August 23, 2010
Dear Father:
As the school year begins, I would like to suggest this particular link on the Sacrament of Matrimony as a possible resource for you to consider. It’s from the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. You may recall that Archbishop Kurtz worked with the Presbyteral Council two years ago and then came and presented at last year’s Chrism Day on the topic of marriage. Seattle was one of about 200 consultations Archbishop Kurtz and his team conducted in putting together this video. It is the first in a series:
http://www.usccb.org/marriageuniqueforareason/
Titled, “Unique for a Reason,” the video addresses the question of why marriage is between a man and a woman. Both the leader guide and the viewer guide align directly to the video. The online video and the resource guides are short enough to be conducted at back-to-school nights, a parent night or as a resource for many of your parish and school gatherings. While you may wish to order and purchase these resources, note that if you have Wi-Fi in your building you can simply drop them into your presentation from the website or download them for later use. The same is true for the guides which can be downloaded at PDF files and printed locally at your parish.
I do try to keep my correspondence to you to a bare minimum since you have many other things to read. But I highlight this resource because of the considerable work conducted by our Presbyteral Council on this topic. I might remind you that the genesis of our last two Priest Day gatherings around “Evangelization” and “Engaged Church” began with an analysis of sacramental practice in the Archdiocese of Seattle. The Presbyteral Council noted the precipitous drop in the number of marriages. Masking that drop was the antidotal discussion about the increasing number of marriages in the Hispanic, Filipino and Vietnamese cultural communities. Thus, the council wanted to propose initiatives both around marriage as well as evangelization in the context of parish life.
I hope you will work with your principals and your parish leadership to find ways of pushing out the Church’s positive proposal for marriage. It will be especially important to provide background to your principals and, in some cases, pastoral life directors, who were not part of the Presbyteral Council or the Priest Day process.
Since it is the first in a series, I would be interested to know whether you use this resource and any experiences you have. Please contact me through the superintendent@seattlearch.org box so Jody Page can assist me in correlating any response.
Fraternally yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Joseph J. Tyson
Auxiliary Bishop
Vicar General and Superintendent of Catholic Schools
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