A Priest Writes to his Bishop for Dialogue

Letter to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Diocese of Seattle from Fr. John D. Whitney, SJ, Pastor, about requests of parishioners for dialogue on Church issues..

WSCC – The Washington State Catholic Conference. Bishops of the State. http://thewscc.org/

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Seattle, assigned by the Vatican as “archbishop delegate” of the Triumverate assessing the LCWR

Fr. John D. Whitney, S.J. Pastor St, Joseph Parish, former Provincial Oregon Province. 206.300.6010

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Members of St. Joseph Parish:

When I came before the community several weeks ago, seeking your help to meet the Annual Catholic Appeal, I noted that many of you seemed ambivalent about pledging to the ACA: wondering if your pledge did not suggest more support of the direction of the Archdiocese than you intended. At that time, I invited those who wished to give directly to the Parish, and said that I would use equivalent Parish funds to pay the ACA. I also said I would send a letter to the Archbishop, explaining the circuitous path of our donations. Below is the letter I have sent. I hope I have captured the spirit of those of you who chose to direct your donation through the Parish, without suggesting that all feel the same way. I pray this letter may begin a constructive dialogue.

Yours in Christ,

3 August 2012

The Most Reverend Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, D.D., S.T.L. Archbishop of Seattle 710 9th Avenue Seattle, WA 98104-2017

Dear Archbishop Sartain, Peace of Christ!

With this letter you will find a check from St. Joseph Parish in the amount of $27,675.00, given as a partial payment of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal. In sending you this check, along with this letter, I am representing the desires of many members of St. Joseph Parish who love the Church and seek to serve it with their lives, but who could not, in conscience, donate directly to the ACA at this time. This was not because these parishioners do not support much of what the Annual Catholic Appeal does; rather, they have withheld their ACA pledge, or have minimized it, or have redirected it because they find such an action the only means by which they can exercise the prophetic role to which they are called by their baptism. Unable to exercise an active voice in the discernment of decisions made by those charged with leadership in the Church, these parishioners have sought a venue in which they could be heard: i.e., through the financial care of the Church and her mission.

Two areas of particular concern for many of the active members of St. Joseph regard (1) the position of the Washington Catholic Conference on Referendum 74, and (2) the intervention by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the internal governance of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Regarding the first of these issues, I would note that many—though not all—in the Parish consider the Church’s engagement in this piece of civil legislation inappropriate. For these parishioners, the Referendum does not address marriage in the sacramental sense, but involves an issue of civil rights. Though they have received the material distributed through the WSCC, many believe that the national statements of Church leaders, as well as the local involvement on this issue, foster injustice in civil society, contrary to their conscience. Likewise, the immediate move to advocacy by the WSCC, rather than a process of dialogue and prayerful discernment, made many feel alienated and, as they have told me, damaged the Church’s role as educator of conscience. For many, this damage was exacerbated when the Archdiocese called for the solicitation of signatures in parishes, following Sunday Eucharist, in support of bringing the Referendum to the ballot. Indeed, even many of those who oppose the Referendum and support the WSCC’s position found this unprecedented action inappropriately partisan and contrary to the spirit which they seek in weekly Eucharist; thus, they encouraged me to make the pastoral decision I did.

Yet, if many at St. Joseph were unhappy about the level of advocacy regarding Referendum 74, their understanding of the Church’s stance on homosexuality meant that they were not wholly surprised by the position of the WSCC. However, with the CDF’s intervention against the LCWR, a more spontaneous and, it seems to me, profound sense of dismay and disedification was unleashed. The group, Standing With the Sisters, arose spontaneously in the Parish, from the conversations of several women who felt that the action of the CDF was directed against them, as well as against the Religious Women of the LCWR—part of systemic disempowerment of women within the Church. The importance of so many women’s religious communities—Holy Names, Providence, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph

of Peace, Mercy, Dominican, Franciscan, etc.—in the shaping of St. Joseph and its members made the action of the CDF extremely personal and disheartening to many of the ordinary women and men of this community, and continues to animate them—as it does so many across the country.

