They nominated candidates for the board election to be held later that month.
Next, mission work.
[Father] Ken Mich and [Father] Dave Cooper reported on a very lively meeting with the brothers in Madison who call themselves "The Upland Clergy Group." We met on November 26th at St. Francis Xavier Parish [in Cross Plains] and were hosted by Fr. Thomas Kelley.
(The Madison Catholic Herald's reported on the parish's 150th anniversary celebration in 2003.)
We listened to the concerns of those priests. They questioned us at length about the Milwaukee Alliance. We shared with them some documentation including references from Canon Law and how our Alliance works.
Watch out for that web site maintenance.
We encouraged them to meet and write a letter that details the facts of their concerns without making any accusations or judgments.
How might they demonstrate this non-accusatory and non-judgmental intent?
We further suggested that one representative of the group read the letter at the bishop’s clergy gathering on December 6th and all signers stand with him. Then at the end the reader would invite any other present clergy who shares the same concerns to come and stand with them.
If parishioners did the equivalent at a parish council meeting, I know of at least one MAPA board member who likely would have had a heart attack.
We also counseled them to go slowly in building a base of support for an Alliance and when they felt ready to call a meeting of all the interested priests.
Though they might want to also keep in mind the median age of those priests in determining what constitutes "slowly".
Finally, evangelization.
We also discussed efforts to get more of the Junior Clergy to attend an Alliance Meeting. We discussed the possibility of inviting some of them to come and share experiences of first year of Priesthood.
Wouldn't that be Freshman Clergy?
Dave [Father David Cooper] agreed to talk to [Father] Jason Lavann about procedure.
This assumes younger priests don't attend for procedural reasons.
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