray at the Pump group? Twyman from Rockville, Maryland is a community organizer and a Seventh Day Adventist. He and some of his followers have held group prayer meeting at gasoline stations as far away as San Francisco. Typically, Twyman and a half dozen others join hands around gasoline pumps and pray for lower gas prices.
The Priest Who Couldn't Cheat
By telling this riveting story about his own intense struggles to live in accord with his deepest spiritual and emotional needs, Mattimore offers help to Catholics and non-Catholics alike who wrestle daily with their own demons and their own angels.
The priesthood of the future
Catholica.com explores the character and nature of the priesthood of the future in a series of articles.
The Scourge Of Celibacy
By endowing priests with an aura of discipline and trust, celibacy fosters pedophilia and facilitates coverups- by Garry Wills
The Season Of Easter
From Faith at Home: The Great 50 Days of Easter are a wonderful opportunity to explore and celebrate Easter more fully than we can possibly squeeze into a single day. Here are some tips for home activities throughout the Easter season.
The secret cause of the sex abuse scandal
Eugene Kennedy looks at the sex abuse scandal.
The Shattered Tomb
Easter is about re-birth. It is about re-creation. It is about new life.
The Spirituality of Sexual Love.
Married priest Gordon J. Hilsman has established this website to celebrate and explore the spiritual benefits of sexual love, . He places a brief sermon on it every week, based on the scripture of the following Sunday, illustrated with sexual loving perspectives. He's doing his bit to fill the hole between individual spirituality and communal spiritual traditions, with a "partnership spirituality" view. He invites comments, substantive ones of which he places on the "readers' contributions" page. Check it out and make suggestions, contributions, critique or add stories of your own.
The State of the Question: Forty years after Vatican II
Forty years after Vatican II finds us with a plethora of books on the priesthood, widespread acknowledgment that there is a crisis in priestly identity today, an undisputable shortage of priests as parishes cluster, pastors serve multiple parishes, and lay ecclesial ministers mind the store in the absence of a resident pastor.
The Tablet
A Roman Catholic weekly newspaper reporting on news from within the U.K. and around the world.
The Vatican document for Anglicans' union with Rome
NEW The full text of the apostolic constitution for Anglicans seeking union with the Catholic Church.
The Year for Priests
NEW The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops commemorates this special year for the priest on their web site.
Theology Library
Formerly The Catholic Mobile, this has to be one of the best overall informational sites we have seen in quite a while. In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, The Theology Library is a collection of 111 pages with over 4,600 links!
This is a blessing....Claim it!
NEW A few weeks ago I heard Rev. Neal Rzepkowski preach at Lily Dale’s Church of the Living Spirit. His talk nourished my soul. I’m still thinking about it. It was a grace. Neal told the scriptural stories of Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau, and of Jacob’s son Joseph.
Tintes, Peter Edward
To Church or not to Church?
Most Americans go to church regularly. That’s almost unique among nations in the developed world. If you’ve traveled in Europe, you know how few people go to church at all. Does that make us somehow holier in God’s eyes? Nah ! I don’t think so. William Sloane Coffin, a minister himself, once said, perhaps a tad cynically, “Many of us Christians who feel so at home in our churches, may in fact, be miles away from God.”
To divorce or not divorce that is the question.
""All of life," said the veteran retreat master, "can be summed up in three words: anticipation, disillusionment and resignation. " He was preaching to young monks. "When you came to the monastery", he said, " you came with the highest ideals. You wondered if you were worthy. You came with stars in your eyes to love and serve, surrounded by saintly brothers -- anticipation."
Tradition and the Ordination of Women
Task Force document endorsed by the Catholic Theological Society of America in June 1997.
Tradition and the Ordination of Women
Secretariat of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' response to the task force document endorsed by the Catholic Theological Society of America in June 1997.
Traitorous Trueness
The story of Frank and Valerie Cull: when a love story is included, particularly one with a happy ending, it makes for a highly recommendable story.
Transitioning from the priesthood
NEW This site is a great resource for those transitioning or contemplating transitioning from the priesthood.
