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February 14, 2001
His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith Piazza del S. Uffizio 11 00193 Rome, Italy
Your Eminence:
The accompanying document entitled Petition for Examination and Resolution is being presented to you under provisions of Canon Law (Book II, Part I, Title I, Canon 212 §3) which concern the obligations and rights of Christ’s Faithful. A copy of my resumé is attached to establish that I do possess the “knowledge, competence and position” required of those who desire or feel obliged “to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church.”
With due respect, this is not an attempt to bypass my own bishop or the U. S. Catholic Hierarchy. Rather, as I believe you will come to recognize, it is a last resort, a final plea in my ten-year effort to make one crucial point: the Church’s primary source of revenue, the Sunday collection, is highly vulnerable to repetitive, surreptitious, internal theft, a serious sin which often leads to or facilitates other serious sins. In light of that fact, I believe morality and common sense demand that the Sunday collection be afforded an appropriate and uniform level of protection.
Over the past ten years, Your Eminence, I have corresponded with Cardinal Law and various members of his staff, and with four Presidents of the Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as many other USCCB officials. Without exception, and notwithstanding the morally and fiscally deleterious effects directly attributable to the status quo, all of my pleas for corrective measures have fallen upon seemingly deaf ears. I am confident the accompanying documents will clearly establish that the United States hierarchy refuses to even acknowledge a problem exists, let alone take action to correct it.
It is my firm belief, one which I hope you will conclude is fully supported by the accompanying petition, that the issue of revenue protection contains strong spiritual and theological elements in addition to the obvious fiduciary and administrative aspects. For that reason, and based upon the assumption that spiritual matters take primacy over temporal matters, I concluded that you, Your Eminence, are the proper recipient. However, if my assumption is incorrect, I would appreciate being so informed in connection with your referral of the file to the correct office of the Holy See.
Most sincerely, [signed] M. W. Ryan Michael W. Ryan |
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