In 2010, a sizable number of abuse cases in the Catholic Church in Germany became known for the first time. Since then, the Church has been striving to process these cases. At their plenary assembly on September 25, 2018, the German Catholic bishops published a study documenting cases of abuse between 1946 and 2014. At Read more
A renowned historian has asserted that the hierarchical power structures within the Catholic and Protestant churches are significant factors contributing to sexual abuse cases. In a recent article in the German website Herder Korrespondenz, Thomas Großbölting (pictured) highlights the clergy’s authority within the religious framework as facilitating the exploitation of children and young people. “It Read more
He’s warned Catholic seminaries against the tendency to turn future priests into “little monsters”. He’s scolded the Church’s presbyters for wearing ornate liturgical vestments that stem from a bygone era, telling them to stop dressing up in “granny’s lace”. And he’s called it a “scandal” to see young priests and seminarians going into the ecclesiastical Read more
Last week, Pope Francis issued a short Apostolic Letter revising the scope of a Vatican Institute. It seemed hardly newsworthy. The Pontifical Institute of Theology was founded in 1718 for the theological formation of priests, and later for bringing theologians together to discuss theological topics. More recently it has held an occasional conference, mainly with Read more
Small or basic church communities are back in vogue in Brazil, and Pope Francis is stepping in to revive them, cranking up young people’s support and interest. The once powerful Brazilian basic church communities have declined since the 1990s. Last week, 1,000 Brazilian basic church community leaders gathered to discuss Brazil’s most pressing issues, from Read more
Pope Francis is warning against the self-referential attitude of some lay ministers who become ‘puffed up’ by their ministry. Francis stressed the significance of lay ministers serving others rather than inflating their egos. “I get angry when I see lay ministers who — pardon the expression — are ‘puffed up’ by this ministry. This is Read more
A booklet arguing that “to abolish clericalism, we must abolish the clergy” has ignited controversy among Catholics in Belgium. The proposal was made in a booklet titled “Let’s return the Church to the People of God! Putting an end to clericalism,” authored by nine Catholics working in healthcare for the Diocese of Liège. The group Read more
Ahead of a Vatican conference, several church officials have emphasised the importance of empowering laypeople without “clericalising” them. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, spoke of “co-responsibility” between clergy and laity, saying, “It does not mean that the laity in the church have to become clerics, and clerics Read more
More than a year ago, Pope Francis announced the Synod on Synodality, an initiative to take the pulse of the Catholic Church. The U.S. Catholics have been mostly silent about this effort, but in several countries, including Australia, France, England and Wales, and Germany, things are moving full steam ahead. Two major problems have come Read more
I’m not telling you anything new when I say that one of the most toxic problems facing Catholicism is clericalism. By ‘clericalism’ I mean the tendency to place priests on a pedestal, to accept their pronouncements as gospel, encouraging them to feel, as Pope Francis says, ‘superior to lay people.’ It begins in seminary training Read more