Archive for category church reform
Pope Francis’ picks for the Synod are in — and suggest this will be a Vatican meeting like no other / America: The Jesuit Review
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on July 10, 2023
Pope Francis has insisted since its initiation that the synod is meant to be a spiritual event, not a parlimentary-style gathering. To emphasize this, he has decided that the synod will be preceded by a major ecumenical pray service …
By Gerard O’Connell, America: The Jesuit Review
“The Synod on Synodality is officially the 16th ordinary assembly of the synod of bishops, but it promises to be radically different from any of its predecessors. Having reported on all the synods since 1985, I have come to believe that this synod—articulated in two sessions—could well be the most transformative event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.
“Today (July 7), the Vatican published the list of synod participants. What does it tell us about Pope Francis’ goals for the synod? First, Pope Francis has sought to ensure a balance in the membership of those who will participate with a vote in the plenary assembly, which will be held in the Vatican in two nearly months-long sessions in October 2023 and October 2024.
“Pope Francis wanted to ensure that different views are truly represented in this synod, not only in terms of theological, cultural and geographical perspectives but also with regard to age, gender and different roles exercised in the church. He wanted to promote harmony and unity and avoid polarization in the synod, as one risks if the synod is approached as a parliament, and to ensure it is a truly spiritual event in the history of the church in the 21st century.”
By Gerard O’Connell, America: The Jesuit Review — Read more …
Synod document sets stage for wide-ranging debate on women, Catholic ministries and structures / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on June 20, 2023
The newly released document is the culmination of worldwide listening sessions through local churches that took place 2021-2023 and seven continental gatherings held in early 2023.
By Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter
“When prelates and lay delegates gather in October for the Synod of Bishops, they will be asked to directly confront a number of pressing questions — including the possibility of women deacons, access to the priesthood for married men, the integration of LGBTQ+ Catholics, and penance for sexual abuse and the abuse of power, conscience and money — in consideration of how the Catholic Church might transform and expand its structures to become more welcoming to all its members.
“In a much anticipated document released June 20, the Vatican’s synod office set the stage for a wide-ranging discussion for the first session of a high-stakes meeting that is attempting to respond with ‘missionary urgency’ to the challenges of church life in the modern world.
“Known in Latin as an instrumentum laboris, the 60-page document will guide the monthlong Vatican summit on a number of themes and concerns that have emerged during a three-year consultative process, which has focused on how the church could become more focused on greater listening and participation of all of the baptized, not just the Catholic hierarchy.
“Among the issues and considerations in the document are how a synodal church recognizes and values the central role of the poor; the experience of migrants; victims of sexual abuse, violence and other injustices; the disabled; divorced and remarried Catholics; the need for greater commitment to ecumenism and learning from other faith traditions; and the role of women in the church today.”
By Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
Read also — Instrumentium Laboris, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” First Session, XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, October 2023
To reach and keep young Catholics, the church must recognize women’s leadership / Miami Herald
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Future of the Church, Prophetic Voices, Voice of the Faithful, Women Deacons, Women in Catholic Church, Women in the Church on June 20, 2023
I co-direct Discerning Deacons, a project inviting Catholics to consider women’s inclusion in the permanent diaconate — an order that already includes married men ordained to serve in the life of the church.
By Ellie Hildago, Co-director of Discerning Deacons, in the Miami Herald
“Women play a vital role in passing on the faith to the next generation. But when 99% of Catholic churches will have a male preacher this Sunday in a world where 50% of the Catholic population are women, it’s time for our daughters and granddaughters — and sons and grandsons — to see us naming out loud a problem we’ve endured quietly in our hearts.
“What seemed normalized to my devout Catholic Cuban grandmothers, and became uncomfortable for my mother and has become unacceptable for me, is now unbearable for my nieces and many of our daughters. This will have untold consequences for the future of Catholic ministries.
“According to a report by the Pew Research Center, as of 2022, 43% of Hispanic adults identify as Catholic, down from 67% in 2010. In my work listening to older Hispanic/Latino Catholics in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere, I often hear how their children and grandchildren have become disengaged from their families’ long-standing, multigenerational Catholic faith. The loss of family unity feels enormous.”
By Ellie Hildago, Co-director of Discerning Deacons, in the Miami Herald — Read more …
Nothing really changed after Vatican II. But synodality may make a difference / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Voice of the Faithful on June 12, 2023
The bishops from around the world who attended Vatican II voted yes for all of its documents, but once back on home soil, many simply ignored them … Clearly, synodality means that we must listen to one another, to the entire church, in all parts of the world for a Scripture-based following of Jesus rather than to the rules of a canonical institution … honoring the human cry for human support in every corner of the globe.
By Joan Chittister, National Catholic Reporter
“The word synodality has been around a year or so now and people are still asking what it really means — for them, of course. The last time the church said it was going to make changes was in 1965. Fifty-eight years ago. In the meantime, all the changes to be seen were basically meaningless ones. Not because change was forbidden. On the contrary.
