Archive for December, 2014
Pope gives Vatican leadership withering critique / Cruxnow.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 23, 2014
At the end of a tumultuous year for the Catholic Church, in which divisions among senior leadership over the direction being set by Pope Francis were at times glaringly apparent, the pontiff on Monday delivered a blistering critique of arrogance, careerism, gossip, and division in the Vatican.
“Among other points, the pope denounced what he called ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s,’ meaning ‘a progressive decline in spiritual faculties,’ leading people to ‘build walls around themselves’ and to make ‘idols’ of their personal habits.
“After the broadside, some observers wondered if the pontiff might risk alienating the very aides he needs to motivate in order to implement his reform agenda, especially ahead of challenges set for 2015 on which he may need the help.”
By John L. Allen, Jr., Cruxnow.com — Click here to read the rest of this story.
The apostolic visitation report was laudatory, but the sisters remain caught in ambiguity / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 18, 2014
Well, I’ll admit it, the Vatican’s apostolic visitation report has been on my mind. For over two years, my community’s leadership diverted precious time, energy and resources away from sorely needed ministry to the marginalized to address a searching Vatican inquiry that we had neither chosen nor had a part in shaping.
“Over these past stressful years, my feelings veered widely from anxiety, to sorrow, to anger, to pain. I was regularly sustained, however, by various sister leaders around the U.S. who, although also deeply affected, seemed imbued with an impressive calm.
“So when I heard the congregation for religious would live stream a press conference to report on their findings, I knew I wanted to hear what U.S. sister leaders thought about it all first, if I could.”
By Christine Schenk, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this article.
Vatican abuse commission gains second abuse survivor, several women / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 18, 2014
Pope Francis has added members to the new Vatican commission advising him on safeguarding children from sexual abuse, appointing an additional eight people to the commission from diverse global backgrounds and professional experience.
“Among the new appointments, which the Vatican announced Wednesday (Dec. 17): an English survivor of clergy sexual abuse, a woman religious who serves as the secretary general of an pan-African episcopal conference, and several psychologists and psychotherapists from different parts of the world.”
By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Also of interest, “Abuse victim calls pope’s new commission line-up ‘courageous,'” by Ines San Martin, Cruxnow.com
Pope Francis and the Catholic crisis / Huffington Post
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful on December 17, 2014
There is a growing crisis haunting the Catholic Church. And it is a crisis larger than the events that have so greatly afflicted the American Catholic Church. The pedophilia scandals are a horrifying element of this crisis. So, too, are the bishops who covered up and excused these outrages. And so, also, the more general loss of confidence Catholics have in a hierarchy that seems oddly concerned with rank and privilege and with fighting yesterday’s culture wars. Yes, these are all elements of the crisis, but the crisis is larger than this.”
By Charles J. Reid, Jr., Huffington Post — Click here to read the rest of this story.
The ending should have been the beginning / Global Sisters Report – National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 17, 2014
I learned somewhere that ‘All spirit starts at the top.’ The attribution may be apocryphal, perhaps, but in this case true, nevertheless.
“Tuesday, in fact, I saw the truth of that with my own eyes.
“Tuesday’s release of the final report on the apostolic visitation of American nuns launched in 2008 by Cardinal Franc Rodé, then prefect of the congregation for religious life, takes on a completely different tone than at its inception …
“Like the drop of a medieval guillotine ordered from above and subject to no review, the harsh imposition of the process was met by appropriate resistance from one end of the country to the other …
“Nevertheless, today, six years later, under Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, this final report issued in response to that national evaluation has all but leached out the negative and punitive spirit that unloosed it. The spirit at the top has changed. The tone has changed. The degree of collaboration has changed …
“In fact, Tuesday’s report, with its recognition of the momentous effect of the American sisterhood on the development of the church in the United States, is precisely the document that should have opened the discussion rather than ended it.”
By Joan Chittister, Global Sisters Report, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read this entire article.
Vatican report conciliatory toward nuns, but VOTF joins call for removal of LCWR mandate
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 16, 2014
Nuns in the United States can get on with their missions to those on the margins of society in keeping with the best traditions of their religious orders without undue Vatican interference—sort of. The Vatican issued today a report on its six-year apostolic visitation to religious women in the United States.
