Blog

Elephant in the Church – a discussion evening on Women’s International Day, March 8th

A discussion evening on the themes of the book, Elephant in the Church, will be held on Women’s International Day, March 8th, in the Avila Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin.
“It will look at the multitude of aspects that make up women’s status in the Church, creating a space for women, a language for women and a ministry for women, all of which are currently ignored.”

Fine words and dramatic gestures are not enough!

An edited version of this article by Peter Stanford about the bishops’ meeting in Rome to discuss clerical sexual abuse appeared recently in The Observer.
“It is an appalling moral failure and needs to end now, but that will involve rethinking an entire approach to sexuality in Catholicism that is peculiar, punitive and often plain perverse. The Jesus of the gospels had almost no interest is such matters. Why does the Church leadership? “

Sexuality – a church’s need to learn as well as teach

Brendan Hoban in his Western People column takes a look at a new proposed programme on Sex Education in schools, at what could be the next debate / battle “between civil and religious contexts’ where “distrust and accusation are the order of the day.”….
“The hope would be that … we’ve learned a bit from our mistakes: that we don’t know it all; that we can learn from those we may disagree with; … and especially that, given all that has happened in recent decades, we’re not in the best place to pontificate on matters sexual. In other words, that we can learn as well as teach.”

Which way for the church?

Paddy Ferry brings our attention to an article by Mary Cullen, editor of Open House where she sets the scene for the Open House conference in June which will explore some of the new directions opening up in the Catholic Church in Scotland.   
This article first appeared in February/March edition of Open House and we are grateful to Mary Cullen for permission to publish it here.

A reminder for our Scottish friends that Gerry O’Hanlon travels to Edinburgh on Tuesday to speak at the Newman Association.

A new style of leadership needed for the church in Ireland

Brendan Hoban writes in his Western People column of his hopes for a new style of leadership in the church in Ireland.
“What we need are bishops who are secure enough in their own skin to be able to live with ambivalence and complexity……who have the imagination, the creativity and above all the courage not to keep looking over their shoulders to Rome and to confront – respectfully but robustly – those who want to lead us back to the nineteenth century. “

Marie Collins calls for a policy of zero tolerance and full transparency on clerical sex abuse and universal safeguarding of children throughout the Catholic Church.

Ahead of the Abuse Summit in Rome in February with Pope Francis and the Heads of Bishops Conferences Marie Collins, speaking at the WAC Ireland meeting held on 14 January 2019, called on Pope Francis to seek agreement for a policy of zero tolerance and full transparency on clerical sex abuse and universal safeguarding of children throughout the Catholic Church.

Make Love Not War: 1966

Reading an article about Charles Davis sets Seamus Ahearne reminiscing about the days after Vatican II when “..we were let loose. We were ready for anything. We were armed with hope. The spirit of the Council was our Mission Statement.”
….
“The questions that Charles asked, are still demanding answers. We can never escape the challenge.  Faith is always seeking understanding.  Ministry will always be demanding prophetic action.”

Cardinal urges change of celibacy rule

The National Catholic Reporter carries a story of Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s call for a change of the requirement of celibacy for priests as the German bishops’ conference prepares for a workshop debate to “review” the issue.
“Marx said the church must, “in light of the failure” surrounding the clergy sex abuse crisis, modify tradition in response to changing modern times.”

Select a category in the sidebar for more posts

Select a category in the sidebar for more posts