Posts Tagged ‘Clergy’

People back, giving increased – clergy think of quitting

Monday, September 11th, 2023
clergy dissatisfaction

Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches have fewer people in the pews, more money in the collection plate and less conflict than they had in 2020. Despite their struggles, many congregations are optimistic about the future. Clergy dissatisfaction, on the other hand, remains on the rise. Those are among the findings Read more

Catholic clergy’s unquestioned — and uneducated — power spurs abuse

Thursday, August 18th, 2022
Beyond bad apples

A new report, based on interviews with some 300 Catholic priests, nuns and laypeople concludes that clergy aren’t adequately prepared to wield the power they exercise and need more education on questions of sex and gender. The report, “Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clericalism as a Structural Problem & Cultivating Strategies for Change,” released Monday (Aug. Read more

New poll shows growing view that clergy are irrelevant

Monday, July 22nd, 2019
clergy concelebrating mass

In her 2004 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel “Gilead,” Marilynne Robinson sketches a portrait of the Rev. John Ames, a small- town pastor in 1950s Iowa who is humble, self-aware, compassionate and devoted to his family and his congregation, and they to him. Americans no longer hold clergy in such high regard, according to a recent poll, Read more

Church of England plans to test aspiring clergy for skills, aptitude — and narcissism

Monday, July 23rd, 2018
narcissism

Responding to growing concern about the kinds of priests the Church of England is attracting, Anglican leaders are considering expanding its assessments of clergy candidates to include more rigorous psychological testing. Anxiety about the quality of those who aspire to become clergy is rooted in the series of child sex abuse scandals that have emerged from Anglicanism’s Read more

Chile’s Catholic Church calls for drastic solution

Monday, April 16th, 2018

Chile’s Catholic Church has asked for a drastic solution that could include resignations. The call came a day after Pope Francis acknowledged “grave mistakes” in handling a sexual abuse crisis and summoned Church leaders to Rome. At a meeting of Church leadership on Chile’s central coast, Santiago Silva, the president of the Episcopal Conference, said Read more

Clergy appointments in Palmerston North diocese

Monday, November 27th, 2017

Charles Drennan, the bishop of  Palmerston North has announced clergy appointments for 2018 Continue reading

The clergy who stared down white supremacists in Charlottesville

Thursday, August 17th, 2017

Asked what it was like to march through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend, evangelical author and FreedomRoad.us founder Lisa Sharon Harper was blunt. “It really felt like every step you take could be your last,” she said, later adding: “With each step, I just kept holding on to the call to love.” Read more

Pub renames beer after seminarians mix-up

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

How does a pub make up for mistakenly trying to kick out a group of celebrating seminarians? By naming a beer after them and calling it the “Thirsty Priests.” Tim Lewis is the PR Manager for Brains, the company which owns the City Arms Pub in Cardiff, Wales. He said that re-naming one of the Read more

Clergy kicked out of bar – “Sorry gents, we don’t do fancy dress or stag dos”. 

Thursday, August 3rd, 2017

Seven seminarians walk into a bar to celebrate after an ordination.  Naturally they are dressed in their clerical shirts etc. The bartender says “Sorry gents, we don’t do fancy dress or stag dos”. Aghast, the seminarians thought this must surely be a joke, but in fact he was serious. “But we are real” they say, Read more

Two of Wellington’s senior priests died on Sunday

Friday, December 2nd, 2016

Two of senior Wellington priests died last Sunday. Father Brian Fletcher died at the Home of Compassion at about 2pm. Monsignor John Broadbent died at Wellington Public Hospital at about 7.30pm.