That Letter - Update

We now have hundreds of signatures on the letter in support of our priests, thanks to the many bloggers who carried the letter (see here for a list), and many other people who spread the word.

 However, we would like hundreds more. It seems some people think that signing the petition that has been doing the rounds, and signing the letter, are the same: they are not. Please sign both.

The deadline for signatures is Monday morning.  Please sign now, if you have not yet got around to doing so: and please encourage others to do so.

Supporting Our Priests: Progress Report

Mark Lambert and I had the idea to get lots of UK Catholic bloggers to post the same post at the same time on Sunday. We wanted to show solidarity with the priests who wrote to the Catholic Herald recently, in support of marriage.

The irony is that I have not blogged here for so long that I couldn't remember my login details, and in the haste of trying to contact lots of other bloggers, omitted to post it here myself until today... But as this blog has been dormant for so long, and has relatively few readers, I don't think that was a great loss.

As far as I know, the post was posted at the following blogs (if you know of any more, please tell me):

All Along the Watchtower
bara brith
The Catechesis of Caroline
Catholic Book Reviews
Catholic and Loving It
Catholic Reading Group
Catholicism Pure
Countercultural Father
Cum Lazaro
defénde nos in proélio
De Omnibus Dubitandum Est
Dolphinarium
Eccles and Bosco Is Saved
Faith in our Families
The Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma
Juventutem Hexham and Newcastle in Durham
The Latin Mass Society in Gloucestershire (Clifton Diocese)
Lucas Cambrensis
Men Are Like Wine
A Miscellany of Musings
Mulier Fortis
The Muniment Room
Non angelus, sed Anglus
On the Side of the Angels
Porta Caeli
The Sensible Bond
That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill
Twelve Mini Pilgrimages
Umblepie
White Smoke Ahoy
Young Catholic Adults


Thanks to all the bloggers for supporting this! Especially those who did so with some misgivings (eg Eccles - only the second-ever serious post on his site). Apologies, too, to anyone whom we should have contacted, but failed to. It was all rather a rush.  And further apologies to anyone who has posted the story, but whom I have missed from the list: let me know and I will update it.

I am happy to report that the signatures are flowing in to mine and Mark's email addresses, as well as in the comments boxes of various blogs: but we still want more. 

So if you have yet to sign, or if you know others who might be interested in signing, you know what to do. It is important to demonstrate to these priests, and to the wider Catholic world, that they do not stand alone.

In fact, we have already heard from many priests who would have liked to sign, but for one reason or another were not able to do so, whether because they were away when the letter arrived, or because they were not on the database that was used.

You may sign up by leaving your name and diocese in the Comments box at the foot of any of the numerous posts on the subject (links above), or by emailing either me or Mark.

And please pray for our priests and bishops, and for the forthcoming Synod.

UPDATE

I had missed a few: thanks to those who pointed that out. The list above has been updated, but please let me know of any further omissions. 

In support of our priests, our families, and our Church

You may have seen the recent letter from more than 450 priests in support of the Church’s teaching on marriage.

We would like to invite you to sign the letter below, to be sent to the press in support of them, and to encourage others to sign it.

To sign, please leave your name and your diocese in the comments box below, or if you prefer email them to me or to one of the coordinators:

Mark Lambert or Andrew Plasom-Scott 

The Letter:

Dear Sir,

We, the undersigned, wish to endorse and support the letter signed by over 450 priests in the recent edition of the Catholic Herald.

As laity, we all know from our own family experiences, or those of our friends and neighbours, the harrowing trauma of divorce and separation, and we sympathise with all those in such situations.

It is precisely for that reason that we believe that the Church must continue to proclaim the truth about marriage, given us by Christ in the Gospels, with clarity and charity in a world that struggles to understand it.

For the sake of those in irregular unions, for the sake of those abandoned and living in accordance with the teachings of the Church, and above all for the sake of the next generation, it is essential that the Church continues to make it quite clear that sacramental marriage is indissoluble until death.

We pray, and expect, that our hierarchy will represent us, and the Church’s unwavering teaching, at the Synod this autumn.

 Yours faithfully,