NOTE: The Lepanto Institute is asking that faithful Catholics everywhere sign the open letter, promote it on social media, and email it to as many family, friends and colleagues as they believe would also sign the petition. The time for talk is at an end!
Dear Pope Francis,
If talk is cheap, then this summit on sexual abuse is worth even less. After three days of talking, the official spokesmen for the summit went to great lengths to claim that homosexuality was not a concern while they deliberately dodged questions from reporters.
Cardinal Cupich said the day before the summit began that while most of the problem is a result of “male on male” sex abuse, “homosexuality itself is not a cause.” He says it can be explained as a matter of “opportunity and also a matter of poor training on the part of the people.”
Archbishop Scicluna said, “homosexuality and heterosexuality are “human conditions that we recognize, and that exist, but they aren’t something that really predisposes to sin.”
And Cardinal Tagle went on a vapid rant about smelling like the sheep, touching the wounds of the victims and seeking healing.
But all of this talk about the sexual abuse of children is NOT going to do a single thing to resolve the problem, especially as you continue to deny what is at the very heart of it. The problem is rampant sexual immorality … especially homosexuality … in the clergy. Period!
Your Holiness, if you wish to reestablish the faith, trust and love of the laity, you are going to have to take strong actions to root out the problem. We faithful Catholics want a clear and unambiguous decree that enacts strict penalties … including excommunication and laicization … for any cleric, whether deacon, priest, bishop, archbishop or cardinal, who sexually abuses any other person regardless of age, sex or circumstance, or who is found guilty of engaging in any unnatural sexual behavior.
We want all clerics either practicing or promoting homosexuality to be removed from their positions. We want all of the prelates who enable homosexuals, whether lay or clergy, to be removed from their positions. That means removing individuals like Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Kasper, Cardinal Schönborn, Cardinal Danneels, Cardinal Marx, Cardinal Tagle, Cardinal Tobin, Cardinal Farrell, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop Scicluna , Bishop McElroy, Bishop Gregory, Bishop Wester, Bishop Malone, Father Daniel Horan, Father Thomas Reese, Father Thomas Rosica, and Father James Martin. And that’s just for starters. These men have flouted Church teaching on sexual morality for far too long, and no amount of talking is going to fix the problem of sexual immorality in the church while they remain in their positions. If you truly seek healing for victims and for the Church, you can start there. But if you keep talking this issue to death while sitting on your hands, then rest assured that while we will continue to pray and sacrifice for you, we will not pay you and we will simply wait for you to pass into eternity and judgement so Our Lady and Our Lord can resolve the matter through our patience and our prayers.
Sincerely,
The Faithful
[ARForms id=112]
This is an excellent letter however there is a typo in the penultimate line it should say ..’ for your to pass etc’
I don’t understand why my email address is not accepted. I cannot sign this letter.
I believe the official salutation of a pope is “Your Holiness.” Also, I would say “we will not support you financially” instead of “we will not pay you;” and “sitting on your hands” is very colloquial, I would rather say “while doing nothing.” Otherwise it is a brave letter!
I agree with John, Wayne, Shirley, Clinton, and Josephine. I agree with the basic theme of the letter, but, I will not sign it as it is currently written. Michael: This letter, in its current form, is a poor reflection of the Lepanto Institute. The letter uses immature language and has numerous grammatical and punctuation errors. It may as well have been written by a middle school student who put off his assignment until the last minute and had no time or motivation to edit his work before handing it over to be graded. I agree a letter needs to be written and sent to Pope Francis. However, I cannot, in good conscience, sign this one in its current form. I appreciate the effort and look forward to a letter that is not only factual, but also demonstrates the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. I, also, encourage all the faithful to pray the rosary daily and clearly state the intention to beg for the conversion of poor sinners. A perfect example is the prayer given to us through the children of Fatima by Our Lady. May God bless you and keep you all. Laura
I agree completely with Laura’s view. This is a very serious matter we’re talking about and should be addressed in a more formal language. Theological and moral criteria should be used to help him understand what it’s at stake and what our worries are. We all need the Holy Spirit’s grace to find the best solutions to this matter. We need prayer and pennance for the whole truth to come out and to repair for the terrible sins commited against God our Father, who is ultimately whom we all have sinned against. Dorinda
Oh good grief there is nothing “formal” about these priest RAPING alter boys and seminarians. You guys are totally ridiculous. It’s a letter and your whining about how “I in good conscience cannot sign this poorly written letter” does not help. In other words get over yourself
Obviously, you are entitled to sign whatever you choose. However, I feel that calling others “ridiculous” and using “get over yourself” for asking for a grammatically correct letter to be sent is not helpful – or very polite.