“The Vatican documents of 1965 oozed theological life. They were clearly meant to dispense with the church of the Middle Ages, to bring the church into the modern world rooted in Scripture and the model of Jesus.
“But as the ocean liner that brought so many of the American Catholic hierarchy back from Rome disembarked, the New York press corps, snapping pictures and shouting questions, suffered one bishop after another shrugging their questions off. Nothing had really changed, it seemed. Nothing newsworthy, at least.
“In essence, the assumption was correct. Whatever changes the people had wanted from the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council were, it seemed, formless, silent, lost in the bustle of a busy church frozen in a medieval mind. Instead, after 400 years without a council of reform, the kinds of changes the people had expected from this council lay yet in Rome, drying in wet ink there and largely ignored here.”
By Joan Chittister, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
Indigenous women are doing the work of deacons. Is Pope Francis ready to recognize it?
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Pope Francis, Religious Women, Synod of Bishops, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful, Women Deacons, Women in Catholic Church on June 7, 2023
The service we provide. Not the service we could provide, the service we are already providing. The vast majority of permanent deacons live and minister in the Global North. But at the recent Amazon Synod, the leaders of the church in the region—both bishops and lay leaders—were very clear that it is women in the Amazon who are doing the work of deacons, and it is the desire and hope of that ecclesial community to recognize these women as deacons, ready and worthy to receive the sacrament of ordination.
By Casey Stanton, America: The Jesuit Review
“In early June, Pope Francis received three Indigenous women leaders from the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), an innovative form of church governance in which the bishops of the Amazon share formal leadership with Indigenous lay women, women religious, lay men, priests and deacons. During the audience, the women invited the pope to consider the full and equal participation of women in the church, including through preaching in parish settings and ordination as deacons.
“One of the women who attended the audience with Pope Francis was Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, C.F. Sister Laura is currently serving as the vice president for CEAMA, a historic leadership role within a body that has steadily called upon the pope to more deeply consider the ministerial roles of women in the church since the Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazonian Region in 2019. (The final document of that synod called for greater leadership roles for women but stopped short of calling for the ordination of women to the diaconate.)
“As someone who is working to foster a conversation based in discernment around women in the diaconate, I value the wisdom and experience of CEAMA and Sister Laura. I had the opportunity to travel a shared camino with her to seek the intercession of Our Lady of Gudalupe in Mexico City in September 2022, the liminal time between the conclusion of the listening phase of the synodal process and anticipation of the report from Rome that would synthesize what millions around the world had shared and heard. We both felt drawn to seek the intercession of the Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, as our church discerns new pathways to more fully receive the gifts of women for ministry and leadership.”
By Casey Stanton, America: The Jesuit Review — Read more …
My daughters have hard questions about the church. Are women deacons the answer? / America: The Jesuit Review
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful, Women Deacons, Women in Catholic Church, Women in the Church on May 1, 2023
My kids, who are now teens, had been asking difficult questions, and I did not have good answers. They asked: ‘If God loves us all unconditionally, why doesn’t the church?
By Katie Mulcahy, America: The Jesuit Review
“Although I had attended Catholic school all my young life, I was never familiar with the concepts of synod, discernment and the diaconate. That was until last spring, when a friend invited me to her church for a Discerning Deacons event titled ‘Hope, Change and the Catholic Church.’ It was a cold Sunday evening, the Oscars were on, and I did not feel like driving across the city. But this is a friend who always shows up for me, so I went.
“Looking back on that evening, I believe it was the Holy Spirit who was nudging me to go. I had been feeling apathetic about my place in the church. My kids, who are now teens, had been asking difficult questions and I did not have good answers. They asked, ‘If God loves us all unconditionally, why doesn’t the church? Aren’t women and girls also made in the image of Christ?’ And here is a question that stopped me in my tracks: ‘If we value one group over another, aren’t we enabling oppression against the second group?’
“I attended the Discerning Deacons event with 700 other folks—men, women, teens, senior citizens, all looking for hope, professing their faith through song, prayer and sharing stories. We heard testimonies from women who have dedicated their lives to ministry and service in the church. One story really struck me: Casey Stanton, a co-director of Discerning Deacons and a woman with advanced degrees in divinity, felt called to serve in prison ministry. Because Ms. Stanton could not be ordained as a deacon in the Catholic faith, she was limited in how much she could minister to the female prisoners. I couldn’t help but wonder: Who else is restricted in their ministry because of the limitations put on women?”
By Katie Mulcahy, America: The Jesuit Review — Read more …
Pope’s changes to Synod voting underscore Voice of the Faithful’s mission
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 27, 2023
Pope Francis changed the Roman Catholic Church yesterday (Apr. 26) by giving lay people votes in the Catholic Church Synod of Bishops, which now will be called simply the Synod.