Roman Catholic Church reform movement Voice of the Faithful® joins in solidarity with its U.S. sisters first in being encouraged by the report’s conciliatory tone and second in decrying this investigation in the first place and the mandate against the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. VOTF would like that mandate removed as soon as possible.
The Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life began the apostolic visitation that resulted in this report in 2008. The visitation included all U.S. nuns. The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith began its investigation of LCWR in 2009, and the group presently is under a Vatican mandate calling for their reform and placing LCWR under the guidance of several U.S. bishops.
LCWR leader Sister Susan Holland, however, said the apostolic visitation report was “affirmative and realistic.” And Mother Mary Agnes Donovan, who leads the smaller Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, said the visitation was “a wonderful one,” during which they spoke honestly and “with the knowledge that what they had to say would eventually reach the Holy Father.”
VOTF hopes that, in the coming weeks, the Vatican will encourage the optimistic view represented by these two women religious leaders so that these issues are resolved quickly.
Voice of the Faithful®: Voice of the Faithful® is a worldwide movement of faithful Roman Catholics working to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse, support priests of integrity and increase the laity’s role in governance and guidance of the Church. VOTF is a sponsor of the Nun Justice Project.
Vatican probe ends with an olive branch for American nuns / Cruxnow.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 16, 2014
An unprecedented and highly controversial Vatican investigation of every community of Catholic sisters in the United States that began with criticism of nuns as having a ‘secular mentality’ ended Tuesday (Dec. 16) with a report full of praise, and without any disciplinary measures or new controls.
“The result likely will be seen as a major olive branch from the Vatican for American nuns, as well as another sign of a more conciliatory approach under Pope Francis.
“‘Since the early days of the Catholic Church [in the United States], women religious have courageously been in the forefront … selflessly tending to the spiritual, moral, educational, physical and social needs of countless individuals,’ the report says.”
By John L. Allen, Jr., Cruxnow.com — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Click here to read the full Vatican report on the Apostolic visitation to American nuns.
Catholic Church in Australia links celibacy to abuse / CathNews.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Celibacy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on December 12, 2014
The Catholic Church in Australia on Friday said that obligatory celibacy may have contributed to priests abusing children, and recommended that clergy should be given ‘psychosexual’ training.
“In a landmark report, an Australian Catholic Church body dealing with the legacy of child sex abuse added that some church institutions and their leaders turned a blind eye to what was going on for years.
“‘Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances,’ the Truth, Justice and Healing Council said.”
By CathNews.com — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Lost in translation: seven reasons some women wince when Pope Francis starts talking / Religion News Service
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Antwerp, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful, Women, Women in the Church on December 11, 2014
When Pope Francis this month wanted to highlight his appointment of several women to a blue-ribbon theological commission, he called the female theologians ‘strawberries on the cake.’
“Yikes.
“Two weeks earlier, when the pontiff gave a speech to the European Parliament, he used another lady-based analogy, this time underscoring the continent’s demographic decline and cultural crisis by comparing Europe to a grandmother who is ‘no longer fertile and vibrant.’
“Ouch.
“Yes, Francis is a veritable quote machine, tossing off-the-cuff bon mots that the public finds enormously appealing in large part because they are coming from a Roman pontiff — not an office known for its improv routines.
“But when he speaks about women, Francis can sound a lot like the (almost) 78-year-old Argentine churchman that he is, using analogies that sound alternately condescending and impolitic, even if well-intentioned.”
By David Gibson, Religion News Service — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Vatican asks for wide input on 2015 synod, not based on doctrine / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 9, 2014
For the second time in two years, the Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to seek input from Catholics at ‘all levels’ about how the church should respond to sometimes difficult questions of modern family life, such as divorce and remarriage.
“Issuing a document in preparation for a second worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops on family life next year, the Vatican has also stressed the need for mercy in responding to such difficult situations — even asking the bishops to avoid basing their pastoral care solely on current Catholic doctrine.
“The call for input came Tuesday in a document released by the Vatican’s Office for the Synod of Bishops, which in October 2015 will to host the second of two global bishops’ meetings called by Pope Francis for 2014 and 2015.
“The document is partly a summary of the last meeting in October and partly a series of 46 questions meant to help prepare for the next synod. The Vatican synod office is sending the document in coming days to bishops’ conferences around the world.”
By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
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