A  Letter from Bishop Frade

Dear Diocesan Family,

On October 29, 2003, I met with the Bishop’s Council of Advice on Human Sexuality to request their assistance in continuing our discussions on human sexuality issues.  The committee, as you can see from the list of Council members, represents a broad, learned, and diverse representation of our diocesan family.  They have worked very hard these past 10 months and I thoroughly commend them for sharing their perspectives with the diocese.

When we gathered in October, I first suggested to the Council that there were three overarching principles that I wished them to use in framing their work, namely, Jesus’ call for love and unity in an atmosphere of prayer.

• John 13: 34     “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
• John 17            “I pray that they may all be one. Father!
• Ephesians 6:18 “Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads.”

I asked them to accomplish two tasks by June 1, 2004:

• Provide the Bishop and the diocesan family with a concise, relevant, understandable, and tangible outline of the pertinent issues along with a variety of legitimate resources and responses.
• Advise the Bishop and the diocesan family on a multitude of methodologies, perspectives, and resources that can be utilized to create a respectful environment in which to explore the varied issues surrounding human sexuality, both heterosexual and homosexual.

Although a bit past the proposed deadline, the Council has prepared materials and made them available to you on the diocesan web page instead of a hard copy as the resources are quite lengthy: www.diosef.org.  [If you wish a hard copy, please contact my secretary, Sally James, at 800-268-9993, and one will be sent to you for $10.00].

I commend them to you for your prayerful reflection.  Please note that this is merely a “work in progress” and not a definitive answer on the enormous issues surrounding human sexuality.  The Council’s work is primarily a resource intended to stimulate and provide credible resources for the ongoing dialogue on human sexuality.  The Council made every attempt to provide a fair, balanced, and comprehensive presentation of the materials.  The Council made no attempt to formulate a diocesan position but rather to present the relevant resources.

Many of the issues addressed in the Council’s work provided a wealth of opinions without reaching a definitive conclusion.

The Council members have unanimously committed to make themselves available to the diocesan family as resources persons.  If you would like them to come to your parish or deanery meetings, they would be most delighted to do so.  You can contact them through Linda Schlepp-Gray at the Broward Office – 954-450-7247 or at linda@diosef.org.

I thank the members of the Council and pray that their collection of resources will greatly assist the diocese in furthering our dialogue.