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At the request of the Leadership Team of the American Association of Catholic Priests (AUSCP), Jim Schexnayder, of Oakland Diocese, extended an invitation to Archbishop John Wester, Archdiocese of Santa…

The CDF has issued its first document, “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” or “the Church rejuvenates.” under Pope Francis.
Can a leopard change its spots? Not according to some commentators;
“Much of the text reads like the “desk-bound” or laboratory theology that the 79-year-old pope finds unhelpful.” commented Cindy Wooden, Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service.

Others such as Massimo Faggioli see it a little differently;
“There is a very interesting admonition about ordained members of new movements that seek ordination to serve only their movement (par. 22) – a very well-known problem that so far has been officially denied by the Church leadership – and an interesting phrasing about the danger of having the movements creating a “parallel” path in the Church (par. 23). This is something that came up at the 1987 Synod, but no pope before Francis had the courage to talk about. There is also the clear intention of Francis not to create new precedents in the recognition process of new movements.”

Thanks to Paddy Ferry for bringing this video by Fr. Jim Martin SJ to our attention.
Fr. Martin is commenting on the attitudes we have towards the lgbt community in the context of the murders at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Updated with Bishop Fleming’s address at the launch.

Brendan Hoban is well known as a commentator on current church affairs as well as his commitment to the implementation of the reforms of Vatican II at all levels in church.
Less well known is his remarkable interest in history as demonstrated with the publication of his latest book “Telling the Story, A Dictionary of Killala Clergy” which is the third book of a three volume series of Readings in Killala Diocesan History.

Interesting statistics to while away a little time on the May Holiday Weekend. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has published a Report on “The Class of 2016: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood”.

Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, announced the death today of Fr. Daniel Berrigan SJ at the age of 94.

Pádraig McCarthy has re-formatted ‘The Joy of Love’ on A4 pages as a downloadable and printable PDF file.

Details of a conference being organised by the Loyola Institute entitled ‘The Role of Church in a Pluralist Society: Good Riddance or Good Influence? ‘
It will be held in Trinity College, Dublin, from 22 to 24 June.

The homily at the Funeral Mass of Judge Adrian Hardiman (1951-2016) 10th March, 2016 Readings: Proverbs 2:1-9; 2 Corinthians 5:1,6-10; Mark 12:28-34 We have to pinch ourselves, are we really…

Clarification concerning statement issued by the Catholic Communications Office Media Service of November 2nd 2015.

Tony Flannery thinks we should accept Pope Francis’ invitation to discuss openly and honestly issues in the church.
Francis said recently’ The path ahead, then, is dialogue among yourselves, dialogue in your presbyterates, dialogue with lay persons, dialogue with families, dialogue with society.I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly.’
Tony feels it is time there was an open dialogue about the issue of ordination for women.

Christopher Lamb writing in The Tablet blog reports that Cardinal Mark gave a basic theology lesson to some at the synod.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx said “doctrine and theology are not the same” adding that “many people talk about doctrine but they have no idea what it is.”
“Doctrine, he explained, is the tradition of the Church which is “not a closed shop, it is a living tradition” while doctrine needs to be lived rather than read in a book.”

Anthony Ruff OSB writing in his blog www.praytellblog.com asks ‘what to do when your church changes on you’. He bases his comments on a presentation by Barry Hudock at St. John’s University and uses the case of Fr. Joseph Fenton as an example.

Perhaps a pertinent question in the light of the Synod’s discussions?

Brendan Hoban writing in his weekly Western People column worries about the type of church some church leaders are pushing on the faithful.
“What’s emerging is almost a church within a church where visions, novenas and relics skirt the edges of superstition, where questionable piosities are lauded and intellectual rigour is suspect, where asking a question is tantamount to betrayal, where pleasure is distrusted and sexual pleasure anathema, where Catholicism takes on an Amish-like appearance and where a series of ‘Catholic’ newspapers encourage a return to the severity, rigidity and judgementalism of the past.’

Chris McDonnell wonders which voice will be heard in the Synod. Those that haven’t been included in the past need to be; “we are now in the early days of the Synod, considering the statements that arose from discussions a year ago, the question of women’s place in the Church cannot be set aside.”

John J. O Shea writes an open letter to 300+ delegates and alternates who are going to the synod from the different countries.
John J. challenges all to speak freely, boldly, and without fear about the true status of women in our church.

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have published an extraordinarily candid piece of criticism of the Church taken from a summary of responses to a consultation conducted in preparation for the forthcoming international synod of bishops in Rome next month, on the subject of marriage and family life.
An editorial in The Tablet states that “they want a Church that engages with married life and its messy difficulties realistically and humanely, not one offering idealistic textbook answers.”
One respondent is quoted as saying: “It would seem that right now the Church may well have more to learn from marriage and family life than to teach.”

One of the rich veins of wisdom in Francis’ words to the bishops of the U.S.A.
“Dialogue is our method, not as a shrewd strategy but out of fidelity to the One who never wearies of visiting the marketplace, even at the eleventh hour, to propose his offer of love (Mt 20:1-16).

The path ahead, then, is dialogue among yourselves, dialogue in your presbyterates, dialogue with lay persons, dialogue with families, dialogue with society.

I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly.”

Francis A. Quinn, the retired bishop of Sacramento, has an interesting article in The New York Times in preparation for Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.A.
One of the topics he broaches is that of the ordination of women.
“Recent popes have said publicly that priesthood for women cannot be considered because the gospel and other documents state that Christ ordained men only.
Yet women have shown great qualities of leadership: strength, intelligence, prayerfulness, wisdom, practicality, sensitivity and knowledge of theology and sacred Scripture.
Might the teaching church one day, taking account of changing circumstances, be inspired by the Holy Spirit to study and reinterpret this biblical tradition?”

With so many retired bishops speaking out recently on topical issues it raises the question why they haven’t done so when in office. What prevents bishops from expressing such views when they hold office? Whatever it is, it most certainly is not healthy and is damaging the office of bishop and the universal church.

Helen B. Costigane, Ph.D.; D.C.L. writes on the canonical obligations of a bishop for financial care of suspended or laicized priests.
This article was first published in the July issue of THE FURROW, and later was made available through www.justiceforpriests.org