We at the North East Deanery Pastoral Council in the Diocese of Portsmouth are seeking your name in order to petition the Bishops of England and Wales. We are entering a new phase in our Diocese with the introduction of Larger Pastoral Areas. This reorganisation is in response to the current shortage of priests due not only to priests retiring faster than they are being ordained, but we are losing priests as they leave the priesthood because they cannot marry. It is important to us to have a local priest to celebrate the Mass and the Sacrements, to deliver the Word of God and to consolidate our Catholic communities. Also in years to come we want to know that there will be a priest for our children and their childrens children. The Catholic Church needs to listen to its parishoners, they are becoming disillusioned and unfortunately some are leaving the Church. As the Old Testament states in Proverbs 18 v 22 \'He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord\'. Why should priests be denied something good from God especially if it is going to enable them to fulfill God\'s calling in their lives. It must be better to have a priest with a choice to marry than fewer priests because of no choice. Tell your Catholic communities about this petition, encourage them to sign and hopefully we can cover the whole of the United Kingdom, maybe even further... May the Holy Spirit guide us.

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