I respectfully ask you to consider how seriously you would take a letter that was filled with errors like this one.
I would love to see the suggested corrections made and would then be happy to sign the much needed letter. I would also suggest that a copy of St. Peter Damian’s “Book of Gomorrah” be sent along with the letter because it points out how these things have been going on in our Church for almost one-thousand years. Maybe a copy should be sent to EVERY bishop so none can ever say that there were “not aware” that such a problem exists!
Peace,
Carl
Perfect placement
Dear Wayne,
I respectfully disagree about two things: it should be “you” as written and not “your” as you suggested; and, due to a number of other grammatical errors, it is far from an “excellent letter.”
I expected a far better letter and more professionally written from the Lepanto Institute. I believe that it would be easily and quickly dismissed as currently written.
Sincerely,
Carl
I couldn’t find a single mistake, typo, or anything else wrong with it.. I thought is was a well thought out letter that met all the points, and gave the Pope a lot of room to save face and be the person God made him to be. Yes I pray for him, but I would be glad if he would resign if he doesn’t want to change. And why do we think our words will do the trick? A bit immature of adults to think their appeal would reign in a man who’s been told that he cannot make a mistake because he’s infallible even if he’s acting immorally. But then again.. “with God all things are possible”… hang the limits, let the Pope be the person God made him to be.. but he’s no higher than any lay person or any other person in this world!
Begin preaching from Sacred Scripture, which says this: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor. 6:9-11. We are all called to REPENTANCE, and anyone who says otherwise in the name of mercy is a liar and a son of satan. St. Paul writes in Romans 2: “Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed…” To all the slithery priests, bishops and cardinals who are really wolves, I say: TIME’S UP – Repent or perish.
Much needed and truthful letter. If someone is promoting homosexuality they are promoting mortal sin. This letter is an act of charity for souls who have been lied to by our modern culture.
Sexual sins are what take most people to hell.and these perverts know this. Satans pride is alive and strong with these people pray for conversion
I wish the Holy Father, could understand the outrage of the Laity, I’m in the Arch of Chicago, and active laity. It’s hard to understand how my Bishop, and my Pope can turn away from the Teachings of our faith. It then becomes a money issue, and nothing more. The problems with our priest, will be taken care of by the Attorney Generals of each state, and the the embarrassment of the Priest being perp walked out in cuffs for Rape will begin. If anyone thinks it’s bad now, wait…. There is no excuse for a superior in any line of work to sodomize a student, not to mention a Seminarian; nxt time we all go to Mass, look at those servers and think someone might be abusing them….. at 8yrs-10yrs and ask WHY???????????
Letter fails to note that the summit purposely was only about parafilia which is only 18 % of hierarchy sex abuse problem. The networks if enablers and protectors must not be exposed. Too many bishops etc involved. The summit was a over up of cover ups.
Excellent letter! I noticed that Father Horan, who made your list, is scheduled to speak to our priests in May. Citizens of the Diocese of Owensboro need to beware. I have read, signed, and shared freely.
I think it’s not “Danial” Horan, but “Daniel.”
Dear Michael Hichborn,
I signed this petition. As many should do to help DEFEND our CATHOLIC FAITH and The WORD of GOD.
HOW can we start a PETITION asking the Pope to enlist Gods people to make REPARATION to the HOLY FACE of JESUS with the PRAYERS JESUS HIMSELF gave us on behalf of POOR SINNERS. GRIEVOUS and CRIMINAL are the guilty pleas, we must ask for FORGIVENESS OF. The HOLY FACE of JESUS PRAYERS were meant for these kinds of open LUSTFUL and CRIMINAL sins of OUTRAGEOUS DEGREE. There are 8 PROMISES for those who PROMOTE and PRAY these NECESSARY PRAYERS ( its not just another devotion ) for our time. We can list the PRAYERS along with the PROMISES that the POPE can then ANNOUNCE to the WORLD to PRAY and MAKE REPARATION for these particularly heinous MORTAL SINS. The Bible COMMANDS that if you see your brother sin, he needs correction. As fould in Matthew 18:15-17 And it was St. Paul that CORRECTED the first POPE in the PRESENTS of ALL. Please HELP, let’s start a PETITION to send the POPE the PRAYERS JESUS HIMSELF gave to the CHURCH. HOLY FACE PRAYERS are found on line many places, one is Holyfacedevotion.com
MICHAEL PLEASE send info on rules to set in motion this PETITION TO POPE FRANCIS…
[email protected]
Thank you, May God BLESS you an yours,
Maureen
Thank you for this letter!! Will you be sending it directly to Francis?
