Officials from the Lincoln's Catholic diocese have asked the Lincoln Police Department to arrest members of Call to Action Nebraska if they follow through on their plan to deliver a petition against Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz today.The petition criticizes Bruskewitz for his refusal to participate in the church's annual nationwide audit to determine whether dioceses are compliant with church policies on sexual abuse.
The Lincoln diocese is the only one in the nation that declines to participate.
Some 1,000 Catholics nationwide signed the petition, Call to Action members say.
Bruskewitz has said that anyone who belongs to Call to Action, a group that favors such changes in the church as allowing married priests and women priests, is excommunicated.
Monsignor Tim Thorburn, vicar general of the Lincoln Diocese, said he asked the police to arrest Call to Action Nebraska members who appeared on church property because of past disturbances that he didn't want repeated.
"On two previous occasions, they have disrupted Mass," Thorburn said. "They're welcome to protest on the sidewalk, but not on church property."
Members still may deliver the petition this afternoon, said Call to Action Nebraska President Rachel Pokora.
"We were just going to go in and hand them the petition, maybe make a statement and then go down to the spot where we were planning the prayer service," she said. "So it does seem like a fairly extreme response."
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