Year: 2017

Rita Ferrone reports in commmonwealmagazine.org that Pope Francis has inaugurated a review and re-evaluation of the 2001 document Liturgiam authenticam.

The National Catholic Reporter has a story of how the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests is in the final development stages of issuing an urgent “plea” to the U.S. bishops to “formulate a plan now to meet this emerging crisis” of parish closings and consolidations.
In a working draft it calls a “Proposal for Pastoral Care In & Thru Priestless Parishes,” the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests exhorts the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and “dioceses nationwide” to quickly address the issue.

Gerry O Hanlon SJ in an opinion piece in the Irish Times maintains that Pope Francis is quietly revolutionising the Church.
“It seems to me that what is going on here is that Francis is proposing a paradigm shift in our model of church that, in effect, reverses the status quo of the past millennium and returns, with appropriate adjustments for our age, to a first millennium model. This is huge, a ‘quiet revolution’, which, strategically, has the potential to unlock many concrete issues of contention within the Church.”

Gerry maintains that this model of church needs to be adopted at a local level.

Interesting editorial comment in the Tablet.
“If there is a future for the Catholic Church in Ireland it will belong to the laity, and especially to Catholic women. “

Brian Eyre encourages the Irish bishops on their visit to Rome to face the realities about the shortage of priests, about the benefits of having married priests. “Today after 34 years of married life I still feel and know that I have been faithful to the calling of Our Lord and that my marriage has helped me be a better priest.”

Kevin Hayes offer some wisdom to Archbishop Brown, Papal Nuncio; as he says “At seventy-seven I feel entitled to lecture even Papal Nuncios!”
“I still have warm regard and concern for our Christian people, in Irish, Pobal Dé. I use that term rather than Church. I am not a great admirer of the institutional Catholic church. I believe the institution has become more important than the Christian message, the Word of God. The institution has become more important than the individual person and so many times its interests have been placed before the good of the person.”

The National Catholic Reporter has a story about an open letter on the state of the church and priestly ministry in Germany that a group of 11 German priests from the Cologne archdiocese have written urging the church to open the priesthood to both men and women and to make priestly celibacy voluntary.
Meanwhile Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, writes about his visit to Rome, “No doubt Pope Francis and the other curial officials will be interested to learn how we are facing the current challenges of a decline in Mass attendance in Ireland and in the number of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
I, and my fellow bishops, will be able to share with them the resilience of our priests and religious under increased pressure and workload, as well as the tremendous generosity and kindness of the faithful towards us.
We will be able to discuss the seeds of renewal and new growth in catechesis, lay involvement, intentional discipleship and pastoral outreach that are emerging all over the country.