Renowned theologian Paul Zulehner has called for bold changes to the Catholic Church, advocating a move from clericalism to a synodal model centred on baptism rather than ordination. Speaking to Sonntag, the Viennese pastoral theologian said the Church must adapt to remain relevant and inclusive. Zulehner envisions a Church that encourages active participation by all Read more
Christian invisibility in our culture is one of the biggest issues facing the Church. So says research expert George Barna (pictured), founder and former owner of The Barna Group, a market research firm that studies Americans’ religious beliefs and behaviours. Barna lists two other big issues for the Church today: the steady decrease in a Read more
Banned Redemptorist priest Tony Flannery plans to question the survival of the Roman Catholic church at a public talk in Galway shortly before Easter Sunday. Fr Flannery (77), suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012, intends to give his views on whether “religious belief as we have known it can survive in modern Read more
The Catholic Church throughout the world continues to deal, country by county and at various paces, with the sexual abuse crisis. In France, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) released a shocking report last year that highlighted the systemic nature and extent of sexual abuse committed in the Church since 1950. Read more
German Bishop Heiner Wilmer has claimed that the Catholic Church “utterly gambled away” people’s trust in the institution by the way it has mishandled the clergy sex abuse crisis. “Protecting the institution and the perpetrators was always the most important factor for the Church. (Protecting) the victims, on the other hand, simply did not occur,” Read more
The Catholic Church has no future without women, Catholic journalist Joanna Moorhead said at an International Women’s Day webinar on Monday. “We are talking about the survival of the Church,” Moorhead said. Whether women have a future in the Church is no longer a women’s issue but an issue for everyone, Moorhead told the 200 Read more