“Our excitement at Pope Francis’ inclusion of the laity in such an important way today cannot be overstated,” says Mary Pat Fox, Voice of the Faithful president. “Since shortly after Pope Francis’ election, when it began to become evident that his leadership approach would differ from his predecessors, we have watched him gradually elevate attention on the role of the laity in the Church. We pray that the pastoral orientation, openness, and inclusivity he promotes will continue beyond his pontificate. This is the same mission VOTF has promoted since our beginning.”
For more than 20 years, Voice of the Faithful has addressed the laity’s involvement in Church structure. VOTF’s very mission is “to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church.” By including lay people, and calling for half of these delegates to by women, Pope Francis is welcoming such participation.
VOTF also has called for reforms in Church structure. Over the years, these efforts have included educating the laity and equipping them with the means to address responsibly issues of vital importance within the Church. Examples include annual nationwide reviews of diocesan financial transparency and accountability, lay involvement in diocesan finance councils, and diocesan compliance with child protection and safe environment guidelines.
In addition, VOTF has worked to promote lay involvement in the selection of bishops; the creation and support of parish and diocesan pastoral councils, finance councils, and safety committees; the eradication of clericalism, perhaps the greatest threat undermining lay input in the Church; and the establishment of an ordained women’s diaconate in the church. VOTF performs this work with the conviction that the whole Church must respect the dignity and intelligence of all its members and “acknowledge the right and responsibility of the laity, flowing from their baptism, to use their God-given gifts for the good of the Church.”
Voice of the Faithful’s® mission is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church. VOTF’s goals are to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse, to support priests of integrity, and to shape structural change within the Catholic Church. More information is at www.votf.org.
Pope Francis expands participation in synod to lay members, granting right to vote / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on April 26, 2023
For years, lay Catholic have lobbied for such reform.
By Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter
“Pope Francis on April 26 dramatically expanded participation in the Vatican’s upcoming Synod of Bishops to include lay men and women, for the first time granting them a right to be appointed as full voting members of the Catholic Church’s primary consultative body.
“In addition to the standard participation of bishops selected by the pope and episcopal conferences from around the world, the new changes allow for the participation of 70 non-bishop members at the upcoming October gathering — 10 from each of the seven global regional bishops’ conferences — with the request that young people be included and that 50% of those named be women.
“The changes were announced April 26 by the Vatican’s synod office, and were discussed at a press briefing at the Vatican with Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the 2023 and 2024 Synod of Bishops.”
By Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
North American synod gathering focused on concerns about pope’s process, says participating bishop / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Synod of Bishops, Synod on Synodality, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 13, 2023
‘Asia, Europe and Africa with their vast geographies and cultural diversity were able to conduct continental assemblies. Even the Middle East created such an assembly,’ he (Bishop John Stowe) said. ‘North America did not, citing economic and practical difficulties in coming together.’
By Heidi Schlumpf, National Catholic Reporter
“A U.S. bishop who helped draft the synthesis document for the North American continental phase of the ongoing process for the Synod of Bishops said he saw ‘notable differences’ in this phase’s virtual listening sessions, compared to input from the previous parish- and diocesan-level phase.
“‘Concerns about the direction of the synod were more pronounced,’ said Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, noting that among the concerns of those delegates, who were handpicked by bishops, were restrictions against the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, possible changes to Catholic doctrine, the focus on inclusivity and the synod process itself.
“Stowe made his remarks in an April 11 talk on ‘Synodality and the Common Good’ as part of the Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture series at the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago.
“Stowe said he was sure the late Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago ‘would have enthusiastically engaged the synodal process with all of the hope it offers for a church that is faithful and engaged as a servant of the human family.'”
By Heidi Schlumpf, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
See also “Synod’s ‘messy,’ ‘joyful’ North American phase concludes with call to mission, moves to Rome,” by Gina Christian, OSV News, in National Catholic Reporter
Report details ‘staggering’ church sex abuse in Maryland / Associated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on April 10, 2023
‘The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,’ the report said.
By Lea Skene, Brian Witte, and Sarah Brumfield, Associated Press
“More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability, according to a long-awaited state report released Wednesday (Apr. 8) that revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups.
“The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of Maryland. Some parishes, schools and congregations had more than one abuser at the same time — including St. Mark Parish in Catonsville, which had 11 abusers living and working there between 1964 and 2004. One deacon admitted to molesting over 100 children. Another priest was allowed to feign hepatitis treatment and make other excuses to avoid facing abuse allegations.
“The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released the findings of their years-long investigation during Holy Week — considered the most sacred time of year in Christianity ahead of Easter Sunday — and said the number of victims is likely far higher. The report was redacted to protect confidential grand jury materials, meaning the identities of some accused clergy were removed.”
By Lea Skene, Brian Witte, and Sarah Brumfield, Associated Press — Read more …
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Voice of the Faithful
A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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