A LISTENING CHURCH How does the center of institutional authority — in the Catholic Church, the papacy and the Vatican—allow dialogue within a global, decentralized, talk-back culture? The answer is: with great difficulty.
A LISTENING CHURCH AND AN EMPOWERED LAITY Pope Francis speaks of bishops as leaders who should sometimes go ahead of their flock, sometimes simply walk among them, and sometimes fall in at the rear and be led by those seeking new paths.
FLIRTING WITH SCHISM The people behind this attempt to force Francis to resign are a small minority of Catholics in the United States; they do not reflect Francis’s relationship with the whole U.S. church, much less the Catholic Church globally.
WHERE ARE THE PRIESTS OF VATICAN II? 40 years later -- concerned about a Vatican II vision of church and yearning for a community with the same hopes and dreams for justice and peace.
WHOSE ROME? The Catholic opposition to Pope Francis is headquartered in the United States. It is a minority within the U.S. Church, but it is well organized. Its main intellectual organ is First Things, its episcopal leader Archbishop Chaput.
WHY THE CHURCH CAN'T CHANGE - OR CAN IT? While church leaders themselves can sometimes talk favorably about a structure that is leaner, the question for all of us is what may be lost if there is no longer a distinctive Catholic identity.
SCHISM OR EVOLUTION? The concerted efforts to oust Pope Francis are deeply tied to the perverted crisis of abuse embedded in ecclesiastical power structures.
WHY DO SOME CATHOLICS FEAR CHANGE? There are striking parallels between the ultramontanist thinkers and authors of the 19th century - the century of Vatican I - and those that could be named the 'new ultramontanists' of today.
VATICAN REORGANIZATION WOULD BE 'DECISIVE SHIFT' Pope Francis' advisory Council of Cardinals has suggested that the pontiff reorganize the Vatican to make a 'decisive shift' toward putting the city-state at the service of local Catholic dioceses around the world.
CLERICALISM If clericalism looms large in today’s church, it has had centuries to grow strong. David Timbs traces the roots of clericalism back to the end of the Apostolic age, at the end of the first century.
LET'S TALK ABOUT AUTHORITY The relation of the papacy to the bishops, considered as a collective, has been a hot topic for Catholicism on and off since at least the fourteenth century.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S EUPHEMIZATION OF POWER Although, as the Second Vatican Council affirmed, the church comprises the whole People of God — the laity and the ordained — in practice, the church is structured by inequality that is sanctioned and consecrated by priestly ordination.
CONFRONTING A SINFUL CHURCH Talk of a holy Church without an accompanying “sinful” descriptor, especially in times like our own, can provoke profound cognitive dissonance among the faithful.
SIXTH YEAR MAY GO DOWN AS THE MOST DECISIVE IN FRANCIS' PAPACY The pope invites us to a different way of being a Christian church in which the new evangelization is no longer tied up with technological, still less managerial, questions, as too often happened here in the U.S. under John Paul II and Benedict XV.
THE SHALLOW INTERPRETATION OF CLERICALISM With roots going back over a millennium and half, the ancient clerical system has been superimposed as an anti-evangelical institution upon the lay Catholic sacrament of Orders.
DUELING POPES? MAYBE Dueling Views in a Divided Church? Definitely - What is happening is what many of us hoped would not happen
ABOLISH THE PRIESTHOOD Opinion: to save the Church, Catholics must detach themselves from the clerical hierarchy — and take the faith back into their own hands.
IS POPE FRANCIS A SOCIALIST? Whenever Pope Francis discusses the economy, it sets off cries that the pope is a socialist or a communist. What is his vision for the economy?
REFORM OR DISMANTLE? There is a danger that an indiscriminate skepticism toward institutions has blinded us to their necessity, and left them to be appropriated by people with no scruples about abusing institutional power to get their way.
MISSING THE BUS How the Catholic Church has failed to adapt since Vatican Council II
ARE YOU WEAK ENOUGH TO BE A PRIEST? A beautiful essay by Michael Buckley SJ, about the vocation to the priesthood that is widely used in priestly and diaconate formation around the U.S.
WHY PEOPLE HATE RELIGION The charlatans and phonies preen and punish, while those of real faith do Christ’s work among refugees.
WHEN PRIEST WEDS NUN Stories about the weddings of priests and nuns were usually presented as singular curiosities, but in hindsight...
THE U.S. BISHOPS TRAVEL TO ROME The bond between Rome and local churches around the world has always been crucial to the Catholic Church’s understanding of itself as universal.
WHAT THE AMAZON SYNOD DECIDED & WHAT IT REVEALED Perhaps ecclesiologists will say it was the moment that the great unresolved issue of Vatican II—whether the local or the universal should take precedence—finally settled on a proper balance.
HOW US CHURCH TRIED AND FAILED TO GET ABUSE PLAN PAST ROME The attempt to carry out an ecclesiastical power play against the Pope... was a quick-fix solution attempting to shore up the US bishops’ reputations. Even more shocking was [the plan] to deliberately exclude Rome from the design of the proposal.
CLEARER VATICAN II VISION The church exists for the sake of the Gospel, not itself - the ideas of development and change predominate the insights in a hefty new book by Australian theologian Ormond Rush.
USCCB FALL ASSEMBLY 2019 From the National Catholic Reporter, all covearage detailing the 2019 Fall meeting of the U.S. Bishops, whose agenda reflects the current state of the Church in the U.S.
FRANCIS: THE POPE WE NEED The Radical Traditionalists and Francis Derangement Syndrome. Of all the things Pope Francis has done, this emphasis on mercy had most enraged his opposition.
THE PARADOX OF PLURALISM What do we mean by ‘religion’? What makes a 'religion' distinctive from a 'way of life," or from a collection of cultural practices?
THE SYNODAL CHURCH The reform of the Church requires we make a step forward in adopting a renewed synodal praxis that is able to engage everyone.
THE FAILED LEADERSHIP OF U.S. BISHOPS IS CLEAR It doesn't take an ecclesiologist to arrive at that conclusion about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops after witnessing its dysfunction during the group's recent meeting in Baltimore.
ADRIFT & ALONE What’s a “synod”? The USCCB doesn’t seem to know, and doesn’t seem to care, writes Massimo Faggioli. The Bishops Meet, and Miss the Point
CARDINAL LUIS ANTONIO TAGLE: THE POPE'S MVP The 62-year-old Archbishop of Manila is soon to take charge of one the most important and powerful offices at the Vatican... and may be the most significant personnel move of Francis' pontificate.
DANGEROUS DISCONNECTS Priestly formation and academic theology are increasingly cut off from the real lives of Catholics. That poses a problem, one that theologians must address.
VULNERABILITY AS STRENGTH "Is the God we worship vulnerable?" If that is the case, and Jesuit Fr. James Keenan believes so, then he asks: "Why couldn't we develop an ecclesiology based on the risk-taking vulnerability of God?"
UNDERSTANDING THE DEBATE ABOUT CELIBACY The Church's long-standing discipline of celibacy, it is useful to remember, is the priestly commitment not to marry, following the practice of Jesus and mandated for at least a thousand years in the Western Church.
WHEN ROME FALLS... More signs that there's no stopping the Catholic Church's long, slow implosion
BENEDICT’S ESTRANGEMENT FROM RATZINGER The truly unfortunate thing about all of this is that Ratzinger was one of the most important theologians of Vatican II. Massimo Faggioli on how Benedict has estranged himself from his own legacy.
THEOLOGICAL DRIFT Despite the pivotal role he played in Vatican II, Benedict XVI has spent the rest of his career, particularly his emeritus papacy, distancing himself from it.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PAPAL DIPLOMACY The Holy See seems to be one of the few global actors that remembers the dark lessons of the last century’s nationalist and authoritarian catastrophes.
HOW POPE FRANCIS OUTFLANKS HIS FOES What we see is Francis moving to enact something more profound than a shift in understanding doctrine: a transformation of the Church’s power dynamics.
A REVIEW ON THE VISION OF POPE FRANCIS The pontificate of Pope Francis has its heart in the discernment. Many people believe that the Pope has all the clear, distinct ideas, and they wonder where he wants to take the Church.
CLERICALISM AND THE PANDEMIC It is always God who acts in and through sacramental encounter, the ordained serving as instruments to gather the Church together for the purpose of encountering God’s activity. Anything else serves only to limit our vital experience of God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love.
PAPACIES IN LOCKDOWN Crises like these tend to have an effect on popes as human beings, and on the papacy as institution. We can already see it beginning to happen.
THE END OF CLERICALISM As the human race joins the rest of the planet in a struggle for survival, the church is also trying to find its footing. Why? Clericalism.
PASCAL & THE MAGISTERIUM Paul Griffiths on how Pascal's tussle with the magisterium in his day can teach us how to be a critical Catholic today.
‘DON’T UNDER-ESTIMATE OPPOSITION TO FRANCIS’ Thanks to their power and influence the opponents have created an impression that many agree with their stance. But the truth is that [most Catholics] are with Francis. Those opposing Francis have influence in Rome, and what is going on is “a struggle for the soul of Catholicism.”
A TELLING SPELL OF CATHOLIC 'LEADERSHIP' Crisis reveals and clarifies. At a time when Catholic bishops, public intellectuals, and editors need to speak and act with moral clarity more than ever, the past month has seen such leaders doing the opposite.
SYNODS AS HABITATS OF HOPE The pandemic has deeply interrupted all our lives and the life of the Church. And it has made clear how ruthless the mechanisms of social disintegration can be for the weakest members of our communities.
IMAGINING THE CHURCH OF TOMORROW In a rapidly changing world, the Church needs to leave the beaten path. Pope Francis invites us to do this by calling for a Church that "goes out of itself". The future of Catholicism depends on synod-like dialogue between clergy and laity.
PRIESTS, PARISHES SHARE VIGANÒ'S LETTER TO TRUMP Catholic observers worry about a normalizing effect when parish priests promote radicalized individuals such as Viganò to everyday Catholics in the pews who are unattuned to inside church baseball.
COVID-19 & THE CLERICAL CHURCH For all the supposed fragility of the Church’s institutional system, its persistence is undiminished. It remains, and likely will remain, highly clerical. . Our experience with the ecclesial system over the last few months has shown us the difference between dreams and reality.
WE NEED BISHOPS WHO WILL CHALLENGE THE RICH AND POWERFUL The reasons for the alliance between church leaders and the rich and influential may vary, but one stands out: The bishops need the money and political influence of these wealthy and powerful individuals because of the way the institutional church is structured.
VATICAN COUNCIL II: A SEED THAT CONTINUES TO GROW This year December 8 will mark the 55th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council. It is an important moment in this period since a new debate has been provoked in the ecclesial community...
THE PROBLEMS WITH PAPAL POLITICKING The church's next conclave is not this November's presidential election - a look at the politicking within Cardinal Timothy Dolan's apparent meddling in the process of selecting a papal successor.
OUR INSIDE-OUT BISHOPS NEED TO LOOK OUTWARD AGAIN The immediate past has been characterized by an inward focus in which the concerns of the sacristan have trumped the demands of the Gospel. The successors of the apostles, the bishops, should follow the pope's lead and begin to look outward again.
IT'S TIME TO END MALE SUPREMACY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH In recent years we have witnessed the Vatican engage in disingenuous attempts to find an acceptable "role" for women in the church, believing that a few cosmetic changes might convince women to stop agitating for equality.
MAINSTREAMING WOMEN'S MINISTRIES A Survey of Young Catholic Women in Formation and Ministry in the United States - The results of a new survey of Catholic women ages 21-40 who have earned or are pursuing a higher degree in ministry or related studies.
THE MINDSET THAT SEPARATES "THE PEOPLE" FROM "THE CLERGY" We desperately need a different paradigm and a different code of law based on that paradigm to help the church become, at all levels, what is clearly the call of the present situation to become "missionary disciples" in the world today.
CATHOLICS AND CANCEL CULTURE A truly ecclesial culture must also allow room for mistakes, incorrect answers & a gradual growth in understanding – by all sides. This means practicing of the fundamental virtues of forgiveness, mercy and charity.
TIME TO BURY THE CLERGY-CENTERED CHURCH What's the greatest threat to the Roman Catholic Church today – a schism? Or the rise in power of fundamentalist clericalists? José María Castillo, himself a priest, believes it's the latter.
THE HERESY OF OVERSIMPLIFIED CHRISTIANITY The problem is that too many people refashion Christianity — its doctrinal teachings and moral guidance — into an idol of their own making in order to grasp a misguidedly simple and falsely clear message.
AFTER COVID-19 The way we've done things is not the way we will revive them. We just have to start again. The register of Church life needs to resume as interactive and conversational rather than as the didactic and directive.
A SYNOD ON SYNODALITY When the Synod of Bishops meets again in ordinary session in 2022 it will discuss an issue that is key to Pope Francis' vision for the Church.
YVES CONGAR AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH IN ITS PAST The Church is responsible for relaying Christ by making him present to men and women of all times. To carry out this mandate efficiently, it must indeed remain faithful to what it was but also to what it needs to be for the people of today and tomorrow.
POPE FRANCIS WARNS AGAINST 'SICK', CLOSED-IN CHURCH “The Church must be like God: always outgoing; and when the Church is not going out, she falls ill with so many evils that we have in the Church. And why these diseases in the Church? Because it is not out.”
DEFENDING MARRIAGE IS NOT ENOUGH What matters is that Francis has said what he thinks on the issue, which is the fruit of a longstanding discernment. As usual, it is hard for many to swallow. Austen Ivereigh: On civil unions, Pope Francis is calling on Catholics to ask the uncomfortable questions.
GERMAN BISHOPS INVITED TO ROME WITHOUT LAITY When The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of Evangelisation was released in July, it was harshly criticised by a number of leading German bishops and theologians.
POPE FRANCIS’ STRENGTH IS IN SURPRISES We have a pope who is hard to pin down. We should be prepared to be surprised. That is, though, a constant teaching of the church that can be traced to its very beginning.
OUR FEUDAL CHURCH MUST REFORM The immense good done in the name of the Gospel by many in the Church is being systematically undermined by clericalism, ideological division, unelected leadership, bad management, and a willingness to turn a blind eye to vice.
A RESET WITH ROME, BUT NOT AT HOME Massimo Faggioli compares the Vatican’s reaction to a Biden presidency to that of the U.S. bishops. The Vatican may welcome the normalcy of a Biden presidency, but the reaction of U.S. bishops highlights the partisan divide in the Catholic Church.
CLERICALISM — VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE Many Catholics are not simply shocked at the affront given by those who appear not to recognize their own responsibility. They are also bewildered that men who are supposedly dedicated to the Gospel cannot see that their behavior is undermining the credibility of the whole Church.
“BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF AMERICA” The tensions between the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the president, and between the US bishops’ conference and the papacy of Francis have risen to unprecedented levels in the first two weeks of the Biden presidency...
U.S. BISHOPS COULD LEARN A LOT FROM ST. ÓSCAR ROMERO Perhaps if more bishops were like Romero ...and more connected to the people entrusted to their pastoral care, they too might be "prophetic bishops that speak to their people." Instead, at least collectively, their relevance continues to decline.
AMERICA’S COMING SCHISM? Can the bishops unite a Church that is increasingly addicted to its own polarisation, when they themselves are responsible for the bitter divisions between American Catholics?
PRIESTHOOD AND REVOLUTION The Church is not first of all a community; it is first of all a movement within the community of mankind. (Reprinted from Commonweal Magazine, September 1, 1968)
ANONYMOUS BISHOPS TAKE POTSHOTS AT POPE Journalists who cover the Catholic Church face a hurdle in that most of the important decisions are made in secret. A journalist's job is to find ways to peek behind the curtain and explain what is going on and why.