I wish the letter had included our desire that the offenders are charged, tried, and imprisoned for their crimes. And that the victims receive a public apology and a financial settlement. Will this be enough? No. But both are a minimum requirement.
I agree completely. Guilty priests are often still living in relative comfort with the food, lodging, health insurance, transportation etc, still being paid for by the contributions of the faithful. In other occupations, employees who deceive, manipulate, use their power to subjugate, or misrepresent their employer would be escorted from the premises and not be eligible for unemployment benefits. Our Catholic church ( the faithful) is the financial employer of the clergy (from priests to the pope) so the same economic rules should apply to all of the church employees who have failed to do their job in the way the employer expected. Their failure has greatly jeopardized the faithful, as well as denying true, holy vocations to the priesthood.
Thank you very much for writing this! Two suggestions: 1) For the sake of consistency, please type out all ranks. For example, Bishop Gregory not Bp. Gregory, Father James Martin not Fr. James Martin, etc. And, 2) please consider adding Cardinal Roger Mahony to the enumerated list. Again, thank you very much for doing this!
Glad you mentioned Mahoney, I forgot about him.
I will not give to Catholic Services Appeal until every practicing or promoting homosexual priest, bishop, cardinal or Pope is removed from office and this mess is finally cleaned up. The only thing that seems to cause the church hierarchy to tremble is the withholding of the almighty dollar from their far left socialist agenda.
Well-done the Lepanto institute (Michael) for representing the voices of we the faithful Catholics.
Your letter to the pope is absolutely spot on and is in the right direction. my prayers are with you. We faithful Catholic will continue to pray. It is not over until this evil is defeated or Christ comes for his church.
Homosexuality itself is an abomination to God as stated in the bible, it is not a human idealoggy that stated this. God himself Condemed this perversion as it is demonic. And it was the reason for the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by God himself. So, for Christians who profess to be believers of God or Christ and more importantly, for that matter, men of God who should know this better and yet have chosen to engage in this kind of perverse behavior with their fellow priests and those that try to cover them up, is not only shameful, disgusting and outrageous to be call believers of God or Christ but, demonic.
Yet, this Pope have chosen to surround himself with these types of clergy(Cardinals) as his right hand men in the Vatican and making them lead the sex abuse summit, while slamming faithful Catholics who want to follow the truth of God laws, as devils, as well as, ignoring all the pleas the faithful have requested regarding him to properly address the real root cause of the situation which is homosexuality in their ranks. This is not just ignorant or an omission on the part of the Pope but very intentional, and it is very Unchristian and uncharitable and is unfortunate.
The church is Gods, it is not for any Pope.
Gods Judgement is coming quickly on the children of disobedience and a stiff neck perverse generation who will not repent. You can’t serve two masters. They should choose whom they will serve, God or the devil? But should not hide behind the mask of clericalism and Christianity. They cannot hide, by their fruits we shall know them. It’s already apparent that these men are not for Christ.
I signed the letter. I want the world to know. This is where I stand. I converted to the Catholic Church, in part, to get away from the homosexualist agenda in Anglicanism. There is nowhere left for me to run now. So today I stand and fight back.
Shane, you looked for meaning and God and if you don’t find it in mankind’s religions, does that mean God and meaning don’t exist? You can run directly into God’s loving arms in your own heart. Abraham had no church to belong to when he turned away from the deadly Paganism of his relatives and family he was born into. He felt deep in his heart that only one God existed when all the world said there are many different gods. He had to listen to God’s voice and know what to do and to know he was protected and loved and would do fine by following God’s loving voice. And he had to listen VERY hard the day he THOUGHT God wanted him to kill his son Issac as a sacrifice. Abraham had been so rooted in Paganism, that he actually believed God wanted him to kill! By thinking “outside the box” Abraham blessed mankind and started the religion of Judaism which respected one God, the only God, who created us with love and in his own image and likeness. The Pagans believed man was depraved and couldn’t be good without force. While I am a Christian, there are many things in Christian beliefs that have stemmed from paganism even to this day. To escape “Christian” ideas which still seem wrong in various ways, I and others run to Genesis Chapter One for comfort, which says that “man is created in God’s image and likeness” and man was given Spiritual “Dominion” over the bad things of this material world….and that God saw everything God had made and it was “very Good” and God wants us to “behold” that Good also! Regular Christian religions don’t teach man’s basic good nature much I feel, but teach a sinful nature or original sin, based upon a former a Gnostic-Pagan idea that man is depraved and not able to have freewill because it is so corrupted. With all those ideas of our bad nature abounding, is it any wonder that ministers and priests, bishops fall so far in sins of the flesh, when they are taught from an early age of man’s basically sinful nature or “badness”. Picture a world where children were taught their intrinsic beloved value and spiritual beauty and spiritual goodness and that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil…. and that God see’s who we really are as the spiritual ideas that God created! Our lives conform to our beliefs and even Quantum Physics, a hard science, has proven that at the subatomic level of everything in the universe…there is no matter as such (Max Planck) but only energy, and that energy or whatever one wants to call it… conforms to our beliefs or ideas about our health, our lives, and others and the world in general. Jesus knew this and knew the lepers, the crippled, the blind were made perfect in God’s own image and likeness and thus he healed them with the Truth about who they really were.
