Welcome to the CORPUS Blog. CORPUS is a faith community affirming and rooted in a revitalized church including an inclusive priestly ministry. Please visit our web site: www.corpus.org Our Blog will be a portal to news, articles and resources enabling you to keep up-to-date in the Catholic Reform process.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Vatican reveals more about guidelines on children of priests
29 April 2019, The Tablet
Vatican reveals more about guidelines on children of priests
Vincent Doyle: 'The suggested global uniformity suggests a recognition of the rights of the woman and child.'
The Vatican has confirmed that
guidelines on dealing with Catholic priests who father children are sent
to any episcopal conference that requests them.
Mgr Andrea Ripa, of the Congregation for the Clergy, wrote to Vincent Doyle, founder of the Coping International, which defends the rights of children of priests worldwide, confirming the policy of the Vatican concerning the document.
"Should an Episcopal Conference request the text from the Congregation, we are more than happy to send them a copy," he wrote.
Now Mr Doyle is calling on the Vatican to publish the guidelines in full.
The existence of the document has been known since 2017, but it has never been published.
It is not known how many children of priests there are, but Coping International's website has 50,000 users.
Mgr Andrea Ripa, of the Congregation for the Clergy, wrote to Vincent Doyle, founder of the Coping International, which defends the rights of children of priests worldwide, confirming the policy of the Vatican concerning the document.
"Should an Episcopal Conference request the text from the Congregation, we are more than happy to send them a copy," he wrote.
Now Mr Doyle is calling on the Vatican to publish the guidelines in full.
The existence of the document has been known since 2017, but it has never been published.
It is not known how many children of priests there are, but Coping International's website has 50,000 users.
International Union of Superiors General advocates for women, sees influence grow
International Union of Superiors General advocates for women, sees influence grow
ncr
Apr 30, 2019
In the three years since Pope Francis announced he would create a commission to study the history of women deacons in the Catholic Church, signaling a possible openness to ending the global institution's...
In the three years since Pope Francis announced he would create a commission to study the history of women deacons in the Catholic Church, signaling a possible openness to ending the global institution's...
Monday, April 29, 2019
Former Sioux Falls priest: Time to think differently about clergy
Former Sioux Falls priest: Time to think differently about clergy
SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Argus Leader
April 27, 2019
By Patrick Anderson
When Bill Walsh left behind the priesthood it was because he saw a problem with the old ways and wanted to move on with his life as much as he had once wanted to be a leader in the Catholic Church.
Walsh served in small towns in South Dakota, in Salem for a year and then in Sioux Falls for the larger part of a decade.
He left because he didn’t think joining the clergy was a lifetime commitment – he chose to value the function of priesthood and leading a church over the form of priesthood emphasized by the old ways, Walsh said.
As Catholic dioceses in South Dakota and other states release the names of priests accused of child sex abuse, it’s time for Walsh and other lay people to again re-asses how they think about the priesthood, he said: Either take charge in protecting the future of the church, or continue to leave that responsibility to clergy.
Argus Leader
April 27, 2019
By Patrick Anderson
When Bill Walsh left behind the priesthood it was because he saw a problem with the old ways and wanted to move on with his life as much as he had once wanted to be a leader in the Catholic Church.
Walsh served in small towns in South Dakota, in Salem for a year and then in Sioux Falls for the larger part of a decade.
He left because he didn’t think joining the clergy was a lifetime commitment – he chose to value the function of priesthood and leading a church over the form of priesthood emphasized by the old ways, Walsh said.
As Catholic dioceses in South Dakota and other states release the names of priests accused of child sex abuse, it’s time for Walsh and other lay people to again re-asses how they think about the priesthood, he said: Either take charge in protecting the future of the church, or continue to leave that responsibility to clergy.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Speakers address role of laity as Church moves forward from abuse scandal
Speakers address role of laity as Church moves forward from abuse scandal
DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Service via Crux
April 27, 2019
By Carol Zimmermann
Washington DC - In introductory remarks during a conference examining the laity’s role in helping the Church move forward from the clergy abuse crisis, a speaker pointed out that what has happened impacts, and continues to affect, the whole Church.
