“Bin Laden was dangerous, and he had to be stopped. Presuming his innocence was legally legitimate but unreasonable.” The chorus of criticism addressed to the White House from various sectors of the international community for the suppression of the head of Al Qaeda finds no echo in the Vatican. “The ocean would dilute the memory Read more
Synergy, efficiency, and compliance aren’t just for business. They’re also important for a stronger church. Imagine the moment (with a choir in the background for good measure): under a banner proclaiming “Welcome Home!” a lapsed Catholic opens the beautifully crafted doors to the parish where she hopes by God’s grace to renew her faith life Read more
At the American Catholic Council an estimated 2,000 reform-minded Catholics stood en masse to endorse a 10-point Catholic Bill of Rights and Responsibilities that asserts primacy of conscience and the right of every Catholic to have a voice in the way the church is run, as well as an obligation to advance the proclamation of Read more
The first time the Rev. Charles Murphy was cleared of accusations that he improperly touched a minor, a girl 25 years earlier, everyone who ever met him said they had never doubted his innocence. It was 2006 and priests were all over the news for every awful reason, most of them deservedly so. But Father Read more
The title of this talk, The Church and the Modern World, is the English title of the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes. It was issued in December 1965. The central theme of this document is this – the Church is to be engaged with the world, it is to be its Gaudium et Spes Read more
Famed theologian Fr. Hans Kung has called for a “peaceful” revolution by world Catholics against the absolutism of papal power. He made the call in a video message on June 10, the first evening of a conference of the American Catholic Council in Detroit. “I think few people realize how powerful the pope is,” Kung said, Read more
“Baptism unites the church, not ordination,” theologian and author Anthony T. Padovano told more than 1,800 reform-minded Catholics gathered June 10-12 at Detroit’s Cobo Hall. Addressing the inaugural national meeting of the American Catholic Council on June 11, he said, “The pope does not unify or sanctify the church and make it catholic or apostolic. Read more
Right now is not an easy time to stay Catholic. But is it ever easy? I sometimes speculate that it might be simpler to be Protestant. Protestants are allowed to go church shopping, and they don’t even have to go to a service every week to fulfill their Protestant Duty to God. We Catholics, on Read more
In the cover letter to the U.S. Bishops on March 30, 2011 that accompanied the Committee on Doctrine’s criticism of my book Quest for the Living God, Cardinal Donald Wuerl stated that the Committee was always open to dialogue with theologians and would welcome an opportunity to discuss my writings with me. In my one Read more
Not for the first time, Caritas Internationalis, the second-largest humanitarian relief agency in the world after the Red Cross, has been going through a rough patch in its relations with the Vatican, says The Tablet. This has resulted in the demoralising departure of its secretary general, Dr Lesley-Anne Knight, the renewal of whose four-year contract Read more