To the Authors of this letter to Pope Francis:
Dear Brethren,
While I very much agree with the theme of your letter (having suffered daily spiritual torments for the past almost 6 years of the current pontificate), I must say that the letter evinces a tone of escalating disrespect for members of the Church hierarchy that, whether intended or not, can easily give the impression that laity can cavalierly make demands of the Pope — the Vicar of Christ on earth — as if they had some authority which even members of the clergy would not pretend to possess.
Truthfully, this letter, like many articles on various blogs of traditional Catholic media groups, seems to use language and create a tone that dares itself to become more and more high-handed and swaggering toward ordained men, whether or not they are worthy of their ministry. Tragically, this escalating tone is eaten up by contributors to comments sections on these blogs, who often use inflammatory language that conjures up images of a lynch mob.
Most disturbingly, when I read your letter earlier this evening, before the latest revisions were made to it, it actually made reference to waiting for Pope Francis to be “dead”; that language has now been softened to “pass into eternity”, but the implication is clear. My Examination of Conscience booklet asks me if I have willed the death of anyone, as this is a sin against the 5th Commandment. Brethren, we are riding too close to the precipice here. The very fact that this letter was posted in a rougher form and has, since its initial posting, undergone edition and modifications indicates that it was posted with too much haste — so typical of the impetuous environment in which we find ourselves these days, especially on social media.
I heard a homily recently by a faithful priest who warned his listeners that Satan doesn’t take sides; he simply wants it ALL — and he will get all by pitting brother against brother, by getting some to promote heresy while, at the same time, getting other with legitimate grievances against such promoters to forget about the hierarchical nature of the Church, to become prideful in defending even truth rather than being humble, and to presume to have an authority that they do not possess and that easily leads to personal animosity and contempt.
Brethern, the world is watching and listening. Let’s not create the impression that we are nailing a list of demands to a church door, because we’ve had 500 year to learn bitterly where that leads.
Yours in Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Clinton
The perpetrators of these immoral perversions are using the hierarchical nature of the Church to shield themselves and their behaviour. That is a very deep form of abuse. The Vatican is a country. Does it not have a criminal justice system of its own? These men who abuse their positions of authority should be equally subject to justice, no matter what their level of authority is.
No, praying for conversion or good death of person, who by his actions and words objectively harms many faithful Catholics and causes eternal death of millions souls by leading them into sin, heresy isn’t a sin against the 5th Commandment. Spiritual things are higher than temporal and good death is a good thing for all of us, because our life is a preparation to eternal life.
I entirely agree with Clinton Somerton’s comments. Perhaps as an Englishman I am naturally more conservative in my language, much as i applaud American enthusiasm in all things it can lead to hyperbole and intemperate language. I have signed it in the hope that it will be be changed before final dispatch.
The whole tone is too conversational and more suitable for a Tweet than a serious and considered letter from the Lepanto Institute, indeed it diminishes the standing of the Institute.
The first line is worthy of a tweet . I would prefer to start from first principles – what was the purpose of the meeting in Rome ? This meeting was called to deal with child abuse in the church by clerics – this issue has been discussed in similar forums before in 2002 (I believe) also 2005 and yet still continues. Why should we believe that what has just been agreed will make any difference?
The issue of homosexuality within the Church has not been addressed because unlike child abuse it is not a crime, indeed in today’s secular world it is celebrated and to criticise it is to be labelled homophobic with the possibility of censure and civil penalties being applied.
How have we come to this situation? It is because before Vatican 11 . the morality of the world was to a large extent the morality of the Church, in the post conciliar world from Paul VI onwards the Church has adopted a secular morality, the morality of the world! We are too much in this world.
It is possible that JP II did not address the issue but delegated it to Benedict because of the concern of being labelled homophobic.
I apologise for this diversion but I think it is important to put things into context and understand the reality of today’s world.