“We can’t fix the Church by our own efforts,” but Catholics, like Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry the cross, “can carry some of the weight,” said Stephen White, executive director of The Catholic Project, a group sponsored by The Catholic University of America in response to the Church abuse crisis.
The group, which organized the April 25 conference at Catholic University, looks at root causes of abuse and ways for the Church to move forward with conferences and consultation with theologians, sociologists, canonists, social workers and historians.
Catholic News Service via Crux
April 27, 2019
By Carol Zimmermann
Washington DC - In introductory remarks during a conference examining the laity’s role in helping the Church move forward from the clergy abuse crisis, a speaker pointed out that what has happened impacts, and continues to affect, the whole Church.
“We can’t fix the Church by our own efforts,” but Catholics, like Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus carry the cross, “can carry some of the weight,” said Stephen White, executive director of The Catholic Project, a group sponsored by The Catholic University of America in response to the Church abuse crisis.
The group, which organized the April 25 conference at Catholic University, looks at root causes of abuse and ways for the Church to move forward with conferences and consultation with theologians, sociologists, canonists, social workers and historians.
DUELING POPES? MAYBE
DUELING POPES? MAYBE
NYTimes
Dueling Views in a Divided Church? Definitely - What is happening is what many of us hoped would not happen.
Read More...Saturday, April 27, 2019
MISSING--WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
|
Out of ministry but still in the priesthood, argues a priest and survivor
Out of ministry but still in the priesthood, argues a priest and survivor
by
Joe McDonald
The Tablet
For me the ontological change that happens at ordination echoes with the indissolubility of marriage.. Once a priest, always a priest
The day the priest who abused me was buried, the official papers removing him from the priesthood arrived from Rome.
When I was informed of this and sought clarification it was explained to me that technically he died a priest. My reaction to this news was to murmur, ‘thank God’, which surprised not only his confrère sitting in front of me but, to some degree, myself. This response has come back to me in these days as I attempt to reflect prayerfully on the work of the Vatican Summit on Clerical Abuse in Rome, which has just concluded.
Already there has been much comment on this summit. Before it was even finished the debate was framed along the lines: ‘is this the long awaited line in the sand or just the latest cosmetic exercise’? The analysis no doubt will continue. In this short contribution I do not purport to engage in any serious evaluation of its work except to address one aspect that has emerged. That is the tension between those who would argue that the priest who has abused must be removed from ministry and those who agree but also argue we should stop short of dismissing him from priesthood. I belong to the latter.
When I was informed of this and sought clarification it was explained to me that technically he died a priest. My reaction to this news was to murmur, ‘thank God’, which surprised not only his confrère sitting in front of me but, to some degree, myself. This response has come back to me in these days as I attempt to reflect prayerfully on the work of the Vatican Summit on Clerical Abuse in Rome, which has just concluded.
Already there has been much comment on this summit. Before it was even finished the debate was framed along the lines: ‘is this the long awaited line in the sand or just the latest cosmetic exercise’? The analysis no doubt will continue. In this short contribution I do not purport to engage in any serious evaluation of its work except to address one aspect that has emerged. That is the tension between those who would argue that the priest who has abused must be removed from ministry and those who agree but also argue we should stop short of dismissing him from priesthood. I belong to the latter.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Buffalo bishop, lay reform group agree on proposals to address abuse
Buffalo bishop, lay reform group agree on proposals to address abuse
ncr
Apr 25, 2019
We're waiting on the decision about women deacons
We're waiting on the decision about women deacons
Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
> Confronting the Specters
Published on Commonweal Magazine (https://www.commonwealmagazine.org)
Home > Confronting the Specters
Paul Elie, a friend and valued contributor to Commonweal for nearly three decades, has written a long article for the New Yorker [1]
on the renewed upheaval over clergy sexual abuse. It is a confusing and
ultimately disappointing piece, which conflates older crimes and
contemporary revelations while providing little explanation for the
varying patterns of priestly sexual abuse and the church’s different
responses over the past fifty years.