It is also true, Archbishop, that your acceptance of the role of implementor of the verdict of the CDF has been both a cause of sorrow and hope among members of the Parish. You are seen as a man of prayer and one welcoming to the views of others. Even on the issue of Referendum 74, you have been seen as pastorally sensitive and personally kind. The people of St. Joseph care for you and, I believe, pray for you regularly (even outside the Eucharistic Prayer). Yet, at the same time many feel uncertain by your decision to accept this appointment, and have sought to understand your participation in this action against some of those who are best and holiest within our Church. As with Referendum 74, the result of the intervention has been to alienate many in the community from the larger Church, and, indeed, sometimes even from the Parish—all of which has had a significant effect on the Annual Catholic Appeal.

When I heard from many traditional donors and long-time members of the Parish that they would not be giving to ACA this year, because of the direction of the Archdiocese, I grew concerned and spoke repeatedly from the pulpit about the good work done by the ACA, referring, at times, to your commitment not to spend any ACA funds on the Referendum 74 campaign. Still, several weeks ago, we found ourselves with $55,000 still outstanding in our ACA assessment. Thus, I decided to try another tack: I came before the Parish, telling them of the shortage and the need to meet the assessment, since our budget could not afford a shortfall. I then asked them to pledge to the ACA or, if they could not in conscience do so, to give to the Parish in a special envelope, provided in the back of the Church, with which we would pay the assessment. I committed to them that I would pass on their concerns with the money we raised, though I also encouraged all who wished to write to you directly. This letter is the result of that commitment, since we raised, in a few weeks, almost $28,000, from 67 families, who chose to give to the Parish in lieu of pledging to the Archdiocese. Representing more than 20% of the total raised or pledged at St. Joseph for the ACA, I think this figure a significant enough amount to ask what it means to the Archdiocese and to the Church.

Archbishop Sartain, the members of St. Joseph who have held back or redirected their gifts are not uninvolved or "casual" Catholics—they love the Church and are, for the most part, faithful and hopeful people. They have listened to the gospel and learned the lessons of faith since Vatican II; many have deepened their faith lives through spiritual reading and prayer, and long for the gift of the Eucharist and the life of the sacraments. They grumbled at times but have embraced the revised liturgy. They worry about their children’s perseverance in the faith, and support Catholic education and the works of outreach and service. For the most part, they love and revere the Holy Father and their Archbishop; yet they are also concerned that the Spirit who moves not only in the hierarchy, but in the whole Church—the whole People of God—is not being heard or attended to. They want to understand and to engage in a communal dialogue that they see as foundational of our faith—not rebellious to hierarchy, but in communion with those who have received the mission of leadership in the Church. Though we have done a great deal of such dialogue at a local level—with gatherings on formation of conscience and the reading of Scripture, discernment and its application—there is a deep desire to do it with the primary Pastor of the Church in this region.

And so, Archbishop, I would like to invite you to come to St. Joseph, at a time convenient to you, to speak with the members of the Parish and to listen to them—to engage together with the people of St. Joseph in listening to the Spirit moving in the Church. I promise to do all I can to facilitate such a gathering, and to ensure that it is prayerfully centered and built on the hope and faith which are the signs of the Spirit.

At General Congregation 35, the Holy Father called the members of the Society of Jesus to recall our founders, and to build bridges between the heart of the Church and its frontiers. It is ironic, perhaps, that such bridge-building would occur even within the life of such a firmly Catholic parish as St. Joseph; yet, this is what I see these days to be: a time of bridges, when the heart reaches out to the frontier and the frontier renews the heart. May Christ Jesus, the head of the Church, in whom "the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:21), sustain us in this good work and lead us to become his temple.

Your servant in the Lord,

John D. Whitney, S.J. Pastor 206.300.6010