More specifically in terms of the language of this letter. I think the first and second paragraph should recognise the possible fear that the hierarchy has over homophobia and being accused of being homophobic , whilst insisting that the Church must be a courageous church, ready to be heard in a secular world. The opening paragraphs should deal with the purpose of the meeting and express our concern that nothing will change.
Words and phrases such as ‘vapid rant ‘ are slang ‘meaningless’ is more appropriate. The phrase in the 6th paragraph ..’ found guilty of engaging in any unnatural sexual behaviour’ . implies that natural sexual behaviour is perfectly acceptable. Let us remember that sexuality be it gay, lesbian, trans, hetero disqualifies any priest from entering the prieshood, there is a vow of chastity!!
‘And that’s just for starters’ is not appropriate language from the Lepanto Institute, it should simply be deleted, it adds nothing. If you wish, say ‘ ..and you will certainly be aware of others .
I believe we should end ‘ Holy Father, the credibility of the Papacy, indeed the Church depends on your integrity, your courage to stand up and be counted among the faithful to restore the morality of the Church to the world, not to endorse the morality of the world on the Church’.
Well said. The letter as written is very emotive, and expresses well the outrage we all feel, but I will not sign it unless changes such as you, and others, suggest are made. It is the lawyer in me, no doubt, but as written in gives too much ammunition to those (including, I am sorry to say, the Addressee) who will seize on anything to support their characterization of the orthodox Faithful as proud and mean spirited. I have signed other petitions to the Holy Father. I would like to sign this one also, and, more importantly, will act on it.
Mostly Catholics I know just don’t want to know about the scandals. I am also putting strain on certain friendships and know I am being negatively judged for raising my concerns. What I find really difficult is the cover-up and the continued abuse which has been known to the Vatican. I realise that there will be some gay priests and clergy who try and live a good and moral life. What is coming out daily there is that there are a number of senior clergy who have abused their positions both financially and with others, and prelates have either tolerated this or have not challenged it out of fear of their own secrets coming to light or have been involved themselves. The church also is disingenuous at the moment by some of the things it says compared to what it does so for example according to canon law a minor is only somebody under the age of 14 years so if a much older male clergymen sexually assaults or sexually preys on someone who is 14 or 15 or 16 the church according to canon law then shrugged its shoulders and says there’s nothing we can do about it. What I want is the whole church looks together at these issues e.g. homosexuality, celebacy etc… in the daylight and not behind closed doors which at the moment it seems to be. There is growing evidence all around the world about this hidden aspect of the church which is not healthy in my opinion. I agree with the reading of the day today “the plank” in my own eye. It’s something I think about all the time as I am a sinner but it’s also very hard to be part of a church which is clearly damaging people and I have just met too many people in my life who have been damaged by abuse and predation. My annoyance with the church is not about any personal prejudice against anyone because of the sexual orientation it’s against the cover up the networks, the deceit, the falsehood and the bullying. The Vatican is not addressing the issues and when journalists at the recent summit ask direct questions they were in large part just avoided. All these covers ups allowed abuse to continue. I have written to my Archbishop numerous times and to His Holiness Francis but have had no reply.
Finally could the message be amended to try and build bridges asking for these issues to be addressed together but saying they must be addressed?
Clinton, well soken. The somewhat brutal, harsh, and “straight-to-the-point” tone offered by this letter both surprised and disappointed me – – such an opposing and lower-level tone than the very excellent copy written for “The Fillial Appeal” letter back in 2015 previous to the Synod on the Family, a letter of which, if I’m not mistaken, Lepanto was deeply involved . I guess this was not written by the same person or team. I agree with Clinton that the tone approached disrespect towards the sacred hierarchy, who, through reception of Holy Orders, are daily become Alter Cristus in their Mass celebration, whether they are faithful or not and, most especilly, whether we like it or noy. God has made it so. The “fed up” position is understandable , but releases no one from the duties obliged upon us under the Fourth Commandment of God, especially concerning the sacred hierarchy. Rebuke in the language of the Church, not emotions, and only then can the Holy Spirit participate and be able to breathe the Divine Unction into such a letter so that its grace will move the souls Providence wishes to join to its wise, long suffering, and effective designs.
So we do nothing?…as a good holy priest I am grossly offend by your sin of omission!
It is true that we must respect the office of the papacy even if we have lost all respect for its holder. It is not easy to speak the brutal truth while having to wrap it in the language of a filial appeal. I believe the Dubia was also most respectful and courteous in its language, but I think it did not even get a routine acknowledgment letter. Is it possible that stronger language is needed to wake up some people in the hierarchy? While it is true that ordained men are above the laity, yet it is also true that we the laity belong to a universal priesthood, and we are also the Church. If we see very bad things in the Church we have a sacred duty to speak up, especially since there is not one group of organized bishops and priests which has engaged in an open battle against the evils in our Church.