In the print edition of the New Yorker, the article runs under the title “Acts of Penance: Will outside arbiters correct the Church’s history of abuse or enable its legacy of evasion?” How could anyone “correct” the church’s “history” of abuse? There is the history, abominable and inexcusable, yet only occasionally portrayed with any sense of perspective by the mass media today. Then, presumably, there are efforts undertaken to confront that history, attend to victims, and put procedures in place to assure, as well as possible, that such abuse does not occur again. Although it is unquestionable that in many parts of the world the church continues to cover up sexual abuse by priests and bishops, it is not at all clear that “evasion” is a fair description of how most dioceses in the United States have handled accusations of child abuse since the promulgation of the Dallas Charter in 2002. Peter Steinfels’s remarkable analysis [2] of the flaws in the Pennsylvania grand-jury report, which Elie does not mention, showed that the dominant media narrative of a U.S. church that continues to evade responsibility for its history—arrogantly refusing to change its archaic ways in order to protect children—is in essential aspects false.
In the print edition of the New Yorker, the article runs under the title “Acts of Penance: Will outside arbiters correct the Church’s history of abuse or enable its legacy of evasion?” How could anyone “correct” the church’s “history” of abuse? There is the history, abominable and inexcusable, yet only occasionally portrayed with any sense of perspective by the mass media today. Then, presumably, there are efforts undertaken to confront that history, attend to victims, and put procedures in place to assure, as well as possible, that such abuse does not occur again. Although it is unquestionable that in many parts of the world the church continues to cover up sexual abuse by priests and bishops, it is not at all clear that “evasion” is a fair description of how most dioceses in the United States have handled accusations of child abuse since the promulgation of the Dallas Charter in 2002. Peter Steinfels’s remarkable analysis [2] of the flaws in the Pennsylvania grand-jury report, which Elie does not mention, showed that the dominant media narrative of a U.S. church that continues to evade responsibility for its history—arrogantly refusing to change its archaic ways in order to protect children—is in essential aspects false.
Acceptance of inferiority and the freedom it brings
Column | From Where I Stand
Acceptance of inferiority and the freedom it brings
ncr
Apr 24, 2019
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Evangelization First
Published on Commonweal Magazine (https://www.commonwealmagazine.org)
Home > Evangelization First
The
long-expected new constitution mapping out the future shape of the
Vatican bureaucracy could be published as soon as the end of June, but
its most notable features have been made public in an extensive report
in a Spanish Catholic weekly out this Saturday.
According to the report in Vida Nueva seen in advance by Commonweal, the key shift in Praedicate evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”) is to put evangelization at not only at the heart of the church’s mission, but also at the heart of the Vatican itself. All the official church’s other activities will flow from—and be subordinate to—evangelization.
According to the report in Vida Nueva seen in advance by Commonweal, the key shift in Praedicate evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”) is to put evangelization at not only at the heart of the church’s mission, but also at the heart of the Vatican itself. All the official church’s other activities will flow from—and be subordinate to—evangelization.
More Americans than ever are leaving the Catholic Church after the sex abuse scandal. Here's why.
More Americans than ever are leaving the Catholic Church after the sex abuse scandal. Here's why.
ARLINGTON (VA)
USA TODAY
April 22, 2019
By Lindsay Schnell
On Palm Sunday, Barbara Hoover exited Brougher Chapel with a palm frond in her left hand.
The 76-year-old retiree sized up the church in front of her and sighed, visibly upset. “I don’t know why I’m still here,” she said, throwing her hands up. “I don’t know why I still go. I guess the ritual.”
In Portland, Oregon, Norma Rodriguez, 51, hustled up the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, eager to get a good seat before the service started.
A lifelong Catholic, Rodriguez attends Mass weekly, praying for everyone she knows. She hasn’t been deterred by the sex abuse crisis that’s engulfed the Catholic Church for the better part of two decades. It’s not her place to pass judgment, Rodriguez said.
“This whole thing, it makes me pray more,” she said. “It just makes me pray for humanity, makes me pray for forgiveness.”
