(Hint: Either copy and paste the text below into your document or e-mail this article to yourself.)
Name of Bishop, Pastor, Parish priest, Deacon, Parish leader
Address
City, State, Zip
Re: Meetings to be called in our community
Dear Name:
Pope Francis has encouraged the People of God to “bother our pastors” and make our voices heard. It is our desire to do just this by calling a series of meetings in our community to invite Catholics as well as former Catholics to speak up and make our needs known. We will be working in conjunction with others throughout the world so that we will have a discussion guide and form in place to report the outcome of these meetings.
The purpose of this letter is to let you know that we are responding to the call of Pope Francis and taking the initiative to schedule these meetings and open up a discussion forum. To bishop: Ideally, we would like to work with you as our bishop so that, once we have the topics and schedule set, we’d like you to announce these meetings in our diocesan newsletter and encourage all of the pastors in our diocese to work with us as well. To pastors, parish priests, deacons, parish leaders: Ideally, we would like to work with you so that, once we have the topics and schedule set, we’d like you to announce these meetings in our parish bulletin and in the announcements after the Sunday Masses.
Our brother, Pope Francis, encourages – even expects – all of us to work together and bring our learnings, hopes, challenges, and desires to him. Your presence at these gatherings would be greatly desired as a sign of your support and your openness to listen to and truly hear the People.
In affiliation with Catholic Church Reform Int’l, we have sent a Letter to the Pope regarding Decentralization of the Church – January 2016 and his council urging them, in their current discussion on decentralization of our Church, to make certain that the People of God be given a deliberative voice in the governance of our Church. Francis has described his vision of Church structure as an upside down pyramid. With Church structure seen in this light, we envision that any needed reforms will inevitably come from the People down through their bishops and ultimately sanctioned by the pope, who is the pivotal point at the bottom of this structure. We invite you to read and reflect upon our letter and join us in signing it. In response to the Holy Father’s expressed wish, we are ready to work with you and welcome your thoughts.
We look forward to hearing back from you and remain sincerely yours in Christ,
Your name
on behalf of your local group or organization
your group’s website if you have one
