Posts Tagged scandal
Theology, history, canon law may figure in lay role in addressing crisis / Catholic News Service on CatholicPhilly.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on February 8, 2019
Reform is a constant in church history, he (Carlos Eire, a professor of history and religious studies at Yale University) added, because “corruption is a constant in human history.” (Catholic News Service on CatholicPhill.com)
A panel of academics at a Feb. 6 conference on the clergy sex abuse crisis noted that the current crisis is not the first scandal to confront the church, and that the church has had trouble putting those scandals to rest.
“The clergy has had ‘the power to correct themselves,’ said Carlos Eire, a professor of history and religious studies at Yale University, ‘but throughout all of this time, that power has been used very unevenly and ineffectively.’ Reform is a constant in church history, he added, because ‘corruption is a constant in human history.’
“Eire was one of three panelists at the second in a series of programs called ‘Healing the Breach of Trust’ at The Catholic University of America in Washington. The Feb. 6 program was subtitled ‘The Role of the Laity in Responding to the Crisis: Theological and Historical Foundations.’ It was sponsored by the university’s Institute of Human Ecology.”
By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service, on CatholicPhilly.com — Read more …
Shepherds’ accountability when the flock is abused / The New York Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on March 18, 2016
Thirteen years ago, as a national scandal raged over the rape and molestation of school children by hundreds of Catholic priests, a panel of leading laity appointed by the national hierarchy to look into church responsibility candidly warned “there must be consequences” for the bishops who led years of cover-up. The bishops’ marked failure to follow through since by investigating fellow superiors was brought home this month in a scathing grand jury report in Pennsylvania. It found at least 50 priests and other church employees sexually molested hundreds of children in central Pennsylvania parishes for over four decades while church officials and some civil authorities knew but worked to conceal the crimes.
“The report used the term “soul murder” to describe a conspiracy of silence that allowed the statute of limitations to run out and perpetrators to die while victims waited for justice.”
By Francis X. Cline, The New Times — Click here to read the rest of this commentary.
The Future of the Catholic Church — Catholicism in Australia Undergoing Tectonic Shifts / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on March 18, 2014
More than a hundred people turned out on a Sunday afternoon in late November to the crypt of historic St. Patrick’s Church in Sydney for a presentation by a forensic psychologist on the sex abuse scandal jarring the Catholic community in Australia.
“During a question-and-answer session, a woman in the audience made a sarcastic reference to priests once thinking they were ‘ontologically different.’ The phrase provoked an immediate howl of laughter, as if she’d delivered a punch line of a joke.”
By Tom Roberts, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this sotry.
PBS FRONTLINE Will Present “Secrets of the Vatican” This Evening
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on February 25, 2014
You may be interested in this television news magazine story — “‘Secrets of the Vatican,’ a special, 90-minute FRONTLINE presentation premiering today, Feb. 25, that tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict Papacy—and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption, and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.”
Cardinals Tainted by Scandal Gather for Conclave
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on February 27, 2013
Now Gathering in Rome, a Conclave of Fallible Cardinals
The sudden resignation of the most senior Roman Catholic cardinal in Britain, who stepped aside on Monday in the face of accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward priests years ago, showed that the taint of scandal could force a cardinal from participating in the selection of a new pope. His exit came as at least a dozen other cardinals tarnished with accusations that they had failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors were among those gathering in Rome to prepare for the conclave to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. There was no sign that the church’s promise to confront the sexual abuse scandal had led to direct pressure on those cardinals to exempt themselves from the conclave.” By Laurie Goodstein, 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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