Two men is all it takes: as two ordinary
Catholic fathers, Mark Lambert and I have collected more than 500 signatures on a letter in support
of the 461 brave priests who wrote to the Catholic Herald recently.
When we saw the priests’ letter to the Herald in support of Catholic teaching, and in particular when we saw that it was so helpful
and clear, we wanted to express our support. Instead of simply writing
ourselves, we decided to see if we could get a similar number of laity to
sign a letter of support.
So we posted a response and an appeal for signatures on our blogs, and asked other lay Catholic
bloggers to do the same. In the event 30 blogs carried the appeal, starting on
Palm Sunday, and as a result 515 people have signed the letter, which is now carried by the Herald online, and will be in the print edition at the weekend, thanks to Madeleine Teahan.
I think more people would have signed, but at about the same time, someone started an iPetition to similar effect, and many people having signed one, thought they had signed the other.
Nonetheless, we are delighted that people from every diocese in England and Wales, as well as
many in Scotland and Ireland, signed. We also had signatures from all over the
world, in particular Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia.
We
felt that it was important to support the priests, because after the Synod,
there was some confusion about the Church’s teaching, and the priests made it
quite clear what that teaching is and why it is correct. It is wonderful to see
priests fulfilling their ministry in such a clear and charitable way.
As
fathers, we know that it is particularly important for the next generation to
have the benefit of the Church’s clear teaching to guide them. As society moves
further and further from a Christian understanding of marriage, it is essential
that Christ’s true teaching is presented in a clear way, to help people avoid
the tragedy of family breakdown.
And this public initiative seems a good time to lift the veil on the identity of Ben Trovato.
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4 comments:
confused as I sent you my name, plus Blossom Sanders of Toronto,Brett Sequeira of Ontario, Joseph Servi of London, Jamie Corwin Priest, Rowan Hannah Priest & Jonathan Gregory Priest a while back - not a problem :)
Sorry, Paul, I don't seem to have a record of that: apologies if the error is at my end. It has been just a bit busy...
Well done, you two. It was important not to leave those brave priests on their own, and it was an inspired idea to collect our signatures via the lay bloggers.
Thank you- both- very much for this splendid effort. I am surely far from alone in appreciating your having enabled us to record our profound appreciation of so many excellent priests. The priests among the original signatories whom I know personally are among the best. May God bless them all!
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