BishopAccountability.org
	Catholic Church Has Major Struggle Ahead By Kathy Rumleski London Free Press September 19, 2011 http://www.lfpress.com/blogs/lifesportsother/2011/09/19/18707386.html Last week in The Free Press, Bishop Fabbro revealed some hard numbers about church attendance and the decline in the number of priests. Only 14% of those considered Catholic in the Diocese attend church. On Sunday, the Bishop presented more information in a letter that was inserted in church bulletins throughout the diocese. He's asking for public response to the numbers and help to draw up a plan on the future of the church. In late August, a story emerged that in the cathedral of the Diocese of Phoenix, SS. Simon and Jude, there would no longer be female altar servers. The cathedral rector, John Lankeit, wanted to encourage males to enter the priesthood and felt if they became altar servers, this would help. Somehow he thought this might also encourage females to become nuns. I guess he doesn't understand or want to know what kind of relationship females might have with the church. I was an altar server as a child and that perhaps is why I still attend church today. It provided a spiritual connection serving at the altar that even children feel. I loved being an altar server. I served with Fr. John Devine, a wonderful man ahead of his day in that it was very rare to find female altar servers at Catholic churches. He also treated everyone with the same respect, courtesy and good will. What's happening in Phoenix is very disturbing. I think the church as a whole and the London Diocese can only address its future by looking at the roles of women and the importance they play. Bishop Fabbro has asked the public to reach out on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. Well, I'm reaching out on my blog. Anyone have any other messages for the bishop? I also think priests should be allowed to marry. It was the uniting of Adam and Eve that got the world off to its start. The first leader of the Catholic Church, Simon Peter, was married.
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