Posts Tagged ‘Catholic Church’

Church needs to rebuild trust

Thursday, February 9th, 2023
Vatican's top woman

The Vatican’s most influential woman, French nun Nathalie Becquart, is on a global mission to bring the Pope’s decision-making process closer to the laity. Being able to celebrate Mass isn’t the only way people can undertake leadership roles in the Church, she says. That global mission has led her to Australia to hear what Australian Read more

Catholic Church: changing the institutional model

Monday, October 31st, 2022
Sacrosanctum Concilium,

The Catholic Church cannot avoid institutional change much longer because its institutional model, at least in the West, has passed its “use-by” date. One of the dominant models of perceiving the Church is the model of institution. This model’s decision-making structure is more oligarchical than collegial, and its approach to contemporary questions is preservationist rather Read more

Chris Finlayson, former Cabinet Minister, has words for Church

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

Former Cabinet minister Chris Finlayson, a practicing Catholic, is also unsparing in his critiques of the Catholic Church. Finlayson says he has vigorously chided church leaders who try to intervene in politics. On one occasion the Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, invited him to a picnic on Parliament’s lawn. Finlayson says Dew wanted to Read more

Polish Catholic convents open doors to refugees

Thursday, March 17th, 2022

Almost 1,000 Polish Catholic convents have opened their doors to Ukraine’s refugees. The UN refugee agency says by March 14, almost 1.8 million people had entered Poland from Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24. The Council of Major Superiors of Congregations of Women Religious (the Major Superiors) in Poland says as at Read more

Geneva Cathedral – first Catholic Mass in 500 years

Monday, March 14th, 2022

A cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, has celebrated its first Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years. The vigil of the First Sunday of Lent was the day chosen to celebrate the historic Mass. The last Mass celebrated at St Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535. After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin’s Read more

Cologne’s cardinal offers pope resignation over scandals

Thursday, March 3rd, 2022
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Cologne’s cardinal, Rainer Maria Woelki, for a second time, has offered his resignation to Pope Francis. Woelki has been facing strong criticism for several months for his responses to allegations of child abuse in the Church. He chose to take a five-month break from his duties last September after the Vatican report accused him of Read more

Statement on Ukraine by leaders of NZ’s four main Christian churches

Thursday, March 3rd, 2022

Leaders of New Zealand’s four main Christian denominations have released a statement on Russian aggression in Ukraine. Across the globe people are horrified by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. In a region that learnt the devastating lessons of war last century, the pattern has the tragic possibility of repeating. It flies in the face Read more

French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church rebuts critique

Monday, February 14th, 2022
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Last October, Jean-Marc Sauvé gave the French Bishops’ Conference the report he and members of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) had compiled. Then in November, the French Catholic Academy published a 15-page critique of the report. The Academy has about 70 members. “The most serious defects of the CIASE report, Read more

Vatican’s Synodal process in trouble

Thursday, February 10th, 2022
synodal process

The Vatican says the Church’s effort to listen to the 1.34 billion Catholics worldwide through a synodal process is facing challenges. The synod’s diocesan phase is expected to last until 15 August. “Many of the faithful perceive the synodal process as a crucial moment in the Church’s life, as a learning process as well as Read more

Pope cautions over ‘interpretation’ of sexual abuse report

Thursday, December 9th, 2021
The Times of Israel

Pope Francis is urging people to be cautious in the way they interpret the report released in October about child sexual abuse by French Catholic clergy. The “historical situation” must be interpreted by the standards of the time, Francis says. The October report from an independent commission of inquiry confirmed extensive sexual abuse of minors Read more