Resolutions Approved by Confraternity of Catholic Clergy for 2002

by Confraternity of Catholic Clergy

We affirm all Catholic Clergy — Deacons, Priests and Bishops — who are faithful to the Gospel, to the Pope and Magisterium and to their vows of chastity and promises of celibacy. During this time of scandal and pain, we urge orthodox and morally upright men to imitate the sacerdotal role models of Saint John Vianney, Saint Maximillan Kolbe and Saint Padre Pio. May their courage in time of trial and adversity; their purity in time of temptation; and their holiness of life inspire many good men to respond to the Lord's call to the Priesthood and Diaconate.

We highly recommend, in solidarity with all bishops, priests and deacons, to join us in prayerful reparation for the current maladies, crimes, cover-ups and injustices done within the Church by some members of the clergy and to some members of the clergy. Voluntary regimen of fasting and abstinence from meat and a time of prayer each and every Friday of the year effective immediately will be our modest means of reparation and solidarity. Our prayers shall go out to all the families who have been victimized, to all the faithful who have been scandalized and to most of the honorable clergy who have been wrongly identified or penalized for the sins of some of their colleagues.

We strongly urge the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to develop and implement a viable plan of accountability for all members of the clergy: bishops, priests and deacons engaged in any type of sexual misconduct whatsoever and/or the reassignment of known sexual abusers of minors. Furthermore, we ask every bishop who is negligent in either aspect, (i.e., those who may have committed sexual abuse with a minor or those who reassign known sexual abusers of minors) to resign from office for the good of Holy Mother Church.

We respectfully request that the USCCB to conduct an UNBIASED study of the role of homosexuality in the current sexual abuse by clergy scandal now plaguing the Church. We request the enforcement of existing Vatican directives forbidding the ordination of known and/or professed homosexuals to Holy Orders. We urge the resignation and removal from active ministry of all members of the clergy (bishop, priest or deacon) who defiantly refuse to live a chaste and pure life in public and in private.

We pledge total fidelity to the Gospels and Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church, particularly in matters of sexual morality which have been publicly neglected, perverted, distorted, ignored, attacked, ridiculed and disobeyed in organized ways via the pulpit, the classroom, and the media since the first act of dissent from Humanae Vitae took place in 1968. We are firmly convinced that the origin of the contemporary scandals infecting the Church can be traced to theological dissent and liturgical abuse (lex orandi, lex credendi) of the past and present which only promote and proliferate immoral behavior and activity.

We strongly urge a systematic, thorough and productive INVESTIGATION of all American seminaries (minor and major) with an emphasis on identifying and removing all elements of dissent and heterodoxy, liturgical abuse and aberrations and any and all sexual misconduct. We want to encourage, recognize and applaud those seminaries where spiritual, moral and doctrinal formation are based on the Gospel, the Magisterium and Natural Moral Law and where men are taught by word and example to live holy, chaste, prayerful and orthodox vocations.

We urge the American Bishops to develop national guidelines and binding policies for the protection of clergy from possible false and erroneous accusations by the utilization of just rules of evidence and due process as guaranteed by civil and canon law. We denounce any measures which would violate the rights of the accused who are presumed innocent until proven guilty while we staunchly repudiate all crimes, especially those of a sexual and/or violent nature committed against anyone but most of all against the most vulnerable, i.e., women and children. ***

We urge in this time of turmoil, that all Bishops, Priests and Deacons aggressively recruit suitable candidates to the Priesthood and Diaconate who profess unambiguous fidelity to Christ, to the Roman Pontiff and to the Magisterium and who live and seek to live chaste and honorable lives. We commit ourselves to praying for vocations and to giving good example and to actively encouraging good men to consider an ordained vocation in the Church.

We place all these concerns at the feet of Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy and Mother of All Priests, for Her maternal intercession.

Given, presented and approved at the July 2002 Convocation of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.

*** [Since Holy Orders imparts an indelible mark on the soul, we remind everyone that priesthood is forever and that God's Divine Mercy is infinite while His Justice shall always prevail. We therefore ask that the guilty be punished, the innocent protected and that the repentant sinner be forgiven as commanded in the Gospel. Prudence demands that adjudicated sexual offenders NEVER be placed in any ministerial assignment where there is any contact whatsoever with children or young adults, nevertheless, Christian charity also demands that after fulfilling civil and canonical penalties, censures, etc., a repentant cleric should be treated with compassion. Options for strictly monitored and heavily restricted ministry (cloistered monastery, nursing home chaplaincy, discreet office work, etc.) should be investigated in a case by case examination rather than an indiscriminate plan to defrock everyone found guilty of misconduct. Pedophiles are another matter since pedophilia is an incurable condition and due to the great danger to innocent children, pedophile clergy must be suspended immediately] addendum

This item 4381 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org