Amen
Agree.
It is easy to stop it all.
St. Peter Damian told us how in 1050 A.D.
Public Penance and Public Humiliation for ALL clerical sodomites.
It is the Holy Father’s DUTY to Implement The Book of Gomorrah. Anything less, is shirking his duty before God and Man. There can be no other way.
Je signe cette pétition en tant que docteur en théologie catholique et président de l’Association “Pro Liturgia”. On ne peut plus continuer à marcher dans le brouillard : il faut que les enseignements de l’Eglise concernant la morale, la doctrine, la liturgie… soient enfin pris au sérieux et qu’on cesse de permettre à chacun de les adapter à ses goûts et à ses fantaisies.
The letter does seem like the laity wants the Pope to pass on. I agree with Joseph Clinton. I do appreciate the rest of the letter and agree with it. We are all trying to force transparency and justice and regain our church purified.
Waiting for a bad leader to pass on naturally cannot be a sin against the 5th Commandment. Many people during the Soviet occupation in eastern Europe were just waiting for Stalin’s death.
Consider the Lord’s parable about the wicked stewart. he made friends with the world so that when the master thrust him out of his office, those of the world would take him in. He applauded his shrewdness. However, since he was of the world, he would die by it as well. This is a time of suffering for the Church. consider that these priests, bishops etc. who are homosexuals or who are protecting them, they came from families. Are we the laity living out our vocation faithfully? The hierarchy is a sick part of the body right now and the faithful Catholics must be the ones to heal that part of the body. This will take time, prayer, facing and alms giving. True, we should withhold any and all monies to all bishops and none are above reproach, and in particular Peter’s pence. Starve it for money and when the funds dry up, those that are corrupt will leave for greener pastures. there was a time between 325 and 381 when the laity would block the entrance of a cathedral so that an Arian bishop would not be allow in. There was no violence, just the sensus fedelium acting in its role. “If anyone comes to you preaching a gospel other than what you have received, do not believe them, even if it from an angel or one of us.”
So now we pray, suffer, make acts of reparation, and give alms to local charities, local faithful parishes and we wait on the Lord in patience. One final thing. “For they sit on the seat of Moses, so do what ever they say, but not what they do.”
Thank you for making the effort to cleanse our Holy Mother Church of this evil! Pope Francis cannot be far away from his face-to-face meeting with the final Judge, and your letter reminds Francis to prepare now for the defense of his actions as shepherd. May he choose today to repent!
My letters to His Holiness said, “Our world is being torn apart. Please tell me if homosexuality and/or abortion is acceptable to the Church.”
I wrote multiple letters blanketing Vatican City because the Pope is incommunicato.
Does anyone have a good email or snail mail address?
I won’t sign this as long as Cardinal Dolan is on the list of bishops.
I’ve worked with hundreds of sexually abused children on child and adolescent psychiatric units. The most common abuser of boys is a straight (heterosexual) man acting contrary to his own orientation. He is not attracted to the gender of the victim; he is attracted to abusive sex with whatever age or gender is available to him. This is well known in the field of child sexual abuse, and has been proven by researchers, both on sexual abuse in the general population, and among the clergy. Only a small percentage (single digits) of abusers of children are homosexual. See the work of Thomas G. Plante on this subject.
The problem with homosexuality in the Church goes FAR beyond the abuse of children. This is why the laity are so outraged at the recent Synod. The active homosexuality within the clergy, the seduction and coercion of young men and teen age boys, especially within the Seminaries, and the covering up of sexual abuse of any sort were not addressed at all. And, having been a prosecutor for much of my legal career and dealing with many victims of sexual abuse, I take issue with your lumping together of children and adolescents in your first sentence. The implication there is that the abuse from which the young people suffer occurred when they were adolescents, not when they were little children.
It is time that Pope Francis fulfilled his leadership role and rooted out from his clergy all those who seriously fall short by continually failing to set and example of self control and chastity in their clerical role.
I totally agree with the contents of the open letter to Pope Francis. We the faithful have lost trust from the top to all Cardinals etc…
To purify Holy Mother Church we need to clean house totally of all those name in the letter. They are a big reason for spreading and covering up this evil.
The Church belongs to Jesus Christ not any one of these named or not named. We stand for the truth. Jesus is the way the truth and the light.
Feedback on number of signatures to date, deadline, or target number of signatures might help motivate more to sign this.
Prayers for our Church
Thanks for your efforts–am utterly weary of politically correct, lying windage—-plain language is refreshing1
Love the letter but you should show how many signatures you have received and how many your goal is.
