March 5, 2003

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo

Apostolic Nuncio to the United States

Embassy of the Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See

3339 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20008

Dear Archbishop Montalvo:

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that His Eminence Cardinal Anthony Bevilaqua is approaching retirement age and that you are charged with reporting on the state of the Philadelphia Archdiocese and recommending three possible new choices to lead the faithful in this region. My organization, Voice of the Faithful of Greater Philadelphia (VOTF/GP), invites you to communicate with members of the Church in Philadelphia as you prepare to make your recommendation.

We are a group of baptized Catholics, lay, ordained, and vowed religious. We are parish council representatives, Eucharistic ministers, directors of religious education, ushers, lectors, and cantors. Our mission is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the hopes and concerns of the faithful can be heard in church decisions that affect them, consistent with and subject to the teaching of our Church. We are enclosing a brochure that provides a more detailed overview of VOTF.

While it is understood that the Holy Father alone will select our new Archbishop, all baptized Roman Catholics in this area have essential needs that should be considered in recommending candidates to serve them in the office of Archbishop. Indeed, "pastors and the other faithful are bound to each other by a mutual need" (Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, No. 32).

The Bishop of any local church occupies the most essential and important role in that community: "For those ministers who are endowed with sacred power are servants of their brethren, so that all who are of the People of God, and therefore enjoy a true Christian dignity, can work toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, and arrive at salvation" (Lumen Gentium, No. 18). Your recommendation will have a momentous effect upon the spiritual welfare of several generations of Catholics in our region.

In our Archdiocese, the Archbishop will be responsible for promulgating the teaching of the church "in the purity of the faith handed down by the apostles" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 889). He will also be confronted with numerous administrative issues of vital importance to the life and mission of the Church. For example, the priesthood itself must be guided in an era of increasing average age, decreasing interaction and a diminishing sense of fraternity and mutual support. In addition, the evangelistic and charitable purposes of inner city parishes and schools—indeed, the Church’s preferential mission to the poor—must be harmonized with the realities of revenue and staff availability, all the while considering the burgeoning populations outside the city proper. Not the least of these issues of governance is the terrible scandal of priestly sexual abuse of children and other members of the People of God. This searing injury to the very Body of Christ calls for a capable administrator who can thoroughly implement policies that will prevent any further victimization of the children of the faithful and other innocent victims.

We submit to you that it is both just and appropriate in light of Church teaching that all baptized Catholics should have an opportunity to voice their needs with regard to the selection of their Archbishop. Our Dogmatic Constitution teaches that the laity "should disclose [to the pastors] their needs and desires with that liberty and confidence which befits children of God" (Lumen Gentium, No. 37). Moreover, "the laity are empowered—indeed sometimes obliged—to manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the Church" (Id.). The Dogmatic Constitution further enjoins the sacred pastors to "recognize and promote the dignity as well as the responsibility of the layman in the Church. Let them willingly make use of his prudent advice…Attentively in Christ, let them consider with fatherly love the projects, suggestions, and desires proposed by the laity" (Id. at 37). Indeed the bishop "should not fail to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children…" (Id.at 27). We therefore submit that all of the faithful, including the clergy and religious, should have an opportunity to voice their thoughts and insights concerning the qualities that should be sought in a new Archbishop.

Voice of the Faithful of Greater Philadelphia (VOTF/GP) urges you to consult the laity, priests and vowed religious within our Archdiocese in formulating your anticipated report to the Holy Father. There are many ways in which you can consult with the faithful of Philadelphia and obtain their participation in your decision. Parishes can announce the impending decision and suggest that letters and e-mail messages be sent to you. Parish pastoral councils can meet and forward their recommendations on the key criteria or on candidates known to them. Pastors and leaders of religious orders can be solicited to consult with their parishes and members and communicate their responses to you. Even properly designed polling could provide valuable insight.

We have no doubt that these ideas are only a few of the many approaches that you will no doubt have at your disposal. We urge you to employ one or more of them at your discretion, so that the faithful of our Archdiocese may participate in the selection of their next Archbishop, according to the teachings of the Church.

We thank you for your attention to this plea, and for your prayerful consideration of it.

Sincerely in Christ,

for the Steering Committee