The Church is alive and well and truly “universal”. I had the privilege of being part of two moments recently that perfectly illustrated this.
Tag: Catholic Church
Vatican official: protection of minors is goal
Clergy sexual abuse has impacted many people in society and the Church, including those working in the Church’s “Supreme Court” at the Vatican.
“This work has changed me,” the priest who heads Vatican Disciplinary Action in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told Catholic journalists June 19.
“When I read the facts of the cases, I feel repulsed,” said Msgr. John Kennedy. However, he and the 16 others working in his office carry on with the work. “For victims and for their parents, it is far worse,” he said. “We’re doing this because it needs to be done to restore what has been damaged.”
Renewal begins with prayer
Renewal of the Catholic Church in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals must start with prayer.
That’s what the leaders of the Knights of Columbus said in promoting a “Novena for Repentance, Renewal, and Rebuilding” in response to the recent Vatican summit on child protection and the clerical sexual abuse crisis.
Thank you to all the good priests who are our unsung heroes
To the editor:
The sex scandal within the Catholic Church has made it even harder for those good priests who have given their lives for serving God.
The one, true, Catholic Church, if understood by all, should not lose members, but gain new converts each day. It is not only the sex scandal but the lack of solid teaching that has put us in this situation.
Dealing with scandal within the Church
To the editor:
As we hear about and discuss the serious and continuing sex scandal within the Catholic Church, let’s start by placing the blame where it belongs — squarely on the failed leadership of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The failure has been caused by a lack of true leadership skills and being controlled by vanity and arrogance.
Robert K. Greenleaf was an advocate for Servant Leadership, and in the worldwide history of mankind, the greatest example of a servant leader was Jesus Christ. Jesus was critical of the Pharisees stating in Matthew 23: 2-3, 5, “The scribes and the Pharisees have succeeded Moses as teachers; therefore, do everything and observe everything they tell you. But do not follow their example . . . All their works are performed to be seen.”
Catholic Church comes to the rescue
As it happens so many times in places throughout the world, the Catholic Church has come to the rescue of more than one million people taking shelter in relief camps after floods ravaged Kerala state in southwest India.
The Indian effort is the biggest rescue and relief operation the Catholic Church in Kerala has ever undertaken, reported Catholic News Service. All 32 Catholic dioceses in Kerala have joined in the relief work.
Catholic Church comes to the rescue
As it happens so many times in places throughout the world, the Catholic Church has come to the rescue of more than one million people taking shelter in relief camps after floods ravaged Kerala state in southwest India.
The Indian effort is the biggest rescue and relief operation the Catholic Church in Kerala has ever undertaken, reported Catholic News Service. All 32 Catholic dioceses in Kerala have joined in the relief work.
Catholics’ response to immigration and other political issues
To the editor:
President Trump’s temporary immigration ban was abrupt to prevent a surge of terrorists who would try to get in before a pre-announced tightening of the vetting process.
The short list of countries affected by the ban, though Muslim (like many others), had in common being identified by the Obama Administration as especially concerning.
The beauty of striving
 |
|
| Morgan Smith |
On a recent trip to Florida, I went kayaking in a nature preserve. I started in the Gulf of Mexico and followed the shoreline into a creek that wove and curved through a forest of banyan trees.
Banyan trees are so mysterious. Their roots rise up out of the ground and intertwine to make the trunk and roots shoot out of the branches and reach toward the ground — actually, I cannot tell exactly where the roots are originating from as they flow together in a beautiful and tangled mess.
Church must continue to remain vigilant
It was back in January of 2002 that we learned about the Boston Globe reporting on the scandal of widespread sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Boston.
It shocked me, as it did many Catholics. We didn’t realize at the time that Boston was the tip of the iceberg and that priests throughout the country — indeed the world — had been involved in abusing children. And what’s more, Church officials often covered up this abuse.