In pondering the reform of the episcopate for the future, the distinction between maintenance and mission should be at the center of the discussion. Bishops who imagined their role primarily as one of keep-the-lid-on institutional maintenance are one of the primary causes of the McCarrick and Pennsylvania scandals.
In the midst of all the conversations and the sexual abuse scandals in the Church, many people are asking themselves the question, “Why am I still a Catholic?”
NOT TOO MANY months ago I was talking to a pastor of a different parish than mine. The topic of Catholics leaving the Church came up.
ANYONE LOOKING FOR a remedy for insomnia might try working through the Instrumentum Laboris (IL), or “working document,” for the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in Rome next month on the theme “Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.”
THE TIME IS here. This Sept. 20-23, more than 3,000 Hispanic Catholic leaders and others from nearly every diocese across the country will meet in Dallas, Texas, for the V National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry (V Encuentro) main meeting.
AS THIS CATHOLIC annus horribilis continues to unfold, perhaps some good news is in order; first, a little background.
by Brother Javier Hansen, F.S.C.
THE APPROACHING SYNOD on “Young people, faith and vocational discernment” next month in Rome is of huge importance to the Church. If you had told me the role I would be playing in this task a year ago, I would not have believed you.
A faux leather-bound Bible lay on the sidewalk as the crowds walked on by. It was a recent mid-August Sunday afternoon in Union Square near 15th Street. A few feet in front of the Bible stood a young 20-something man texting on his iPhone.
In the immediate aftermath of Archbishop Carlo-Maria Vigano’s “Testimony,” and its statement that Pope Francis knew of the dereliction of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and lifted the sanctions against him that had been imposed (but never seriously enforced) by Pope Benedict XVI, the polemics within the Church immediately intensified.
Catholics filled with righteous anger over the vile behavior of the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, and Catholics determined to help reform the Church in order to cleanse the Church and prevent similar wickedness in the future, have something to learn from Rabbi Fackenheim. In our case, the lesson must be: Don’t give the Evil One victories.
