Posts Tagged pope john paul ii
In came Latin, incense and burned books, out went half the parishioners / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Future of the Church, Pope Francis, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on January 27, 2021
‘The Charlotte Diocese is not alone. While Pope Francis preaches an accompaniment for all spiritual seekers and castigates clericalism … seminaries in the U.S. continue to graduate priests for ordination who look not to Francis, but to Pope John Paul II for inspiration. It is a quiet, awkward and uneasy kind of schism in church practice and discipline.”
National Catholic Reporter
“Religion scholar Maria Lichtmann felt a strangeness overcome St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Parish in Boone, North Carolina, four years ago.
“Fr. Matthew Codd, the then-pastor at St. Elizabeth’s, was joined by a group of seminarians who went through the church’s theology library and removed books deemed heretical, including those of spiritual writers Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton. The books were later burned, she was told by a parish staff member.
“Lichtmann, a retired religious studies professor at Appalachian State University, left the region in part, she told NCR, because of the changes in the parish. She now lives in Georgia.
“‘I felt it was a lost cause,’ she said about St. Elizabeth’s.
“The spirit of hyper-orthodoxy in parish leadership continued, noted Lichtmann, after Codd was replaced in July 2019 by Fr. Brendan Buckler.
“Nearing 18 months since Buckler arrived, on the edge of Boone, a college town and popular retirement community in the mountain foothills, a few dozen now gather every other Sunday at a car restoration shop shared by a hospitable non-Catholic, the husband of a parishioner.”
By Peter Feuerherd, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …
Who will bring forth Pope Francis’ vision? / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 12, 2016
Might all of Pope Francis’ efforts at reform be for naught?
Pope Francis, with the publication of Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), has offered a broad and deep reflection on the myriad (and often messy) issues concerning marriage, the family and human sexuality.
“And in doing so, the 79-year-old pope has also put forth a clear vision of Christian discipleship. It is one based more on personal responsibility and prayerful discernment than on the mere following of church rules …
“… He is attempting to pick up the journey that the church had embarked upon in the first decade or so following Vatican II, but one that John Paul II halted and began to “correct” and recalibrate early on in his long pontificate (1978-2005) …
“But there is a serious challenge here. The vast majority of the world’s bishops, younger clergy (under the age of 45 or so) and seminarians are squarely on the road that St. John Paul II and his German successor built. Too many find themselves greatly conflicted by Francis and all that he is doing to shake up and renew the church.
“A good number of them are rigid personalities obsessed with the ‘clarity’ of doctrine, who find their identity in a churchy world of black and white (like the uniform they wear) and exude confidence in being the recognized and unchallenged upholders of the Truth that they believe is possessed by the church alone.”
By Robert Mickens, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this commentary.
Silence in the Catholic church may be its weapon of self-destruction / The Guardian
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on August 25, 2015
In a day of remarkable evidence before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson offered damning assessments of the most senior Catholic clerics on the planet. Pope John Paul II ‘handled the abuse poorly’ Cardinal George Pell was a ‘most ineffectual bishop’ and ‘the majority of the priests wished he’d get transferred somewhere else.’ Even Pope Francis is not providing ‘real leadership.’
“But his most chilling and telling statement about the Catholic church was the one he made about the church hierarchy’s response to revelations about child sexual abuse: “What we got was silence, so bishops were loyal to the silence.”
Commentary by Kristina Keneally in The Guardian — Click here to read the rest of this column. Kristina Keneally is a Guardian columnist and 42nd premiere of New South Wales, who holds a Master’s degree in theology.
Canonization of Popes Focuses Attention on Decades of Change, Conflict, Record on Abuse / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 28, 2014
Wrapping Up Two Decades of Change, Conflict, Francis Saints Two Popes
“And just like that, 56 years of church history — from the unexpected calling of the Second Vatican Council through the sometimes tumultuous and radical response to its modernizing moves for Catholics around the world — were wrapped up in about six minutes.
“That’s how long it took Sunday (Apr. 27) for Pope Francis to formally declare his predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints of the Catholic church, from the first prayers of the formal canonization rite to the formal decree.”
By Joshua McElwee, posted Apr. 27, 2014, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Records Show That John Paul II Could Have Intervened in Abuse Crisis – But Didn’t
“Sitting on a bookshelf in my office is a red leather-bound copy of the Code of Canon Law. This isn’t just any copy of the church’s rulebook. It was signed by Pope John Paul II for me at the request of my former boss, the late Cardinal Pio Laghi. It is dated 6-6-1983 in the late pope’s own hand. I was definitely a fan in those days.
“On Sunday (Apr. 27) after John Paul is promoted to sainthood, it will become a second-class relic. I will not venerate it, nor will I join the cheering crowds.
“The past 30 years have led me to the opinion that his sainthood is a profound insult to the countless victims of sexual assault by Catholic clergy the world over. It is an insult to the decent, well-intentioned men and women who were persecuted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during his reign, and it is an insult to the memory of Pope John XXIII, who has the misfortune being a canonization classmate.”
By Thomas P. Doyle, posted Apr. 25, 2014, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this column.
Women Resistant to Pope Francis’ Call for New Theology / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on November 4, 2013
Pope Francis is calling for a theology of women, but women in the church are resistant, calling instead for a theology of the laity.
“‘I want to talk about a theology of men and women together,’ lawyer and theologian Helen Alvare told NCR in an email.
“Alvare was a speaker at a recent Vatican symposium marking the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s 1988 apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem (“On the Dignity and Vocation of Women”). The Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity hosted the symposium at the Vatican Oct. 10-12.
“Around 100 women from 25 countries, representing lay movements and church associations, explored and discussed Mulieris Dignitatem. On the final day, Francis met with the participants and their families.” By Megan Fincher and Colleen Dunne, National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of this article by clicking here.
Francis Sets a Date in April for Two Popes to Become Saints / The New York Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on October 1, 2013
Pope Francis said Sept. 30 that he would canonize two of his most influential predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, on the same day next spring, a highly unusual move that was taken as an effort to promote unity within the Roman Catholic Church.
“The two popes, who have disparate followings among reformers and conservatives within the church, will be declared saints on April 27, Francis said during a meeting with cardinals at the Vatican. Each achieved considerable international stature: John Paul II for encouraging the fall of Communism in his native Poland and across Eastern Europe, and John XXIII for assembling the liberalizing Second Vatican Council, which ran from 1962 to 1965.” By Elisabetta Povoledo and Alan Cowell, The New York Times
Rest the rest of the story by clicking here.
Former LCWR Leader Says Pope Should Open Door to Women Priests / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on July 31, 2013
A key former leader of U.S. Catholic sisters said Pope Francis should reconsider the Catholic church’s ban on women priests, likening the male-only priesthood to ‘a form of inequality which is a form of idolatry.’ Commenting to NCR on Francis’ remarks on the papal plane Monday (July 29) that the late Pope John Paul II had ‘definitively … closed the door’ to Catholic women priests, Mercy Sr. Theresa Kane said Francis has a chance to ‘begin a whole new movement and a whole new philosophy.'” By Joshua McElwee, National Catholic Reporter
Read McElwee’s entire article in National Catholic Reporter by clicking here.
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