USA TODAY
April 22, 2019
By Lindsay Schnell
On Palm Sunday, Barbara Hoover exited Brougher Chapel with a palm frond in her left hand.
The 76-year-old retiree sized up the church in front of her and sighed, visibly upset. “I don’t know why I’m still here,” she said, throwing her hands up. “I don’t know why I still go. I guess the ritual.”
In Portland, Oregon, Norma Rodriguez, 51, hustled up the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, eager to get a good seat before the service started.
A lifelong Catholic, Rodriguez attends Mass weekly, praying for everyone she knows. She hasn’t been deterred by the sex abuse crisis that’s engulfed the Catholic Church for the better part of two decades. It’s not her place to pass judgment, Rodriguez said.
“This whole thing, it makes me pray more,” she said. “It just makes me pray for humanity, makes me pray for forgiveness.”
Pope proposes radical shakeup of the Roman Curia
Pope proposes radical shakeup of the Roman Curia
LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
April 22, 2019
By Christopher Lamb
Pope Francis’ reforms of the Roman Curia will see the creation of a new “super ministry” dedicated to evangelisation that will take precedence over the once-powerful Vatican doctrinal body.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, is the oldest institution in the Curia and known as “La Suprema.” For years, it policed theologians, set out the red lines of Catholic doctrine and gave its rubber stamp to all major Vatican documents.
But according to Vida Nueva, the respected Spanish Catholic publication, the congregation will no longer hold the number one spot in the curia. Under Francis the CDF has already lost significant influence, and the new constitution formally sets out that it now comes under the new mission statement of spreading the Gospel.
The Tablet
April 22, 2019
By Christopher Lamb
Pope Francis’ reforms of the Roman Curia will see the creation of a new “super ministry” dedicated to evangelisation that will take precedence over the once-powerful Vatican doctrinal body.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, is the oldest institution in the Curia and known as “La Suprema.” For years, it policed theologians, set out the red lines of Catholic doctrine and gave its rubber stamp to all major Vatican documents.
But according to Vida Nueva, the respected Spanish Catholic publication, the congregation will no longer hold the number one spot in the curia. Under Francis the CDF has already lost significant influence, and the new constitution formally sets out that it now comes under the new mission statement of spreading the Gospel.
Editorial: One pope is quite enough
Editorial: One pope is quite enough
KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
April 22, 2019
We are living in a unique moment in church history with an ex-pope, properly credited for having the courage to resign when the problems he faced became overwhelming, living within the Vatican walls. The resignation is best interpreted as Benedict XVI's act of generosity toward the church. The graciousness Francis has displayed toward his predecessor is equally an act of generosity.
Increasingly, however, Francis must also be calling on the virtue of patience to deal with the interference of a predecessor whose retirement has gone from a promised "life dedicated to prayer" to a life of backseat pontificating.
The most recent – and perhaps most unfortunate – intervention was Benedict's letter theorizing on the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and, of course, defending his role in dealing with it.
That the latest was not a one-off, but part of a pattern that was pointed out by NCR Vatican Correspondent Joshua McElwee in reporting on the letter.
In November 2016 a book-length interview was published in which Benedict defended his eight-year papacy, saying he didn't see himself as a failure. In March of that same year he inserted himself into a Francis initiative when he did an interview in which he expounded on God's mercy while Francis was in the midst of an Extraordinary Jubilee Year, with mercy as its central theme. These interventions may appear anodyne to some, but they set a terrible precedent, making the perception or reality of a rivalry between the former pope and his acolytes and the incumbent pope and his supporters more likely.
National Catholic Reporter
April 22, 2019
We are living in a unique moment in church history with an ex-pope, properly credited for having the courage to resign when the problems he faced became overwhelming, living within the Vatican walls. The resignation is best interpreted as Benedict XVI's act of generosity toward the church. The graciousness Francis has displayed toward his predecessor is equally an act of generosity.
Increasingly, however, Francis must also be calling on the virtue of patience to deal with the interference of a predecessor whose retirement has gone from a promised "life dedicated to prayer" to a life of backseat pontificating.
