The crimes of the Catholic Church: not in our names

Written by Joanna Moorhead

Published: 27 February 2013

If the church had listened to ordinary churchgoers – especially its women – so much pain could have been avoided

The Catholic church is on its knees, and not in the way it would like. In fact, the last thing anyone would ask a bishop or cardinal about right now is prayer, or Christian witness, or how to live an upright, moral, God-trusting life. Why would you, when all they seem to know about is covering up sex crimes, inappropriate behaviour among prelates, political infighting at the Vatican, and the existence of a clandestine gay cabal at the highest levels in Rome?

Portsmouth Diocese

Written by Bishop Philip

Published: 27 February 2013

The Delivery of the Portsmouth Pastoral Plan means the abolition of the Department for Pastoral Formation ! Read in Full >

The Empty Chair

Written by Chris McDonnell

Published: 27 February 2013

So today is the day before. At eight o’clock GMT, Thursday, Benedict XVI will relinquish the papacy and retire. At that point the Church enters unknown territory in modern times. What will happen in the next few weeks as the Conclave meets and finally selects a successor to Benedict is all a matter of conjecture. Names are tossed around by the media, anxious for a story or just wanting to report plain gossip.  Articles are published that suggest intrigue and plot, usually unsourced, but they whet the appetite and keep people talking.

Urgency of Reform

Written by Kevin Hannigan

Published: 26 February 2013

A letter which appeared in this weeks Tablet from the Core Group:

A Call to Action was started last autumn by seven priests (News from Britain and Ireland, 13 October). We ourselves were experiencing a great deal of frustration and even resentment at the state of our Church, and felt that many laypeople would share those feelings. We invited them to come to Heythrop so that we could all talk openly to one another and think about how we might constructively express our commitment to Vatican II in our current situation. We were overwhelmed by the large number of people who came, and the intensity of disillusion, anxiety for the future of our Church and often a sense of betrayal which they experience. We invited people all over England and Wales to form local groups in which our shared commitment might find expression. Many such groups have formed, in more than 12 dioceses. There are several important topics in theology and in church governance which they urgently wish to address; but in every case there is a desire to have much closer and more trusting relationships between laity, priests and bishops.
We hope to foster these developments, and to organise a national meeting some time in the autumn. We have a website located at http://www.acalltoaction.org.uk where people
can find more information, and sign in if they so wish.
We earnestly want to have a Church characterised by a recognition of the charisms of all our members, by intellectual honesty in our Catholic faith, and by our desire to learn from
and witness effectively to our world. Why not join us?

Kevin Hannigan, Gerard J. Hughes,
Chris Larkman (and 10 others)
A Call to Action