(Please use links at left hand side to find out more about emboldened text.) To young people, their parents, grandparents, and friends: If you have moved on from the Church believing it to be outdated and out of touch with your needs, you have an unprecedented...

(Please use links at left hand side to find out more about emboldened text.) As we say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new, let us continue to pull together to work for the reform of our Church. While it may seem that Pope Francis is moving slowly, he is...

To all interested in the reform of our Church:

There is a movement underway to bring together worldwide organizations and Christian communities who want to see the reform of the Roman Catholic Church and to work in collaboration toward this renewal. Whether you are an individual or part of a reform organization, we invite you to join with us.

September 1, 2016

Today we released the following press release as the newly created department for the Laity, Family and Life is officially launched. We offer this for your reading and, if you agree, we invite you to send this out to your local news media. 

If reform is going to come in our Church, it will be because the people are speaking out and being heard. If you want to join in the reform movement, we encourage you to start or join a small local gathering.

To all interested in seeing the Church evolve into the values of Vatican II:

There are many things we can do together to continue to call for the reform of our Church

Join us in making a selfie video

Call a gathering in your community 

You may already be holding meetings in your area. Now we invite you to share the outcomes of these meetings on www.ThePeopleSpeakOut.org.

If you’re interested in gathering a few people together and would appreciate some help in getting this started, click here. Following on the two Synods attended almost entirely by bishops, there is discussion among reform groups about holding a People’s Synod sometime in the future. Your local gatherings could well be a lead up to this and become part of a growing global movement: Act Local – Think Global.

Virginia Saldanha (India) said this about local gatherings: “If we don’t act, positive changes will not happen. Local and smaller communities have a greater sense of participation. It is an opportune moment in history. Francis wants a thorough going synodality that listens to the grass roots. Our focus on local gatherings is apt, because local communities model a style of participation that needs to be adapted to the larger communities that build on the local church.”

To representatives of Church Reform Organizations:

We’d like to explore ways that we might work together to bring about the reform that we are all striving to create. Even though each of our groups have differing missions focused on specific issues, there are certain basic principles that are universal to all of us:

1. The People of God should have a deliberative voice in the governance of our Church;
2. Too many Catholics simply go along with the institutional Church unaware that their voice could make a difference;
3. These people could be guided and taught that they have the right and the duty to speak up for the good of the Church.

Is there something we could all do to move the People who are the Church out of their pews and into a place where they would begin to speak up?

To all who support Church reform:

We stand in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando, Florida massacre along with their families and loved ones who are grieving their loss. As the shooter declared himself a “soldier of ISIS,” so we declare ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. Consequently, let us look into our hearts and ask ourselves what more we can do to counter the hatred and violence that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our world. Perhaps one step is the proposal that we are bringing forward to you today.

Invite friends to a small gathering in your community

Francis has been our pope for just over three years now and, while he has brought a fresh spirit of openness to the Church, he is still meeting with resistance in many parts of the world to get bishops to open dialogue with the grassroots. Not waiting for the initiative of the bishops, Francis is also encouraging the People of God to speak up, to “make some noise” and “bother our pastors!”  

Greetings at the start of this Pentecost Season of the Church:

CCRI is here to support reform movements coming from various organizations throughout the world. If you agree, we invite you to sign the following three petitions:

9 April 2016 To all who appreciate the lifetime work and dedication of Hans Küng:  We invite you to join with us in Petition to reinstate Rev Professor Hans Küng as an official Catholic theologian.  If you agree, please post this on your websites and promote it in...

March 28. 2016

To church reform organizational leaders:

At this time when Christians are being persecuted all around the world – in France, Belgium, the U.S., and now Pakistan, it is time for Christians to unite and stand together. If the Roman Catholic Church is to join in such an effort, it must set aside its superior attitude and recognize the genuineness of other Christian denominations and other world religions.

How can Church Reform ever come about?

 Pope Francis has made it clear. He does not want to be a monarchical leader of the Church handing down orders from the top. Rather, he sees the Church structure as an upside down pyramid with the Faithful at the top feeding Spirit-guided reflections down to their bishops and pastors, who in turn, bring their concerns to the pope to request what is needed in their diocese. The challenge is that far too many bishops are not ready to relinquish their power and, consequently, are not inviting the Faithful into dialogue. If this process is to happen, it is up to the People of God to make it happen.