The most recent – and perhaps most unfortunate – intervention was Benedict's letter theorizing on the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and, of course, defending his role in dealing with it.
That the latest was not a one-off, but part of a pattern that was pointed out by NCR Vatican Correspondent Joshua McElwee in reporting on the letter.
In November 2016 a book-length interview was published in which Benedict defended his eight-year papacy, saying he didn't see himself as a failure. In March of that same year he inserted himself into a Francis initiative when he did an interview in which he expounded on God's mercy while Francis was in the midst of an Extraordinary Jubilee Year, with mercy as its central theme. These interventions may appear anodyne to some, but they set a terrible precedent, making the perception or reality of a rivalry between the former pope and his acolytes and the incumbent pope and his supporters more likely.
Monday, April 22, 2019
Two U.S. churches: One is closing down parishes, the other is standing-room only
Two U.S. churches: One is closing down parishes, the other is standing-room only
Robert David Sullivan April 19, 2019
There
are 1,437 fewer parishes in the United States now than there were in
1971 (down to a total of 16,346), according to the Center for Applied
Research in the Apostolate’s “1964” blog, yet there are several states
where dozens of Catholic churches have opened in the past few decades.
Mark Gray, a researcher for CARA, recently wrote
about the “two churches” phenomenon, in which “pastors in different
parts of the country tend to be worried about different things (keeping
the lights on vs. finding space for more pews and parking spaces).”
The Sexual Abuse Crisis is Not a Crisis
The Sexual Abuse Crisis is Not a Crisis
Far from being merely a tragic moment in the church’s history, sexual abuse and related cover-ups are the fruits of a systemic disorder in the church: toxic clericalism.
Conscience
The hierarchy has been trying to fix what it considers a temporary problem for more than three decades with no real or lasting success. Despite the countless statements, programs, apologies, explanations and excuses provided by popes and bishops, the toxicity is still very much a part of today’s church. Essential to moving towards any healing is the real acceptance by the clerical estate that the church is not limited to the clergy and those enmeshed in ecclesiastical governance, but is what Vatican II called “The People of God,” of which the hierarchy is but a very small part. Much of the bumbling and even disastrous response thus far has been justified by those responsible as being “for the good of the church.” “Church,” however, has not meant what is best for the entire community of believers. Instead, it means what is best for the image, the reputation, the power and the financial security of the clerical elite. The persistent failure to make it all go away is akin to trying to fix a hardware problem with a software solution.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
ROOTS OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC POLARIZATION
ROOTS OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC POLARIZATION
Many Catholics have little to no knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching, which sadly remains the Church's "best kept secret."
Saturday, April 20, 2019
This Earth Day, consider a Franciscan ethic of fraternal love
Published on USCatholic.org (https://www.uscatholic.org)
Home > This Earth Day, consider a Franciscan ethic of fraternal love
This Earth Day, consider a Franciscan ethic of fraternal love
If there is one figure in Catholic life inextricably linked with the care and protection of the planet, it is Francis of Assisi
By | Print | Share
Article Justice
As
we approach Earth Day on April 22, expect to hear about St. Francis. If
there is one figure in Catholic life inextricably linked with the care
and protection of the planet, it is Francis of Assisi. He is often
depicted with animals and is famously the author of the Canticle of the
Creatures, which praises God by praising creation. Our familiarity with
Francis’ works and image obscures the fact that in the arc of Catholic
teaching on the natural world, Francis was very much an outlier.
The early Christian church looked to two key sources to explain what the relationship between humans and the natural world should be: the Bible and Aristotelian philosophy. In Genesis God creates the world and everything in it. Then God commands Adam and Eve to “fill the earth and conquer it.” Aristotle methodically studied and categorized all forms of life, concluding “nature does nothing in vain.” Humans were designed to do certain sorts of things, including plough the land, fish the seas, and eat animals, who in turn were designed to be delicious.
The early Christian church looked to two key sources to explain what the relationship between humans and the natural world should be: the Bible and Aristotelian philosophy. In Genesis God creates the world and everything in it. Then God commands Adam and Eve to “fill the earth and conquer it.” Aristotle methodically studied and categorized all forms of life, concluding “nature does nothing in vain.” Humans were designed to do certain sorts of things, including plough the land, fish the seas, and eat animals, who in turn were designed to be delicious.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Pope to priests: clericalism takes root when you seek comfort instead of the people
Pope to priests: clericalism takes root when you seek comfort instead of the people
The Tablet
The
roots of clericalism are planted with a desire to place personal
comfort ahead of service, Pope Francis told priests in St Peter’s
Basilica on Ho
Thursday, April 18, 2019
What price our planet
What price our planet
The Tablet
Climate change protests
Politicians and the mass media
are often several steps behind public opinion. There is plenty of
evidence that this is true regarding climate change, and the real threat
it poses not just to rare species of animal and plant life but to the
whole animal kingdom, homo sapiens included. The public is beginning to
realise that there is a real emergency on hand. Yet the political
establishment drags its feet.
It is this that prompted some school children – who had taken to heart what they learnt in their lessons about global warming – to go on strike earlier this year. But it will take more than schoolchildren picketing at the school gates to bring about the radical changes needed. That is the logic behind the direct action campaign which brought thousands of protesters to London this week, creating a traffic gridlock in the capital by the mere act of sitting down in the road. Those taking part were briefed beforehand that they risked being arrested. Indeed, it is not far from the truth to say they wanted to be, for the sake of the planet.
The organisers, a group called Extinction Rebellion, required participants to agree to an exemplary set of rules. They were to show respect to everyone, including the police, to avoid any kind of violence, not to take drugs or drink alcohol, and not to hide from the consequences of breaking the law. The most distinguished climate change demonstrator was probably Dr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Very much in the spirit of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ on humanity’s duty to care for the environment, he said: “Christians are called by God to show to the world .… the image of a divine creator who brought the world to birth, called it good, and summoned human beings to reflect this divine care and delight …”
Direct action and civil disobedience have proved themselves time and again to be effective ways of forcing a change of gear in public policy. When in 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white person, as required by law, she triggered an avalanche that brought the civil rights movement into being. But as a tactic it is not without its critics. In a democratic society the law exists to protect people, and breaking it in one respect tears at the fabric of the whole. How can those who do so claim the law’s protection next time they need it?
In Robert Bolt’s famous play A Man for All Seasons, Thomas More rebukes his son-in-law, William Roper, who proposed having More’s persecutor, Richard Rich, arrested though he had committed no crime: “Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ... And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?” There is a tension between these two ethical positions. Both come at a cost; Thomas More and Rosa Parks are both admirable. The Extinction Rebellion movement seems to be fully aware of the dilemma, and everyone has to resolve it in his or her own way.
It is this that prompted some school children – who had taken to heart what they learnt in their lessons about global warming – to go on strike earlier this year. But it will take more than schoolchildren picketing at the school gates to bring about the radical changes needed. That is the logic behind the direct action campaign which brought thousands of protesters to London this week, creating a traffic gridlock in the capital by the mere act of sitting down in the road. Those taking part were briefed beforehand that they risked being arrested. Indeed, it is not far from the truth to say they wanted to be, for the sake of the planet.
The organisers, a group called Extinction Rebellion, required participants to agree to an exemplary set of rules. They were to show respect to everyone, including the police, to avoid any kind of violence, not to take drugs or drink alcohol, and not to hide from the consequences of breaking the law. The most distinguished climate change demonstrator was probably Dr Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Very much in the spirit of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ on humanity’s duty to care for the environment, he said: “Christians are called by God to show to the world .… the image of a divine creator who brought the world to birth, called it good, and summoned human beings to reflect this divine care and delight …”
Direct action and civil disobedience have proved themselves time and again to be effective ways of forcing a change of gear in public policy. When in 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white person, as required by law, she triggered an avalanche that brought the civil rights movement into being. But as a tactic it is not without its critics. In a democratic society the law exists to protect people, and breaking it in one respect tears at the fabric of the whole. How can those who do so claim the law’s protection next time they need it?
In Robert Bolt’s famous play A Man for All Seasons, Thomas More rebukes his son-in-law, William Roper, who proposed having More’s persecutor, Richard Rich, arrested though he had committed no crime: “Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ... And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?” There is a tension between these two ethical positions. Both come at a cost; Thomas More and Rosa Parks are both admirable. The Extinction Rebellion movement seems to be fully aware of the dilemma, and everyone has to resolve it in his or her own way.
What happens when a priest is falsely accused of sexual abuse
What happens when a priest is falsely accused of sexual abuse
NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine
April 17, 2019
By Michael J. O’Loughlin
Until last year, online search results for the Rev. Gary Graf would include stories about his liver donation to a parishioner, his scaling a border wall so he could understand more intimately the experiences of his immigrant parishioners and a hunger strike he staged to draw attention to the plight of Dreamers.
Today, however, the top results relate to Father Graf’s removal from ministry last August following an accusation that he inappropriately touched a minor. That allegation prompted the Archdiocese of Chicago to remove Father Graf from ministry and contact civil authorities, setting off multiple rounds of investigations—including a criminal trial—that ultimately cleared him of any wrongdoing.
As Holy Week begins, Father Graf is back ministering, but his story illustrates the challenges facing priests who are falsely accused at a time when hundreds of true stories of horrific abuse dominate the news.
America Magazine
April 17, 2019
By Michael J. O’Loughlin
Until last year, online search results for the Rev. Gary Graf would include stories about his liver donation to a parishioner, his scaling a border wall so he could understand more intimately the experiences of his immigrant parishioners and a hunger strike he staged to draw attention to the plight of Dreamers.
Today, however, the top results relate to Father Graf’s removal from ministry last August following an accusation that he inappropriately touched a minor. That allegation prompted the Archdiocese of Chicago to remove Father Graf from ministry and contact civil authorities, setting off multiple rounds of investigations—including a criminal trial—that ultimately cleared him of any wrongdoing.
As Holy Week begins, Father Graf is back ministering, but his story illustrates the challenges facing priests who are falsely accused at a time when hundreds of true stories of horrific abuse dominate the news.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
The Risks of History
Published on Commonweal Magazine (https://www.commonwealmagazine.org)
Home > The Risks of History
In an interview with Vatican News about Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin suggested [1] that it represented a “paradigm change” for the Catholic Church. George Weigel promptly countered [2]: “The Catholic Church Doesn’t Do ‘Paradigm Shifts’” (First Things, Jan. 31, 2018). Rightly noting the origin of the concept of “paradigm change” in Thomas Kuhn’s classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions [3],
Weigel went on to characterize a paradigm change as “a dramatic,
sudden, and unexpected break in human understanding—and thus something
of a new beginning.” He cited the established principle that revelation
“ended with the death of the last apostle.” There may be “development”
of doctrine but only in continuity with “the faith once...delivered to
the saints.” Such development would be an elaboration of the original
paradigm, not the replacement of one paradigm with another.
Cardinal Parolin offered no account of Pope Francis’s presumed paradigm change beyond a “change of attitude,” “a new spirit…of approach.” Weigel suggested that Parolin may mean only that we should treat those who deviate from church doctrine “with sensitivity and charity.” That, wrote Weigel, would be “a worthy proposal” but hardly a “paradigm shift.”
Cardinal Parolin offered no account of Pope Francis’s presumed paradigm change beyond a “change of attitude,” “a new spirit…of approach.” Weigel suggested that Parolin may mean only that we should treat those who deviate from church doctrine “with sensitivity and charity.” That, wrote Weigel, would be “a worthy proposal” but hardly a “paradigm shift.”
Abuse in the Church, how priests are living through the storm
Abuse in the Church, how priests are living through the storm
FRANCE
La Croix International
April 16, 2019
By Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner and Marie Malzac
Even when they have not been targeted personally by any disparaging remarks, priests are conscious of the climate of 'suspicion' that has developed
While they will gather around their bishops for the Chrism Mass, a key moment in Holy Week, French priests share with La Croix their distress at the wave of revelations of sexual abuse, but also their need to talk and strengthen the brotherhood amongst them.
Shock, sadness, anger, disillusionment … many priests realized only in the past few months the "scope" of the crisis of abuses in the Church, which is not limited to "individual cases" as first thought, but takes on a "systemic" dimension in their eyes.
As a member of the monitoring organisation in his Diocese of Nanterre, Father Hugues de Woillemont knows the "depth of the trauma" experienced by the victims in all areas of their personal and spiritual lives. But a documentary aired in early March by Arte TV on the rape of nuns by clerics was the final blow for him.
La Croix International
April 16, 2019
By Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner and Marie Malzac
Even when they have not been targeted personally by any disparaging remarks, priests are conscious of the climate of 'suspicion' that has developed
While they will gather around their bishops for the Chrism Mass, a key moment in Holy Week, French priests share with La Croix their distress at the wave of revelations of sexual abuse, but also their need to talk and strengthen the brotherhood amongst them.
Shock, sadness, anger, disillusionment … many priests realized only in the past few months the "scope" of the crisis of abuses in the Church, which is not limited to "individual cases" as first thought, but takes on a "systemic" dimension in their eyes.
As a member of the monitoring organisation in his Diocese of Nanterre, Father Hugues de Woillemont knows the "depth of the trauma" experienced by the victims in all areas of their personal and spiritual lives. But a documentary aired in early March by Arte TV on the rape of nuns by clerics was the final blow for him.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Opinion: From the Ashes of Notre-Dame
Opinion: From the Ashes of Notre-Dame
NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times
April 15, 2019
By Ross Douthat
How a burning cathedral rebukes a divided Catholic Church.
A first draft of this column was written before flames engulfed the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, before its spire fell in one of the most dreadful live images since Sept. 11, 2001, before a blazing fire went further than any of France’s anticlerical revolutionaries ever dared.
My original subject was the latest controversy in Catholicism’s now-years-long Lent, in which conflicts over theology and sex abuse have merged into one festering, suppurating mess. The instigator of controversy, this time, was the former pope, the 92-year-old Benedict XVI, who late last week surprised the Catholic intelligentsia with a 6,000-word reflection on the sex abuse crisis.
Portions of the document were edifying, but there was little edifying in its reception. It was passed first to conservative Catholic outlets, whose palpable Benedict nostalgia was soon matched by fierce criticism from Francis partisans, plus sneers from the secular press at the retired pope’s insistence that the sex abuse epidemic was linked to the cultural revolution of the 1960s and the 1970s.
The New York Times
April 15, 2019
By Ross Douthat
How a burning cathedral rebukes a divided Catholic Church.
A first draft of this column was written before flames engulfed the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, before its spire fell in one of the most dreadful live images since Sept. 11, 2001, before a blazing fire went further than any of France’s anticlerical revolutionaries ever dared.
My original subject was the latest controversy in Catholicism’s now-years-long Lent, in which conflicts over theology and sex abuse have merged into one festering, suppurating mess. The instigator of controversy, this time, was the former pope, the 92-year-old Benedict XVI, who late last week surprised the Catholic intelligentsia with a 6,000-word reflection on the sex abuse crisis.
Portions of the document were edifying, but there was little edifying in its reception. It was passed first to conservative Catholic outlets, whose palpable Benedict nostalgia was soon matched by fierce criticism from Francis partisans, plus sneers from the secular press at the retired pope’s insistence that the sex abuse epidemic was linked to the cultural revolution of the 1960s and the 1970s.
Franciscan University president resigns after Church Militant pressure
Franciscan University president resigns after Church Militant pressure
ncr
by Jenn Morson
Apr 16, 2019
Fr. Sean Sheridan's resignation comes
amid accusations that the Steubenville school mishandled abuse cases and
after attacks from Church Militant over a novel assigned by an English
professor.
US Catholic Survey on Prayer
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