The heads of the Swiss, German and French bishops' conferences organised a "study day" held at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University last week.

It was attended by nine bishops, 17 professors and priests, and selected media representatives.

One report stated the study day aimed to explore various "pastoral innovations" ahead of the Synod on the Family in October.

Another reported aim was to reflect on a new "theology of love" that critics say would pave the way for Church recognition of same-sex relationships.

An Austrian Catholic news outlet stated many bishops who were "not sympathetic" to the issues discussed were "neither informed nor invited to the meeting".

But spokesman for the German bishops, Matthias Kopp, denied that the bishops "have an agenda to change Church teaching".

The study day included an in-depth look at Church law on the family - not just on annulments - and on biblical visions of the family, Mr Kopp said.

At their annual meeting in January, the presidents of the German, Swiss and French bishops' conferences decided that as part of their synod preparation they should "reflect together and bring together experts not just from one country".

The French Catholic agency I.Media said much of the discussion "focused on welcoming the divorced and remarried in the Church, in light of the Scriptures, but also morality".

Among the points made by individual participants, the agency said, were: Church teaching and discipline are not immovable, but develop over time and "a second marriage can be an authentic union".

Other points individuals made were: the indissolubility of marriage is an ideal or "utopia" to strive for; that God may be present in a stable and faithful homosexual union, but the union is not a marriage; that the Church must find a language that is less "blunt" or harsh to speak about people in situations that do not measure up to the Gospel ideal.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Tourist Link

The council of Nicaea is best known for the profession of faith - the ‘Nicene Creed' - which is still recited in most parishes every Sunday immediately after the sermon.

However, the council also issued twenty canons of a practical nature, dealing with various aspects of church life, and the fifth of these canons speaks of Lent.

The word used for Lent in this fifth canon is tessarakonta (in the original Greek), which means ‘forty'.

For the first time in recorded history, we have mention of this period of preparation for Easter as lasting forty days.

Much earlier, Christians had introduced Easter Sunday to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Soon afterwards, a period of two or three days preparation, specially commemorating Christ's passion and death - the ‘Holy Week' part of Lent today - had been adopted by various Christian communities.

But the first mention of a preparatory period lasting the forty days comes from this fifth canon of Nicaea. Continue reading.

Source: ThinkingFaith

Image: The Catholic Spirit

Called "Toward Healing and Renewal" — the aim of the Symposium was to change the culture of how the church deals with cases of pedophile priests.

At the end of the meeting a new internet-based "Center for Child Protection" was unveiled this afternoon in Rome, designed to educate priests, deacons, and other church personnel in fighting child abuse.

With a budget of $1.6 million over its first three years, the center will provide on-line training and certification programs in German, English, Italian and Spanish. It's a joint project of the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome, the Munich archdiocese, and the University of Ulm in Germany.

Pope Benedict XVI marked the opening of the symposium on clerical sexual abuse by calling upon bishops to respond in a "Christ-like" manner to clerical abuse as part of a "profound renewal" of the Church. The Pope's wishes were expressed in a communiqué from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State.

On Tuesday a liturgy of penance to ask forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children by priests, and for church leaders who covered up that abuse took place in the Church of St. Ignatius. The service was lead by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who serves as Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops. His participation was seen as significant, because it implicitly acknowledged that the church's shortcomings are not limited to priests who committed abuse, but also include bishops who failed to act.

Sources

• Reuters
• NPR
• Pontifical Gregorian University
• NCR: Web-based Centre for Child protection launched
• NCR Penance and a Spirit of "Never again"

Image: Reuters