Posts Tagged pastoral ministry
Brazil may soon have married priests, says Leonardo Boff / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Celibacy, Priests, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 3, 2017
Pope Francis may soon fulfill the Brazilian bishops’ special request to allow married priests to resume their priestly ministry, liberation theologian Leonardo Boff said in a Dec. 25 interview in the German daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
“‘The Brazilian bishops, especially the pope’s close friend Cardinal Claudio Hummes, have expressly requested Pope Francis to enable married priests in Brazil to return to their pastoral ministry,’ Boff said. ‘I have recently heard that the pope wants to fulfill this request — as an experimental, preliminary phase for the moment confined to Brazil.’
“With its 140 million Catholics, Brazil needs at least 100,000 priests but it only has 1,800, which is a ‘catastrophe,’ Boff said …”
By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Deacons, women and the call to serve / America: The National Catholic Review
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful, Women Deacons, Women in Catholic Church on December 8, 2016
The current Vatican commission exploring the possibility of women deacons has raised a number of questions about their role in the church. As ordained ministers who are neither priests nor lay people, the actual role of deacons in the parishes where they minister remains unclear to many Catholics. What are deacons, and how has their role changed over history?Could women deacons revolutionize pastoral ministry and transform the church? How can the diaconate better meet the changing needs of the faithful today? Join us for a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture and America Media featuring:
- Nancy Dallavalle, theologian and vice president for mission and identity at Fairfield University
- Deacon Greg Kandra, blogger at Aleteia’s “The Deacon’s Bench,” multimedia editor at Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
- Rita Ferrone, contributing editor at Commonweal and blogger at “Pray Tell Blog”
- George Demacopoulos, theologian and founding co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University
- James Martin, S.J., moderator, author and editor-at-large for America Media
By The Editors at America: The National Catholic Review — Click here to read the rest of this article and access links to videos and transcripts of the roundtable discussions.
Pope Francis dismisses critics of his teachings / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Amoris Laetitia, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful on November 18, 2016
Pope Francis is firing back at foes of his efforts to make the Catholic church more open and pastoral in its ministry, telling an interviewer that ‘they are acting in bad faith to foment divisions.’
“The pontiff’s lengthy interview in Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian hierarchy, was published Friday and followed days of news coverage of demands by four hard-line cardinals who have grave concerns about Francis’ approach.
“The four say that focusing on ministering to people in their particular circumstances is eroding the church’s doctrinal absolutes and that Francis must dispel any ambiguities or face serious consequences.”
By David Gibson, Religion News Service, in National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story, and click here to read NCR’s Joshua J. McElwee’s story “Flour cardinal challenge Francis over ‘Amoris Laetitia.'”
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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