An Appeal to Catholic Young Adults

Dear Blog Visitors:

I am encouraged by the fact that the Women's Ordination Conference has been very successful in its efforts to recruit young women to carry the message of reform into the next generation and beyond. It is my hope that the effort to support the cause for married priests will be similarly aided by succeeding generations.

As I thought about the future of both the Roman Catholic Church, and the corresponding future of the priesthood in general, I was inspired to make a video in which I urge succeeding generations to keep up the fight for more inclusivity.

Some friends have voiced concern that I may have given up the fight for church reform, due to the fact that I announced my membership in Spiritus Christi Church. Admittedly, I have come to realize that most persons in the reform movement, especially those who work tirelessly on behalf of married priests, are now in their sixties, seventies and eighties. I will be turning 60 in July, so the reality is that I may never live long enough to see the Vatican change its outdated policy of a male-only, celibate priesthood. The consequence of this hierarchical stubborness may indeed be a eucharistic famine.

The Women's Ordination Conference and Roman Catholic Womempriests have taken the initiative to ordain women to the priesthood, obviously minus the blessing of Rome. In a similar fashion, I was ordained a married priest by a married archbishop, minus the blessing of Rome. More women will be ordained as deacons, priests and bishops in the near future, and it is my hope more married men will step forward for ordination as well.

Since an inclusive church is not what we will see under the leadership of Benedict XVI, I decided that Spiritus Christi is the best place for me to be at this point in my life. Spiritus Christi will give me the type of inclusivity I have been working for in the institutional church. While I will continue to work behind the scenes with reform groups who continue the effort to change the Vatican mindset, my secular government job keeps me working at breakneck speed, especially during the months of May, June, July and August (moving from one fiscal year to the next). During those months, I race against the clock to get work done, as I oversee a City's payables, which means I rarely take lunches, and consequently, I have little time for reform activities. However, whenever possible, I will make occasional videos on weekends and evenings that suggest ways to continue the fight for reform.

In the video that follows, I urge Catholic young adults to consider joining the effort to push the idea of married priests, just as the effort to push the ordination of women has gained a great amount of momentum in the past couple years.

Here is the video: