Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
(John 15:7a)
Announcement – Something New!AUSCP has a gift for all diocesan and religious order priests being ordained this year. Please send the names, contact information, and date of ordination of those from your area to auscpexdir@gmail.com. Thanks. ______________________________ |
Mutual Support:UNTOLD STORIES THAT NEED TO BE TOLD, part oneFor the past three years, the Mutual Support Work Group of the AUSCP has focused much effort to inform clerics of their canonical and civil rights when accused of misconduct. We now want to hear the voices of priests who have experienced an obstruction of justice or legality in handling their being accused of abuse. The Untold Stories That Need to be Told is our new venture in our concern for justice. The goal of this project is to compile evidentiary documentation to help the church-at-large connect the dots and bring about improvement in canonical and pastoral protocols for bishops and priests. This week’s article provides some background information about this project. The next article of the e-newsletter will focus on the importance of priests’ stories and how you can help. You can read part one HERE. |
Deadline is Here for AUSCP Leadership Team Nominations!
Please consider your gifts and see if they match what is needed to serve on the Leadership Team. We welcome diversity in all areas – age, race, ethnicity, diocese, etc.
Nomination forms are available from: office@auscp.org. Please consider self-nominating or encouraging someone you think would be a good addition to the Leadership Team.
We are at an exciting time in the AUSCP as we support the agenda of Pope Francis! Please give serious consideration to how you can use your gifts to further the work of AUSCP. Deadline for nominations is April 30, 2024.
Nominees must be current in their AUSCP membership and be present at the 2024 Assembly in Lexington! Presently, there is only one nominee. Please give this special consideration!
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Call for Assembly Colloquia
Any AUSCP working group or Assembly exhibitor who wishes to conduct a small group session at the Assembly on Thursday morning, June 27, needs to submit their title, brief description, and name of facilitator(s) by May 10, 2024. Send to: office@auscp.org
Your Conscience, Your Vote: Voting as a Discerning Catholic in 2024
As election day draws closer, the AUSCP offers a collection of news, opinions, and resources to help you in discernment:
https://auscp.org/catholic-
Register NOW for the 2024 AUSCP Annual Assembly!
Registration is available online, or by check.
Send checks to: AUSCP, PO Box 676, Tiffin, OH 44883
Access Online Assembly Registration Form HERE.
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/
Did you renew your AUSCP Membership for 2024?
If you are one of the 399 who have already renewed, thank you! You can ignore this message.
The yearly membership fee is $60 for priest members. We encourage Friends to support our work, but there is no set fee for Friends. We appreciate your membership! Please stay with us by renewing at this link at your earliest convenience, if you have not already renewed for 2024:
https://forms.donorsnap.com/
****************************** ****************************** Upcoming WebinarsThere are two new webinars scheduled for May. MAY 15, 4PM: Vatican II Decree on Christian Education — Gravissimum EducationisHosted by Fr. Bob Bonnot and presented by Dr. Joe TormaThis decree presents convictions of the Vatican II Council, listing 12 specific topics dealing with certain fundamental principles of Christian education. The topics include: The Meaning of the Universal Right to an Education, Christian Education, Parents as the primary and principal Educators, Various Aids, the Importance of Schools, the Duties and Rights of Parents, Moral and Religious Education, Catholic and Different Types of Schools, Catholic Colleges and Universities, Faculties of Sacred Sciences, and Coordination in Scholastic Matters. It is a short, but informative document. “These principles will have to be developed at greater length by a special post-conciliar commission and applied by episcopal conferences to varying local situations.” It was approved by Vatican II on October 28, 1965. Are we doing better or worse since Vatican II? What do we need to strengthen going forward?
************ MAY 22, 4PM: Vatican II Declaration on Religious Freedom — Dignitatis HumanaeHosted by Fr. Bob Bonnot and presented by Dr. Joe TormaThis Declaration deals with the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters religious. “A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man/people, and the demand is increasingly made that men/people should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion, but motivated by a sense of duty.” This document has no titled segments but 15 numbered segments. It concludes: “it is necessary that religious freedom be everywhere provided with an effective constitutional guarantee and that respect be shown for the high duty and right of man freely to lead his religious life in society.” The conclusion calls us to keep this declaration steadily in our lives. It was approved by the Vatican II Council on December 7, 1965. Have we grown in our religious freedom since 1965? ************ CONSTITUTION ON SACRED LITURGY: Wednesdays, February 21, 28 and March 6, 13, 2024. Hosted by Fr. Bob Bonnot and presented by Dr. Joe TormaThis series has ended, but the Videos are online HERE. |
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Other Webinars and Activities that might be of interest:
YOU are invited!
AUSCP Joins With Discerning Deacons and Others
MONDAY, APRIL 29 AT 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT
“Deacons are ordained for the ministry of serving the People of God in the diakonia of the Word, in the liturgy, but above all in the exercise of charity.” (Lumen Gentium, P 29)
All are invited to a focused synodal encounter with a listening presence from voting synod delegates. This will include a conversation in the Spirit to expand and deepen the discernment. Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish will be available.
Please register here to reserve your seat!
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Pax Christi
Intergenerational Nonviolent Peacemaking Through Difficult Times: Tiffany Hunsinger and Janice Vanderhaar’s Peace Pair Project
Wednesday, May 1, and Wednesday, May 15 at 8:00 pm Eastern Time
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Association of Pittsburgh Priests
Zoom session: LGBTQ Students in Catholic Schools: Is There a Way forward?
Cathleen Kaveny, Professor at Boston College, will address this.
Tuesday, May 7, 7 pm Eastern time
The culture wars have found a flash point in Catholic schools. Some people, including bishops, want to prohibit LGBTQ teachers from seeking employment in such schools, because they violate church teaching on sexual morality and gender identity. Other people urge the schools to be more welcoming, citing Pope Francis’ injunction that the doors of the church are to be open to everyone. How do we negotiate these tensions in a way that respects the dignity of everyone involved, as well as the mission of Catholic education?
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How to Become a Synodal Parish: Level 100 Context and Practices
Facilitated by Bernadette Rudolph, MA, MS,
Online, May 4-5, 2024
If you are part of a Catholic leadership or ministry team in a parish, you and your team could become equipped to bring synodality to life for the people you serve.
Discover what God is dreaming of for the Church!
Here is a link to the program description and registration: