What is the way forward for the Church and for the papacy? The outcry over clerical abuse has seen a deluge of commentary, and some shifts in the reponses from clergy and laity which may well leave the church profoundly…
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Italian Abuse Trial: Bishop Admits He Did Nothing.
An Italian bishop has testified in court that the did nothing to report allegations of sexual abuse against one of his priests. He did not report the allegations, of offences between 2002 and 2006, to the police or to the Vatican.
Portugal’s Bishops and Gay Marriage
The Portuguese bishops are reported to be “lamenting” the new gay marriage, which has been passed by parliament, endorsed by the Constitutional Court, and which will not be vetoed by the President. This bill has now been signed. It is…
Episcopal Accountability: To The Monastery, Or To The Stake?
When I started writing about it, I called it bishops “breaking ranks”. Jason Berry, writing at NCR, calls it “Cracks in the Curia”, but we mean the same thing: the erosion of that uniform solidarity that has traditionally protected bishops…
What are “Church Teaching” and “Church” teaching?
Whenever I see references to “church teaching” on homosexuality, I get uncomfortable. Which part of teaching should we be including, here? Is only the specific aspect of sexual ethics of relevance? Or do we also include teaching on conscience and…
Alcuin of Tours: May 20th
Alcuin was an Englishman who, after a period as monk and teacher at the great cathedral of York, served at the court of Charlemagne, whom he had met while returning from a visit to Rome. The Emperor recruited him to…
IDAHO - Kenya
Kenya’s lesbian and gay community marked IDAHO (International day against homophobia) with a public meeting hosted by the director of the new Human Rights Commission.
The (US) Church’s Shifting Balance of Power
Are ordinary Catholics, too, acquiring more power in the Church? Yesterday I speculated that events in Austria may be one sign that the Bishops are assuming asserting greater independence from Rome. But the events around a school in Hingham may…
More On Austrian “Celibacy”
In my explorations around the Austrian bishops’ discussions of celibacy, I stumbled on a snippet from March 2009 that adds an interesting new dimension. In the diocese of Linz, the news agency Kath.net reported that a parish priest and dean,…
Priest Fights For Custody - Of His Son.
In yet another demonstration of the idiocy behind pretending that compulsory celibacy is viable. in Kenya a Catholic priest is reported to be fighting for custody of his son. For this report from the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper, I am…
