Posts Tagged clerical
The end of clericalism / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Voice of the Faithful on April 22, 2020
“It is the community that brings intimacy with Christ, that brings intimacy with the holy faithful people of God. It is community we need.” (Phyllis Zagano, National Catholic Reporter)
As the human race joins the rest of the planet in a struggle for survival, the church is also trying to find its footing.
“Why?
“Clericalism.
“For too long — say, 800 to 1,000 years — the sacramental life of the church has been under priestly lock and key. Around the 10th century, the custom of stipends for Masses arose. Suddenly, the spiritual value of men’s prayers gained over the spiritual value of women’s prayers and women’s abbeys and monasteries failed one after another.
“Coincidentally, the cursus honorum (‘course of honor’) ended the diaconate as a permanent vocation. Unless one was destined for priesthood, he could not be ordained as deacon. Very few men became “permanent” deacons and women deacons — even abbesses — were no longer ordained.
“Which brings us back to clericalism, the attitude that grace is dispensed to the people of God only by a cleric, preferably a priest. Thousands of priests are not like that. But thousands are.
By Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D., National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
Dr. Zagano will be a featured speaker at Voice of the Faithful’s 2020 Conference: Visions of a Just Church, Oct. 3, 2020, Boston Marriott Newton Hotel.
Pope: Clericalism distances the people from the Church / Vatican Radio
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 13, 2016
“The evil of clericalism is a very ugly thing! It is a new edition of these people. And the victim is the same: the poor and humble people that awaits the Lord.” (Pope Francis)
The spirit of clericalism is an evil that is present in the Church today, Pope Francis said, and the victim of this spirit is the people, who feel discarded and abused. That was the Pope’s message in the homily at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.
“Among those taking part in the Mass were the members of the Council of cardinals, who are meeting with the Pope this week in Rome.
“In his homily, Pope Francis warned pastors of the dangers of becoming ‘intellectuals of religion’ with a morality far from the Revelation of God.
By Vatican Radio on News.va — Click here to read the rest of this story.
The Fight to Reveal Abuses by Catholic Priests / The New York Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Clericalism, Voice of the Faithful on March 31, 2014
Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the former Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, is in no way the principal face of the sexual abuse scandals that have buffeted the church and its priesthood almost without pause for three decades. But he embodies a certain mind-set among some in the highest clerical ranks. It is an attitude that has led critics, who of late include the authors of a scathing United Nations committee report, to wonder about the depth of the church’s commitment to atone for past predations and to ensure that those sins of the fathers are visited on no one else.
By Clyde Haberman, The New York Times — Click here to read the rest of this story and click here to watch the companion video “The Shame of the Church,” part of a documentary series called the “Retro Report” that is presented by The New York Times.
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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