Transitioning from the priesthood
This site is an excellent resource for those transitioning or contemplating transitioning from the priesthood.
Turn the Tide
Turn the Tide is an innovative program that Americans are using to make a difference for our environment. Turn the Tide offers nine simple actions almost anyone can take and then instantly shows the positive impact of each reported action.
Twenty-First Century Spirituality
How is spirituality in the 21st century different now for young people than in past generations? Catholic Theologian John Haught Speaks with BustedHalo.com about Ecology, Religious Education and its Influences on Young People.
Tyrell, Robert
U.S. Catholic
U.S. Catholic celebrates Catholic tradition, yet embraces the spirit of Vatican II reform and rejuvenation. A very valuable source for contemporary theological and spiritual discussions that help average Catholics understand their faith better.
Valentine Essay--The gift of love is the gift of self
In a Florida supermarket where they sold postage stamps a man in the checkout line requested some. Pulling the stamps from under her tray in the cash register, the clerk said, We only have love stamps. Unexpectedly, in a voice loud enough to startle those around him the man barked. I hate love stamps! He paid his bill and left angrily.
Valentine's Day and Romantic Love
Valentines’ Day will soon be here. The Greeting Card Association tells us that in a typical year its members sell a billion valentines (that’s billion with a “b”!). Only at Christmas do they sell more cards. Cards, however, aren’t the only items bouncing off store shelves to celebrate the 14th of February. Chocolate and flowers are also in great demand. Valentine’s Day is big business.
Vatican II and Renewed Models of Priesthood
- by Jack Shea, president of the North Atlantic Federation. "The future of the Church will certainly hinge on the direction of the priestly ministry. An enormous consequence will depend on which route the "Renewed Priesthood" takes."
Vatican Information Services
The Press Office of the Holy See, currently available in three languages.
Vatican makes it easier to laizicise priests
Congregation has new document for laizicising priests
Vatican site explores John Paul II's papacy
Vatican web site explores the papacy of John Paul II. Numerous articles from various publications for each year of his papacy can be found here.
Victims of suicide are sick not sinners
A pastor friend has been gently suggesting I use this column to write about suicide. He points to the Canadian priest author and columnist, Father Ron Rolheiser, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate considers suicide important enough to write about every year.
Voice of the Faithful
Voice of the Faithful focuses on support for clergy sex abuse victims and priests of integrity. It also wishes to make the Church more accountable for its operations and practices.
Volunteers get paid for what they do
NEW I’m a volunteer. Even before I retired I volunteered for United Way, the Center for Peace and Justice and the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry, but retirement has given me time and leisure to do more. I’ve moved on from United Way and Rural Ministry but I’m still active with the Dunkirk Fredonia CPJ, and volunteer for the Red Cross and the Center for Resolution and Justice. I’m sure some people dismiss me as a do-gooder. I hope I am. I’d rather do good than do nothing -- or do harm.
Vows
"Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son" (Free Press, $25) isn't sensational or hostile, but rather a revelatory and nuanced exploration of his parents and their relationship with the Catholic church, which has both blessed and wounded them.
"My parents seem so hurt by the church and yet so committed to it," said Manseau, who himself spent time in a monastery to explore a calling he felt to the priesthood. Both of his parents had to leave the religious life in order to marry, but William Manseau kept up a campaign to be allowed to continue in the role of a priest and for Rome to recognize married priests.
Vows - by Peter Manseau
Listen to an interview from NPR: "A Family of Vows:ﾠ The Son of a Priest and a Nun" - Interview of Peter Manseau byﾠﾠTerry Grossﾠof NPR's Program, "Fresh Air." - October 23, 2005 - chosen by the editors of NPR as one of the 50 most memorable moments of the year 2005.ﾠﾠ
Waeldner, Robert
Walking With My Ghost
Steven Levine, author of “A Year To Live,” suggests that we take a day off from living from time to time. He advises us to use our imagination to disconnect ourselves from life and pretend that we have died. We see the world as though it were the day after our funeral. We walk through a world in which we no longer are physically present. Weird? Maybe, but anyone who has seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” or went to a performance of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” can get the idea.
Wassmuth, William
We Are All Healers
I’m a healer. I’ve taken courses in Reiki and Spiritualist healing. I believe in alternative remedies. It’s not that I distain Western medicine. In seventy-seven years I’ve had more than my share of surgeries and take multiple medications. Modern doctors have helped me greatly, but my spiritual aches and physical pains have been lessened by acupuncture, massage therapy, Reiki and Spiritualist healing -- and I make use of the last two to help others.
We Are the Church - USA
We Are Church/USA is a coalition of Catholic groups in the United States united with our sisters and brothers around the world to call for fundamental reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. We seek to build a church that more closely incorporates the values of the gospel.
Weber, Jerome
Wedding Ministry
A wedding ministry in Rhode Island and Southern New England; baptisms and civil unions as well - Cheryl & Charlie Cavalconte.
Weidinger, Frank T.
Weiets, Wilfried
WEORC (pronounced 'work')
is a voluntary association of men and women formerly engaged in full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. The primary purpose of WEORC is to provide information and job contacts to others who are making the transition from Church service to new careers. Contains step-by-step and links to job leads contacts
Werner, Donald
West
What Are Old People For?
I picked up the book at the bookstore the other day and was astonished at the title “What Are Old People For?” What kind of title is that, I thought to myself. How come they don’t write a book about “What Young People are For?” or What Are Irish Americans For?” Why should old folks be singled out? Aren’t we all in this journey of life together? Are seniors the only group of people who have to justify their existence?
What Color is Your Parachute?
- written by Episcopal priest Richard Bolles originally to support men transitioning from church ministry. Updated annually since 1970, this book is considered a classic resource. More resources are available at Dick's website jobhuntersbible.com
What do graduation and retirement have in common?
Graduations and retirements are frequent this time of year. Besides the obvious transitions of entering or leaving gainful employment, what do college commencements and retirement parties have in common?
What garage sales teach us
Its the season. Signs beckon as we drive by. They clutter lawns, sidewalks, porches and driveways. In the winter they are more rare. I speak of course of garage sales, barn sales, attic and yard sales, those informal marketplaces of used household stuff.
What's Gonna to Happen to Me?
We like to think that kids pretty much live in the present. They have adults to worry about them and their future. Their job is just to be kids. Nah! Not true for a lot of kids and definitely not true for kids in foster care. The nagging question in the guts of all of them is “What’s Gonna Happen To Me?”
Where have all the elders gone?
NEW About seven years ago, a friend introduced me at a church service as “an elder.” The introduction was a compliment. It pointed to my presumed wisdom not my age, but it also jarred me. I was in my late sixties at the time and had never thought of myself that way. Today at seventy-five, I’d no longer be surprised. There’s no doubt now. I’m an elder and think often about this stage in my life.
Where is CORPUS Going?
Conference 2004
Carl Hemmer led a panel discussion on the future of CORPUS at the 30th Anniversary meeting recently in Virginia. Read his presentation.
Where is God in Haiti?
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world where pain and suffering were present on a massive scale prior to the earthquake. Now thousands of people, including ELCA seminary student Ben Larson, lay under the rubble in Port-au-Prince. Watching images on television of the suffering in Haiti is heartbreaking.
Who lost China? Who lost healthcare?
In 1949-50 the political question of the day was “Who lost China?” Mao and the Communists had defeated Chiang Kai-Shek in the Chinese Civil War. Overnight China, an ally in the war against Japan had become a communist enemy. Senator Joseph McCarthy in a finger-pointing crusade blamed communist sympathizer. McCarthy’s demagogic witch-hunts ruined political, academic and journalistic careers and blacklisted many. It was not America’s finest hour.
Why do I write?
I may have miscounted along the way, but including the clergy columns before I moved to the editorial page, I think this is my hundredth Observer column. That’s an anniversary of sorts, a good time to stop and reflect on it all.
