The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) invites you to send the following letter to your Catholic bishop and pass it on to other lists to which you belong.   Feel free to distribute as you will.

Dear Bishop,

In the matter of Sister Jeannine Gramick the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) asks U.S. bishops to support the statement of Pope John XXIII at the opening of the Second Vatican Council when he announced that the Council would not be hurling an anathema at anyone, as previous Councils had done.  Rather, he said, the Church would make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. Long before, the Founder of Christianity had applied to him the words of Isaiah: the Messiah would not crush the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. In plain language, Jesus would not crush anyone, would not bully anyone. The bishops who burned Joan of Arc, forgot this, as did the Inquisitors, as did the crusaders, as did Pius X during the Modernist "crisis."  And, it seems today's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has forgotten it.

Few things do the church more harm in the eyes of decent human beings  than the perception that the church is a bully. ARCC calls on the CDF to be true to the example of Jesus and cease and desist trying to crush a lone, defenseless woman, Sister Jeannine Gramick.

We call on the CDF to consider her resistance to secrecy and silence as example for us and for them.  Their policy of secrecy seems to defy Pope Paul VI's decree, Integrae Servandae, in which he said that the proceedings of the CDF are to be a matter of public record.

We ask that the U.S. bishops not remain silent, as has occurred in the past, but speak out to challenge the persecution of Sr. Gramick in an effort to prevent what amounts to a spiritual holocaust of  another minority group.

Terry Dosh, President
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
4124 Harriet Ave. S
Mpls MN 55409
(612) 827-1818
doshx001@tc.umn.edu
 

Copy letters can be sent to:

Sister Jane Burke, SSND
Provincial
6401 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21212

Sr. Rosemary Howarth, SSND
General Superior
Via della Stazione Aurelia 95
00165 Rome Italy

Send copies to:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00193 Rome, Italy

Eduardo Cardinal Martinez Somalo
Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and for
Societies of
Apostolic Life
Piazza Pio XII 3
00193 Rome, Italy

Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND
6401 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21212

Terry Dosh, President
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
4124 Harriet Ave. S
Mpls MN 55409
(612) 827-1818
doshx001@tc.umn.edu

ARCC came into existence in 1980 in the wake of a series of  Vatican attempts to silence several Catholic theologians, including Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Küng. It has since published a Charter of the Rights of Catholics in the Church , and more recently a proposed Constitution of the Catholic Church, requested by Pope Paul VI in 1965; ARCC has also sought to enter into dialogue with Church authorities both to vindicate the rights of specific Catholics whose rights have been violated and to work toward a deeper democratization of the Church.

ARCC is a national organization of Roman Catholic clergy, religious and lay people with affiliations in eleven European countries. ARCC works for the promulgation of those teachings which were stated at the Second Vatican Council. ARCC accomplishes this task through education advocacy, networking, and the circulation of its document A Constitution for the Roman Catholic Church to the Catholics of the world. For information about ARCC, visit our website at http://arcc-catholic-rights.org or contact our office, PO Box 912 Delran, New Jersey, (609)461-8960. E-mail ccooperpt@aol.com.