Optional Celibacy: So All Can Be at the Table
New! Priesthood Sunday Prayer Service
Honor your parish priest - Pray to open ordination
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your interest in our So All Can Be At the Table: Priesthood Sunday celebration. Every October, Catholics honor our priests who often must work double duty in this time of priest shortage. This new prayer service honors priests who like St. Paul, embraced the celibate charism in their service to God's people. It also includes a prayer that Church leaders will welcome into the Latin rite those who, like St. Peter, embrace their call to priestly service as married men. Prayer for women deacons also included.
FutureChurch’s first annualPriesthood Sunday celebration coincide with the World Priest Day/Priesthood Sunday celebrations that were first started by Worldwide Marriage Encounter and the Serra Club. They should be held on or around the last Sunday in October, this year on October 31, 2010.
Great for parishes, prayer groups, book groups or other gatherings.
Includes: prayers of the faithful for inclusion at Sunday Mass, a special 2010 stand-alone prayer service, tips for planning a Priesthood Sunday celebration, sample press release, two sample op eds, postcard templates, fact sheets, reproducible artwork, bibliography, and more.
Here are three things you can do as you plan your celebrations.
- Organize a special So All Can Be at the Table Priesthood Sunday educational program along with your prayer service. A prayer service is included in this kit as an example for you to copy or be inspired by. A packet of educational resources (Includes Public Statements by Church Leaders, A History of Celibacy, 2 additional prayer services and more.) along with an inspiring prayer service are available for free download or you can order a paper copy from the Magdala Market on the website.
- Send our message to the media.Sample press release and op ed pieces are included for your local community. A national release will be sent from our offices about a month prior to the celebrations. We will also post contact information about the celebrations by city on our website.
- Send a paper or electronic postcardto Cardinal Hummes at the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome requesting the open discussion of optional celibacy at the highest levels of the Church. (The unprecedented success of our Synod on the Word postcards testifies the effectiveness of this strategy. Remember Cardinal Hummes spoke in favor of discussing celibacy rules before he left Brazil and parish closing appeals all end up his desk.).
You can obtain extra postcards by going to our website and ordering them from the Magdala Market or downloading a template. You can also send an epostcard and then forward a message to all your participants, family and friends.
I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Emily Holtel-Hoag
Special Projects Coodinator
PS FutureChurch believes the Church will not be whole or just until we recognize all of the priestly vocations, married and celibate, male and female that God is pouring upon the Catholic Church. The So All Can Be at the Table campaign focuses on optional celibacy for all those called to the priesthood. The campaign does not diminish our commitment to working for women’s full inclusion in the life and ministry of the Church. In fact, FutureChurch is including advocating for the restoration of women to the diaconate in the So All Can Be at the Table campaign as an important next step. For more information on FutureChurch’s programming regarding women’s leadership in the Church, go to http://www.futurechurch.org/watw/