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• Write a Letter to the Pope
• Cardinal Martini on Married Priests and Ordination of Women
• Letters Exchanged
• Petition Spreads
• What has happened since November 2007?
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Write a Letter to the Pope
By Paul Collins
June 10, 2008

Here's something YOU can do: Write directly to tell Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Sydney about your concerns. Tell him ...

 * that there are not enough priests in Australia to celebrate Mass and the Sacraments, and that importing foreign priests is not the answer;

* that there are no theological obstacles to the ordination of married men, reminding him that for eleven hundred years most Catholic priests were married;

* that Australia be allowed to mount an experiment for a 30 year period in which carefully selected and thoroughly trained married men be ordained, with a review after the experimental period;

* that while women do 75% of the pastoral work in Australia they are still lacking representation at the senior levels of church leadership.

While the focus in your letter is on what is possible, i.e. the ordination of married men, you may want to add that the church cannot be said to have reached a consensus about the ordination of women, that you know there is nothing in scripture against women's ordination, and that the church should be free to discuss the issue.

Catholics for Ministry are trying to get a thousand letters along these lines to deliver to the Pope while he is in Sydney for World Youth Day. Please write a brief (no more than one page), respectful, signed and addressed letter and get as many of your Catholic friends to do the same. Please send the letters to us at:

Catholics for Ministry,

PO Box 4053,

Manuka. ACT. 2603.

[A number of people have asked us: How do you address the Pope? The answer is either

Your Holiness ..... or

Dear Holy Father .... or

Dear Pope Benedict.

The first two are probably the most correct in a formal sense, but some of us prefer the slightly more personal 'Dear Pope Benedict'. Take your choice .... ]

We'll gather the letters together and do our level best to get them delivered to Pope Benedict himself while he is in Sydney. If we're not successful we'll forward them to him at the Vatican. We need to have your letter in hand by Tuesday 15 July 2008 in order to give us time to process the letters.