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Funerals
FAQ |
Beliefs
and History
Can you imagine a Catholic
Church in which divorced and remarried
Catholics are openly welcomed to receive the
Eucharist?
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Can you imagine
a Catholic Church in which a priest can
choose to be married and who supports himself
through secular employment?
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Could such a
church and such a priest not empathize with
parishioners who bear difficult family
responsibilities?
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We live in an age of declining church
attendance, Catholic parish closings and a quiet, but
growing, sense that the traditional Catholic Church
has lost touch with the real life struggles of
Catholic Christians today. In the midst of this
reality, we wonder if the kind of Church we've
described above may be ahead of its time, or perhaps
long overdue.
These
concepts echo the sentiments of one Roman Catholic
bishop from Brazil, the Most Reverend Carlos Duarte
Costa. Largely unknown to contemporary Catholics,
Bishop Duarte Costa was considered a rebel by the
Vatican and a saint by the countless thousands served
by his ministry. An advocate for the poor, he
criticized the political leanings of the Roman
Catholic Church in Brazil. The Church, in Duarte's
view, enjoyed a position of favor with the wealthy
government; a government under which the privileged
thrived while the countless poor were starved in the
streets.
Duarte
Costa was critical of the Vatican's policy of silence
during World War II. Duarte Costa championed the abolition of celibacy and called for "a national Christian
church,"
independent of Rome in which priests would "have
wives... and in which divorce would be
tolerated." Today, this Church, a National
Church in Brazil, has a membership that numbers in
the tens of thousands, with sister Churches whose
members number in the millions worldwide in 22
countries. On July 7, 1995, in Rio de Janeiro, Bishop
Duarte Costa's successors celebrated the Golden
Jubilee of the founding of the Brazilian National
Church.
Is
this a Church ahead of its time? Not with a heritage
now fifty years old! Not in Brazil. Not in Argentina,
nor in Mexico.
Perhaps
this is a concept of Church which should grow in the
United States. It is certainly considered by many
contemporary Catholics as a concept that is now very
long overdue.
Right
here in Cranston, Rhode Island, there is just such a
Church. While the Brazilian National Catholic Church
evolved as a ministry to the poor, Saint Patrick
Catholic Church ministers to the poor, as well as to
the spiritually impoverished, and to the many
mainstream Catholics who, for any number of reasons,
feel rejected and alienated from the Church of their
youth.
Multitudes
of mainstream Catholics, because of divorce and
remarriage or the practice of artificial birth
control, feel unwelcome in the Roman Catholic Church.
Fr. Roger Durand, pastor of this parish, in looking
out at these numbers of scattered Catholics, often
thinks of the scene described in Mark 6:34-35.
Christ, in looking out from the boat at the vast
crowd upon the shore, was moved with compassion,
"for they were like sheep without a
shepherd." Jesus welcomed a broken humanity with
limitless love and unconditional forgiveness. Saint
Patrick Catholic Church, ecumenical in spirit,
welcomes all baptized Christians, regardless of
denomination, not only to be present for the
celebration of the Mass but also to receive the
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Beyond this, we have
welcomed all who seek a sincere relationship with God
and count many non Christian friends among those who
worship regularly with us. For do we not all worship
the same God and have the same need for salvation in
our lives?
Saint
Patrick Catholic Church practices an authentic
Catholicism rooted in the beliefs and worship of the
Roman Catholic Church. The pastor of this parish was
ordained by a National Catholic bishop who can trace
his Orders to the Roman Catholic Church and thus to
the Apostles in unbroken Apostolic Succession.
The apostolic heritage
of the Most Reverend J. Alberto Morales, Abbot of St. Benedict Abbey
Nullius (Abbey with Diocesan standing), Bartonville, Illinois.
Bishop Morales is the representative of the Brazilian national
Church (ICAB) within this country. This parish is a proud member of
the Barzilian National Church's missionary effort within the United
States.
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