I would delete the first four paragraphs and rewrite the fifth paragraph to use as the opening paragraph, focusing on sexual immorality, most especially homosexuality, as the root of the problem. I would then remove the very long, final sentence in its entirety (and not replace it). Keep all other paragraphs. Clean up the punctuation, substituting commas for the triple-dots. And, use one word instead of many to make the same point, for example: in paragraph 6, replace “are going to have to take” with “must”. Bottom line: keep it simple and to the point; minimize chances for misinterpretation; and, remove superfluous/emotional sentences.
Thank you for speaking out. I pray our bishops will.
Good letter! We can all also write our own letters to Pope Francis! I wrote last year. I will write again in filial piety. Are we going to be silent like Pope Francis is? No, let the voice of God, sensus fidelium, speak through the faithful!!! Pope Francis, instead of being the visible sign of unity, is the visible sign of disunity. He is not being Peter! He pretends to teach what Christ teaches and denies the Lord’s teaching. The Catholic Charities and CCHD collections were started or taken over by leftists. Were any of the bureaucrats agents of the Soviet Union like McCarrick was and now of Communism in general? We know that the agent so McCarrick certainly followed the leftist game plan. McCarrick just advanced the Communist party in China. The head of the Pontifical Council for Sciences and Social Sciences, Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo praised China to high heaven for the best implementation of ‘Catholic’ social teaching.
I pray that the Holy Spirit awakens the eyes of our Pope to recognise that he being the Vicar of the church he is responsible for the faithful and should hold all the culprits accountable for their crimes and provide justice to the victims who have been silenced and tormented.
There is cause for concern when he makes comments that disparages issues by saying we are too focused on abortion and now on homosexuality we just going through the motions without any criminal action on the perpetrators, Every soul has great value which should not be diminished.
May God be with us all in this period of tribulation.
Francis D. No disrespect, but Pope Francis thinks he is being responsible, because he is a socialist / communist and as research into his time in Argentina has shown, he has been acting the way he is now even years before he was elected (by St. Gallen mafia) as Pope. When he was in Argentina he covered up for homosexual priests, blamed victims and upset many people by not removing abusers from their stations. He is befriending George Soros, who wants the Catholic Church destroyed and pays millions of dollars to the USCCB. There is much proof and testimonies from people who have suffered at his misplaced authority. Church Militant, along with Lepanto and Taylor Marshal all have credible information.
Blunt. Cathartic. But I agree. And, in addition to pursuing personal virtue, to sign this letter is to bear witness before Heaven.
Leave the position of Pope today….you have done enough damage in your short tenure.
Hi Michael, Thanks for all you are doing. Suggest possibly adding/modifying some language in your open letter to include …any un-celibate behavior from clerics who are ordained and who vowed to live a celibate life…
Why does the pope continue to ignore all the open accusations of archbishop Vigano? Why wasn’t this courageous whistleblower even invited to this summit?… Why don’t catholic journalists dare to bring up the question of the first Vigano letter again, as the pope himself advised when confronted with that letter openly in the plane: “Read it for yourselves and I rely on your professional skills to draw your conclusions…” What a sham!
I do wish to sign an open letter to the Holy Father but I agree with many of the comments posted here regarding the wording and general tone presented in this letter. Citing scripture, the CCC and past Papal encyclicals would definitely strengthen our position.
Thank you for the email, However I find that writing that we will not pay you if you do not do something positive instead of talking sounds like blackmail to me. We have waited over 60 years for concrete action. So us support the Holy Father in getting rid of these criminal supposed holy ministers who have damaged the Church. Realising that the ability to go to mass and sacraments will be severely restricted owing to the removal of clergy who have Damaged the Church. Be prepared to travel further to mass. After all most people spent a lot of time and effort looking our girlfriend come wife and employment where we expect to spend a life time with them.Yet do not spend a lot effort looking for God who we will spend an eternity with. Martin Bentley
May I suggest something like the following:
Holy Father,
The summit on sexual abuse did not address the concerns that we the laity have, as the proposed action items are in themselves good, but fall well short of what we expected. It seems that the more talk we hear from the summit participants, the less credible we find them. Therefore, we propose the following:
1. That the Holy Father appoint lay prosecutors with coercive power to compel the production of evidence and testimony in regards to any sexual misconduct, abuse, support of homosexual lifestyles, or any criminal activities within all levels of the Church;
2. That a financial audit be undertaken of all dioceses to determine the inappropriate use of funds including funds for any sexual misconduct;
3. That a comprehensive report be made public which includes a list of all persons involved in regards to any sexual improprieties, cover-ups or other criminal activities;
4. That all persons of the clergy involved in any sexual improprieties, cover-ups or other criminal activities are to be laicized;
5. That all clergy practicing homosexual lifestyles or seminarians to be ordained practicing homosexual lifestyles are to be laicized;
6. That all seminarians identifying with any part of homosexual lifestyles are to be blocked from entering the clergy;
7. That all persons of the clergy involved in any abuse, cover-up or criminal activities be turned over to the local authorities for prosecution; and
8. That all persons of the clergy supporting homosexual lifestyles are to be laicized.
Until all of these proposals are met, we, the laity of the Church, are temporarily withholding all donations/funds at the parish level. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but the laity also has a responsibility to correct errors in the Church according to Canon Law 212(3). With all due respect, the public response from the Bishops/Cardinals, with very few exceptions, and you Holy Father, have been woefully inadequate and will result in just more of the same. Looking at it from another perspective, it is impossible to do any evangelization for the Church under the current circumstances. We understand that this is an enormous task that will take time, but this has to be resolved and resolved quickly for the sake of many souls.
Sincerely
I would sign such a letter.
Dear Murray, Your bullet points are good, except that once again, reporting clergy abuse seems to be an “In house” responsibility. Everyone in the Parish should be told, in the nicest language possible, to DIRECTLY and IMMEDIATELY report any inappropriate touching or sexual wrong doing to the police, or sheriff. And only AFTER that has been done should anyone report these things to the Pastor of the church. Priests should not even hear of abuse until after a police report has been made. This gets rid of all feelings that church leaders protect clergy members, or feelings that reports would harm the “image” of the Church! This could be done in a Church homily, or in a nice letter or booklet so that the authors of the letter or booklet can frame this request with the intended protection, and unity with the parishioners. After all, not all priests are guilty, and they shouldn’t be thought to be potential molesters. But on the other hand, the nice and pure priests should offer REAL AND VIABLE PROTECTION to the parishioners by telling them to report DIRECTLY to the Police.. If the letter or booklet is nicely worded, the parishioners should feel the love and care and PROTECTION from church men, and not feel worried about them.
Same problem with me
Can we petition him to do away with the novus ordo sacraments, do away with Vatican 2, and return worldwide to Traditional Catholicism?
Not at all. The peak of the abuse epidemic was within the 60s to the 90s during at the time when all the priests and bishops were the product of the Vatican 1 council produced by the specialist clerics with one eyed obsession with the threat of Modernism. It was Ultramontanism, not tradition, which absolutely needed to be set aside and the faithful on earth returned to the central tenets of the faith.
Please consider Murray McCrae’s letter.Seems more to the point and without the impetuous tone of the original letter. We should all pray for the leaders of our Church and ourselves to return to humility, service to others and courage.
When will we stop beating around and instead, call for following the ten commandments with an emphasis on the 6th, sodemy is a mortal sin.
I agree with the contents of the letter. However, we all need to remember that if Pope Francis is our Pope now – it is because Jesus has allowed it. We can say what we want – but He is in control – as crazy as it may seem. Therefore, we are called to love him, pray for him and remain respectful of him. The conclusion of the letter needs to be re-written and I don’t understand what the “we will not pay you” means! This letter needs to be better written. And the 2nd last para that concludes “any form of unnatural sexual behaviour” should say “ANY FORM OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR” (which includes natural or unnatural. They should not be engaging in sexual activity period!)
We know the declining participation of Catholics (of which I am one) and we are losing to other denominations, but worse to secularism and at an alarming pace. I have witnessed the tragedy of Islam yet this rival worldview is outpacing Christianity and I believe in my heart it is due to evil in the Catholic Church.
There is no change without a crisis… and it seems to me that the Vatican believes it can “manage” the crisis vs changing direction. If “we are the Church” and the Pope does not recognize the laity as such then we are destined for another reformation in Christianity. The pure biblical orthodoxy must be renewed by the Vatican for the sake of Catholicism or we lose the moral authority to lead the universal Christian church. For this reason I support the notion of a letter, but not in the form I read as it deepens a division between hierarchy and laity.
With all due respect I urge you to re-write the letter with reverence, love, forgiveness, and humility. Make it known we know the facts as they are… but also as they should be.
While I am definitely not a supporter of the papacy of Francis, I find that the tone of the letter is disrespectful of the office of pope, established by Jesus himself. I, therefore, can not sign.
I’ve been wanting to say a lot about my concerns for the church and our flock that is NOT being taken care of! This says it all! Praying daily for our pope, that he can somehow lead like St Peter did as the vicar of Christ.