Pope Francis has significantly changed the composition of the electoral college, even by adding to its number men from countries that had never before had a cardinal. This reflects his push to de-Europeanize the Church and the body that will eventually elect his successor. It is a very important institutional change. But the pope, who Read more
“The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church of the third millennium,” Pope Francis has said. And so it is not surprising that in region after region Catholic bishops are embracing synodality. The Germans have embarked on a synodal path, the Australians a plenary council, the Irish a synod … Read more
A Catholic publication that outed a high-ranking Catholic priest as gay and a regular user of the app Grindr and led to his resignation as the secretary-general of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not revealed where it obtained the data used in its report. But some experts say the level of detail included Read more
In early July, The New York Times published two articles that had seemingly little to do with one another. One covered the Entomological Society of America’s decision to stop using the terms gypsy moth and gypsy ant. The other was about a new movie by the director Paul Verhoeven featuring an affair between two 17th-century Read more
Today the most common experience of church and Christian community is in a parish. In many dioceses and archdioceses, parishes are being clustered into pastoral areas,2 and often the number of Masses in these pastoral areas is being rationalised and timed so that it is easier for neighbouring priests to celebrate Masses in the other Read more
Even during a period when the bombs dropping on American Catholics fall with escalating and increasingly destructive frequency, the publication of an “investigation” of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the now-former general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, blasts a crater worth crawling down into for a forensic examination. There are reasons to think Read more
New hate speech law proposals from the government are a bit confusing, and some of the debate so far seems to have muddied the waters, reducing something that began as an effort to combat racism, terrorism and hatred to name calling and taunts by politicians. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Justice Minister Kris Faafoi contradicted Read more
When Pamela* found out her daughter had gone to prison last November, she didn’t know where to turn. Her daughter’s three children had been left without parents to look after them, and the whānau were struggling with the emotional load. Pamela took in her three grandchildren, but on top of the heartbreak was struggling with Read more
The situation of more parishes than priests, speeds towards us. The shift from the current parish priest model of sole decision maker to joint leadership with laity, will require simultaneously we unlearn that Baptism isn’t the ‘done’ sacrament when we were babies and that it’s not clergy first and laity second. “The Baptismal life is Read more
Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio permitting continued use of the 1962 Missal was given on certain conditions. Those conditions have not always been properly honoured, so Pope Francis’ withdrawal of it is consistent with Pope Benedict’s intentions. Pope Benedict had required proper recognition of the Missal approved by St Paul VI and endorsed by every Pope Read more