I love statistics! I know what you’re thinking…I’m a nerd. Possibly. But, the truth is there are more nerds than you realize when it comes to statistics. It isn’t that I know nothing of sports; I just haven’t kept up much. Even though I haven’t been that guy as a sports fan, Donna and I Read more
Can you say where in the Gospels Jesus institutes the presbyterate (priesthood) and the deaconate? Hint: nowhere. St. Paul mentions deacons along with bishops in his letter to the Christians of Philippi. Later, in the first epistle to Timothy, Paul (or more likely someone writing in his name) talks of the qualifications for those ministries. Read more
Parishes around the world are emptying, ageing, sleeping and dying. According to Fr James Mallon, it does not have to be this way. Mallon, a Canadian priest, last week spoke to New Zealand’s diocesan priests in Christchurch to explore what he calls “Divine Renovation.” The present century demands new models of ministry and new ways Read more
Inter-congregational ministries and formation were among the topics explored at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious 2015 assembly. Former executive director Sr Janet Mock emphasised the need for inter-congregational ministries. The St Joseph Sister said there could be no “superstars” in religious life. Sr Mock discussed the need for current leadership to ensure that younger Read more
Pope Francis has said he is not considering appointing women to leadership positions in the Vatican bureaucracy just for the sake of it. During a visit to Turin, the Pope said in a speech he didn’t want to promote a “functionalism” of women’s roles in the Church. “The woman in the Church has the same Read more
Pope Francis has said that the issue of married men working as priests in the Latin-rite Catholic Church is “in my diary”. Speaking to priests of the diocese of Rome on February 19, the Pope responded to questions on the issue, according to a report in the Italian bishops’ paper L’Avvenire. At the meeting, a Read more
Let us talk about Catholic priests. Consider especially those who are now in their 60s, after a life of service to their church. They were seminarians in the heady days of Vatican II when everything seemed possible. They managed to survive the aftermath of was Humanae Vitae and continued to preach and counsel, to lead the sacred Read more
A think tank of religious brothers in the United States says they are an invisible group in the Church, but that allows them the freedom to be ordinary men performing an extraordinary ministry. In a country where the number of Catholic brothers fell from 12,271 in 1965 to 4477 in 2012, representatives came together from Read more
“Viewed overall, the state of the Church is not too encouraging. In the space of a single generation, the deepening dearth of priests will lead to the collapse of the entire structure of parish administration, and I cannot see sufficient courage or creativity among those who have assumed responsibility for running the Church as an institution Read more
Two priests, one convicted of sexual abuse, and another charged with 30 sex offences were, in the 1990s, allowed to continue ministering in the Melbourne archdiocese. The discovery, reported in The Age, is the result of confidential documents obtained by the paper. The Age reports that the documents show how senior church leaders continued to Read more