{"id":8902,"date":"2002-07-31T14:41:19","date_gmt":"2002-07-31T19:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/2002\/07\/31\/plenary-council\/"},"modified":"2002-07-31T14:41:19","modified_gmt":"2002-07-31T19:41:19","slug":"plenary-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2002\/07\/plenary-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenary council"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a e-mail by Deal Hudson of Crisis
\nMagazine<\/a> which describes the contents of the Bishop’s letter
\nrequesting
a plenary council. To subscribe to his excellent
\ne-mail letter click
\nhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dear Friend, <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I started this e-letter in April, my
\nprimary motivation was to have a way to get urgent information to
\nyou immediately.
There are some things that just can’t wait to
\nbe printed in the magazine. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is one of those things.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As you may already know, the Catholic world
\nhas been buzzing about a confidential letter composed by eight
\nAmerican bishops
in which they called for a Plenary Council to
\naddress problems in the Church. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Journalists and pundits have been
\nspeculating and debating about the alleged contents of the letter
\nand the identities of the authors. But no one really knew for
\nsure. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This morning, CRISIS managed to obtain a
\ncopy of the letter that was sent on July 18 to all the American
\ncardinals and
bishops. In it, a group of eight bishops asks
\nthat a Plenary Council be called as soon as possible to discuss
\nthe “root causes” of —
and possible solutions to — the
\ncurrent crisis in the Church.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before I get ahead of myself, let me
\nexplain what a Plenary Council is and why this letter is so
\ndramatic. Basically, a
Plenary Council is a meeting of all the
\nbishops of a given area — in this case, the United States. This
\nisn’t an ordinary meeting though. It’s
the highest form of
\ncouncil that can be called on a national level. It would be like a
\nVatican Council for the States. In fact, the American
bishops
\nhaven’t called a Plenary Council in more than 100
\nyears.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And it’s much different from their
\nsemiannual conferences, too: There, the administrative business is
\ndone. A Plenary Council, on
the other hand, is much more
\nproactive, focusing on “teaching the truths of the faith” (as the
\nletter says). Priests and laypeople
would also be able to
\nparticipate.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The eight bishops who wrote this amazing
\nletter are taking a brave stand by urging discussion of those
\nissues that were
swept under the rug at the June bishops’
\nmeeting. While I can’t send you the whole body of the letter, I
\ncan share some of it with you. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First, the authors of the letter seem to
\nhave a pretty clear understanding of the crisis. Here are a few of
\nthe issues
they want to face head-on at the Plenary Council:
\n“What has happened to the life and ministry of bishops and priests
\nthat makes us vulnerable
to the failings that have humiliated
\nus all? What things need to be going on so that in this cultural
\nmilieu priests and bishops will preserve their
celibate
\nchastity along with all the other virtues that constitute the life
\nof holiness proper to pastors? How can the purification upon which
\n
we shepherds have embarked help us, in turn, support our
\npeople in achieving greater holiness?”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Notice the absence of wishy-washy bishop
\nspeak. These men know there’s a problem, and they’re going to face
\nit squarely.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But it gets even better. The bishops get
\nvery specific about what they hope to accomplish at the
\nmeeting:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Goal 1: “Solemnly receiving the authentic
\nteaching of the Second Vatican Council…on the identity, life and
\nministry
of bishops and priests; on matters of sexual morality
\nin general (cf. Gaudium et Spes, Humanae Vitae, Veritatis
\nSplendor, and Familiaris Consortio);
[and] on celibate
\nchastity as an authentic form of human sexuality renewed by grace
\nand a share in Christ’s own spousal love for His
\nChurch.”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s heartening to hear these bishops raise
\nthe issue of sexual morality as taught by Humanae Vitae, as well
\nas “the
very soul of holiness” for a priest! These topics have
\nbeen taboo for so long that it’s phenomenal to see bishops address
\nthem head-on.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Goal 2: “Giving unequivocal endorsement and
\nforce to the means outlined in the documents of the Council…to
\n
foster the acts of virtue required of pastors and the means
\nneeded to achieve those virtues, especially celibate chastity
\n(e.g., daily celebration
of the Mass, frequent Confession,
\ndaily meditation, regular acts of asceticism, obedient submission
\nto Church teaching and discipline, simplicity of
\nlife).”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You can’t argue with a return to the
\nfundamentals of the priesthood. This is EXACTLY what priests need
\nto hear: a public
endorsement of their vocation and the
\nsupport of the bishops in encouraging a real back-to-basics
\napproach to religious life.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Goal 3: “Confirming the bishops in the
\nauthoritative exercise of our ministry for the health and well
\nbeing of the church,
and strengthening our coworkers in the
\nPresbyterate in their ministry of teaching the Gospel, especially
\nin regard to sexual morality, so that
we can give support to
\nthe lay faithful in responding to their call to
\nholiness.”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Who hasn’t been demanding greater
\naccountability and action from the bishops? Clearly, these men
\nseem to understand what’s
really been bothering American
\nCatholics. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The bishops who drafted the letter also
\nlisted the benefits of calling a Plenary Council: It “would
\nprovide a galvanizing
focus that is authentically evangelical
\nand true to the Church’s identity and tradition…[witness]
\nunambiguously to the fact that the Church relies
on the grace
\nof the Holy Spirit…involve all strata of the People of God in
\nthe experience…have maximal impact in shaping the ecclesial
\nculture…[and]
give a definite stamp to identifying what is
\nthe authentic heritage of the Second Vatican
\nCouncil.”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Galvanize”…”witness
\nunambiguously”…”maximal
impact”…”definite stamp”… the
\n“authentic”
heritage of Vatican II… These are strong words
\nfor bishops — a group usually known more for its inaction than
\nits decisive action. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One last thing. Unfortunately, I can’t
\nreveal the names of the authors at this point. However, I can tell
\nyou that the list
is surprising. These bishops represent the
\nentire theological and political spectrum. That in itself is
\nreassuring: The idea that we need a deep and
lasting change
\nisn’t limited to any political or theological ideology.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My hat is off to these eight courageous and
\ndedicated bishops — all that’s left now is to hope their
\ncolleagues will follow
suit and sign on.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 10 years or so, when this current crisis
\nhas hopefully faded away, we may look back on this letter as the
\nevent that
triggered the renewal of the American Catholic
\nChurch. Let’s all say a prayer of thanks for the eight bishops who
\ntook the first step.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Talk soon,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Deal<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a e-mail by Deal Hudson of Crisis Magazine which describes the contents of the Bishop’s letter requesting a plenary council. To subscribe to his excellent e-mail letter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}