In a further attempt to address the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Vatican has announced new procedures for defrocking priests. The Vatican is presenting these as tough new measures, the first amendments to the relevant sections of canon law in nine years.
But in a depressingly usual pattern, the Catholic Church has managed to undermine its own progress by not going far enough. The US-based Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said the new guidelines were,
Continue reading ‘New Vatican Guidelines on Sexual Abuse: Missing the Boat?’
Today’s Irish Times carries an impassioned plea from Fr Robert Hoatson of New Jersey under the headline: ‘Papal apologies are all well and good – now is the time for action.’
Fr Hoatson was sexually abused while a member of the Christian Brothers and as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Newark, and had a first cousin who committed suicide in the aftermath of clerical sexual abuse. Hoatson’s words, then, are rooted in the experience of the pain and suffering that always accompanies sexual abuse.
Continue reading ‘Road to Recovery’s 5-Point Plan for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse’
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard the Rev. Ian Paisley rail publicly against the pope, identifying him as an ‘anti-Christ.’ But in an interview with the BBC World Service, Paisley reverted to ‘anti-Christ’ mode as he voiced his opposition to the pope’s state visit to the UK in September.
On his blog, BBC religion correspondent William Crawley says that Paisley’s comments,
Continue reading ‘Ian Paisley and the Pope: The Return of Dr No?’
Why are the Irish Catholic bishops complaining about the Civil Partnerships Bill, which is being debated this week in the Dáil?
The bishops’ criticisms have not been welcomed by government ministers, who say they have taken great pains to make sure it does not undermine marriage or the Irish constitution.
Continue reading ‘The Irish Catholic Church & the Civil Partnerships Bill: What’s ‘Morally Wrong?’’
If you yearn for economic justice and human flourishing in the southern hemisphere, you may be plagued by the nagging suspicion that there is little that you can do to promote this. Sure, you can give to charity or even go on a short term volunteering mission, but still there’s a sense that these efforts are at best band-aid ‘solutions,’ or at worst, volun-‘tour’-ism for rich Westerners to salve their consciences.
Dr Aidan Donaldson confronts some of those doubts in his new book, Encountering God in the Margins: Reflections of a Justice Volunteer (Veritas, 2010). Donaldson is Assistant Head of Religious Education and Chaplain at St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ Grammar School in Belfast. He writes out of his experience of the Christian Brothers’ Developing World Immersion Programme and its work on Project Zambia.
Continue reading ‘Aidan Donaldson Book Review: Encountering God in the Margins’
Yesterday was Ecumenical Day at the novena in West Belfast’s Clonard Monastery. As I’m in a Northern Irish style ‘mixed’ marriage, and live close to Clonard, I appreciate the spirit behind ecumenical day and try and make a point of being there.
So last night I dropped in on an evening session, where Rev. Steve Stockman, the minister from Fitzroy Presbyterian, was speaking. The theme for this year’s novena is ‘Our Church: A Time for Hope,’ and the theme for ecumenical day was ‘a time for justice.’
Continue reading ‘The Clonard Novena: Steve Stockman on Ecumenical Day’
If we didn’t already know it, another Irish Times opinion poll has confirmed that people in Ireland are not impressed with the way the Catholic Church, and in particular Cardinal Sean Brady, has conducted itself of late.
The front page of Monday’s Irish Times had a bold headline proclaiming that ‘Three quarters of Irish adults polled say Cardinal Brady should quit.’ But as I’ve said before, the Catholic Church is not a democracy and the chief function of polls like this seems to be to expose the huge gulf that currently exists between the upper level leadership of the church and the people of Ireland.
Continue reading ‘Cardinal Brady and the Catholic Church: Can Opinion Polls Prompt Better Communication Between Clerics and Lay?’
If the Pope’s team of apostolic visitors want to prepare for their upcoming visit to Ireland, a good place to start would be a new book edited by John Littleton and Eamon Maher, The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism? (Columba, 2010)
The book gathers an impressive array of perspectives on the handling of the sexual abuse scandals, and the pressing questions facing the Irish Catholic Church today. Among those are the questions posed by the editors in the introduction (p. 10):
Continue reading ‘The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism?: Book Review’
The Pope has announced the team of apostolic visitors who will conduct an investigation into clerical sex abuse in Ireland. The Irish Times’ Patsy McGarry remarks that the Vatican has sent in ‘heavy hitters.’ McGarry says:
Continue reading ‘The Apostolic Visitors are Coming: Wounded Healers and Healing for the Wounded?’
In the recently published book, 
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