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FUTURECHURCH
Needs Help – An Appeal
An appeal letter excerpted below was sent to FutureChurch’s
membership last month by Sr. Chris Schenck, executive
director, and Arline Nosse and J. Gerard Sheehan, Co-Chairs,
Leadership Council. To learn about the remarkable achievements
of FutureChurch, visit their website at www.futurechurch.org.
For 15 years, FutureChurch has been able to devote
maximum resources to our educational and advocacy
efforts because our offices have been in very low-cost
parish based space.
Now, we have been asked to move out of the rectory
basement that has been our home
for eight years due to the parish’s need for
additional space. We must find new space by August
1st and know that we have no choice but to find commercial
rental space, which will have an overwhelming impact
on our small budget.
There is no possibility of finding space in another
church. Diocesan officials have made
no secret of their desire to deny FutureChurch access
to church property for our activities – including
educational programs and prayer services. The FutureChurch
Leadership Council and staff are grateful to the
St. Mark Parish Council, the wonderful parishioners
of St. Mark and, especially, former pastor, Fr. Doug
Koesel for providing us with office space for these
past eight years.
We are especially sad to be asked to leave church
property because we believe that discussing opening
ordination to all who are called and advocating for
greater lay involvement in the life of the Church are
very important to the future of our Church. We should
be talking about these critical issues in every Catholic
parish, every Catholic school, and every Catholic home.
Otherwise, we risk losing access to Eucharist and losing
our parishes because of the ever-worsening priest shortage.
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