Month: August 2014

Catholic church must welcome ‘unconventional couples,’ top Italian bishop says.

Josephine McKenna, Religion News Service, reports in the NCR that Bishop Nunzio Galantino, leader of the Italian Bishops Conference, said that “that everyone should ‘feel at home’ in the church, and especially at Mass — including migrants, the disabled, the poor and those in unconventional relationships.”

Australian bishops gravely concerned about crisis in Iraq

Gerry Hefferan, St Joseph and St Anthony Parish, Bracken Ridge, in Queensland, Australia draws our attention to a statement of the Australian catholic bishops who have expressed grave concern at the humanitarian crisis that is continuing to worsen in northern Iraq. They state that ‘The best outcome for the Christians and Yazidis of Iraq is peace and security, so they can return to their homes. But if this is not possible, the Australian Government should agree to offer safe haven to many of these displaced people so they can try to rebuild their shattered lives.’
Is the reaction of the church and state in Ireland appropriate in response to this and other growing crises?

Do Irish nuns need to listen to their American sisters?

Brendan Hoban in his weekly Western People column states that history, while recognising the failures and limitations of a minority of Irish nuns, will eventually laud the extraordinary contribution nuns have made to Irish life. ‘
The self-less service given by thousands of nuns should not be air-brushed from the national memory. They deserve more than that.

Pope Francis has transformed the Church – it’s time the Church stopped stifling groups who embrace that transformation 

In a recent Tablet article Chris McDonnell, secretary of the Movement for Married Clergy, argued that sincere discussion should be welcomed by both the hierarchy and the laity, for the good of the Church.

Positive engagement of rank and file priests cannot be dismissed as negative

Brendan Hoban tells us in his Western People column that bishop of Rome “Francis is 78, and might be dismissed as ‘an ageing, disillusioned priest’ – but he knows the score. I would argue that Francis and the ACP are singing out of the same hymn-sheet, even if others seem determined to drown out our voices.”

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