Why I Write
My calling, my gift, my passion is being a writer. Writing is the way I communicate the ideals that live within me. It’s God in me speaking to God in my readers. As Brenda Ueland would have it, we write,“Because the best way to know beauty and truth is to try to express it. And what is the purpose ofexistence here or yonder but to discover truth andbeauty and express it, i.e. share it with others.”
Why the Mega-Parishes will fail!
Our first, our most intimate, social circle is our family. Not just mother and dad and the kids, but grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and in America today, all sorts of blended folks who are now lovingly included in our intimate family group.
Wilcox, John (Jack)
Will, Virgil
William Lally (Bill) dies.
Bill Lally goes to his eternal home on June 23, 2010.
Wilson, James
Witness
An ecumenical organization working to bring women into fuller leadership in the church.
WOC photos of their activities in Rome
VIEW Recent photos of Women's Ordination Conference presence at the World Synod of Bishops in Rome.
Woeste, David
Wolf, George
Women Deacons in the Roman Catholic Church.
We are Roman Catholics who strongly believe that women should be ordained deacons in the Roman Catholic Church.
Women's Justice Coalition
A coalition of organizations working for reform and renewal within the Roman Catholic Church in a variety of ways. Catholics Speak Out, a program of the Quixote Center, coordinates the coalitionn, to help move the cause of women's equality forward. Our goal is to build a broad grassroots movement to demonstrate that large numbers of Catholics support equality and justice for women.
Women's Ordination
The website of the largest international website of RomanﾠCatholic theologians who firmly believe that the discussion on womenﾠpriests should be left open..
Women's Ordination Conference
Works for the ordination of women as priests and bishops into a renewed priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic church.
Women's Ordination Conference(WOC)
The Women's Ordination Conference works for the ordination of women as priests and bishops into a renewed & inclusive priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
Women's Ordination---A look back in time!
As our bishops prepare for the International Synod on the Eucharist, CORPUS is pleased to provide you with this look-back in time on the issue of Women's Ordination, a 26 year old pr￩cis of research commissioned by the Catholic Biblical Association of Ameria and printed in the October 1979 issue of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly.
Woolever, Frank
Word Become Flesh
In the quiet and promise of Christmas we rediscover the incredible power of God's love. We realize once again that He continues to be present to us, that He is aware of our needs, concerned for our pain and our sorrow. He is as near as our very breath, within us, around us. Christmas is a journey of the heart. - A Christmas Reflection by Joe Cece, Corpus Webmaster.
Wren, Ben
Wright, Roddy
Writing Ethical Wills
What do you want to leave as your memory? Explore the concept of "spiritual wills".
Young, Patrick J.
Your help is needed
I am conducting an exploratory study of men who have served in active ministry in the priesthood for twenty or more years, and then marry. I am selecting this group because marriage constitutes a definitive break with the clerical lifestyle of the Latin Rite.
Zay, John
Zenit
The World Seen from Rome, offers daily and weekly email "dispatches" with news briefs.
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Folk singer Peter Seeger is ninety years old now. His reedy tenor can no longer bring an audience to its feet singing enthusiastically for unity, justice and peace. Whether he was leading “We Shall Overcome” in the Civil Rights battles of the 60s, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” during the Vietnam War, or “Turn, Turn, Turn” to advocate patience in face of the adversity that comes in the struggle for justice, he is now an American icon. It wasn’t always so. He was right when it was not popular, and like all prophets, he suffered from that. For years he experienced great adversity.
Investing is always a risk. You have to give up something in the hope of obtaining something even more valuable. And that's the kind of investment Jesus asks of us. Before all else, we have to fully understand what "the treasure" really is. We have to recognize the enduring value of the love of God and neighbor; we have to see how Gospel living can insure our happiness and security - and then - and only then - will we be willing to put aside the vanity of treasures that keeps us from becoming "rich in what matters to God."
Take a short prayer break right at your computer. Spend some quiet time reflecting on a Scripture passage. Knowing that not everyone prays at the same pace, you have control over the pace of the retreat
We thank you for your rapid turnaround in supporting two critical elections for CORPUS these past couple of months... Russ Ditzel, Corpus President