AUSTRALIA
A GROUP of prominent Australian Catholics is calling on bishops to
consider the ordination of married men and women to deal with what they
call "a major crisis of ministry and leadership in Australian
Catholicism", writes Mark Brolly.

The 36-strong group - which includes priests, religious, author Dr Paul
Collins, former Australian Broadcasting Corporation board member Sr
Veronica Brady, New South Wales judge Chris Geraghty and leading
Catholic philosopher Max Charlesworth - sent the letter outlining their
proposal to each of Australia's bishops in June. It was published last
week on the website Catholica Australia, which reported that 11 bishops
had replied - eight sympathetic to the petitioners, one negative and two
non-committal. "While it is true that bishops are constrained in what
they can do by the Vatican, the Catholic tradition is clear: the
bishop's primary responsibility is to his diocese and more broadly to
the national Church," the letter said.


The group identified several areas of concern - "the increasingly acute
shortage" of priests to meet eucharistic and other sacramental needs,
the drift of young people from the Church and the lack of women in
church leadership roles. They urge bishops at their November meeting to
take steps towards ordaining suitably qualified married men because
"there is no doctrinal or theological barrier to the ordination of
married men". They also call for wide discussion on the role of women in
ministry, including women's ordination, and for priests who have left to
return to active priesthood, with the agreement of local bishops.


The group is asking for more signatories to the letter on the Catholica
website. So far more than 200 people have signed it.