A drive by Austrian priests to reform the rules around the ordination of women and an end to celibacy is getting widespread support. In a recent poll conduced by the Oekonsult polling institute, 71.7% of Austrians said the “priests initiative” was both “fair and reasonable”, with 64.7% saying they would sign a “call for insubordination”. The “Priests’ Read more
Melbourne was recently ranked the world’s most liveable city, yet according to Victorian police crime statistics, those who live in Victoria, Australia are more likely to be sexually assaulted, and physically assaulted at home. The annual Victorian police crime statistics report 83% of sexual assault victims were women 36% of rape victims were raped by someone they Read more
Catholic officials are signalling not to expect any ecumenical breakthroughs when Pope Benedict honours the 16th Century Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, during his state visit to Germany this month. Benedict will use the visit to stress ecumenical cooperation, meet Protestant leaders and tour a monastery in Erfurt where Luther once worked and prayed, and while Read more
“An object lesson in what not to do” is how Association of Catholic Priests founder, Fr Brendan Hoban described last weeks interview and the statement issued by former Cloyne bishop, John Magee. The media events were Magee’s first comments in five weeks on the Murphy Report into the handling of sexual abuse in the Cloyne Read more
Catholics hope they will be able to continue to practice their faith in a rebel-led Libya. Libyan Catholics were permitted to worship under Qaddafi’s leadership and there are reports from rebel-led areas that the Church is functioning without restriction, though some uncertainty remains. “The future is very uncertain but the signs from the parts of Read more
Pope Benedict told his former students meeting to discuss the new evangelisation, that his generation, cradle Catholics did not evangelise enough. Gathered for their annual seminar with the pontiff at Castel Gandolfo, Benedict said. “We, who have been able to know [Christ] since our youth, may we ask forgiveness because we bring so little of Read more
Former leader of the east-German communists, Gregor Gysi, on Friday, praised Pope Benedict for consistently preaching that modern society must have moral norms in order to function properly. “It won’t work without the concept of the good,” Gysi wrote. “But modern science can’t tell us what is good. Its concepts focus on empirical experience. Ideas such Read more
The Ground Zero Mosque is moving forward, but more under the media spotlight it has received. There will be no more imams as the public religious face of the project, and Sharif El-Gamal, the lead developer and Chairman of the 45-51 Park Place property says he has been trying to regroup and reach out to Read more
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry has signed an anti-abortion pledge, and if elected promises to use his position to protect the unborn. The pledge, written and supported by the Susan B. Anthony Fund, has been signed by other presidential hopefuls including Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Hermain Cain. The Susan B. Anthony Fund plans to Read more
The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has posted online the names 159 priests and deacons who have been accused of child sexual abuse. The list was made public to assist survivors and protect children. Another 91 sex abusers also faced some level of accusation including 62 dead priests who have not been publicly accused and 22, mostly Read more