Hans Küng's Can We Save the Catholic Church? on Anti-Vatican II Decision of John Paul II and Benedict XVI to Wage War Against Secular Culture

Three more passages from Hans Küng's book Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013) that leap out at me as the U.S. Catholic bishops prepare to stage once again their Fortnight for Freedom freak show that is all about keeping the culture war alive in the U.S. to serve the interests of their anointed political party, the GOP:

Hans Küng's Can We Save the Catholic Church?: On the Complicity of Theologians in the Church's Sickness Unto Death

A theme that emerges at several points in Hans Küng's book Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013), and which catches my eye, is the inability or refusal of far too many Catholic theologians in the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI (and still today) to stand against and correct the megalomaniacal claims of both popes — claims that have seriously damaged the Catholic church at this point in its history. I like the fact that Küng does not let us, the people of God, off the hook as he surveys the dismal state of a Catholic church sick unto death today. The problems are not all due to mismanagement at the top of the institution, by any means.

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church?: Implications for U.S. Catholic Bishops in Their Recent Meeting

Another reminder of what makes the church the church from Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013):

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church? on What Makes Church Church (Hint: Looking, Talking, and Acting Like Jesus)

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013), on what makes a church a church — at the most fundamental level of all:

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church? Casts Cold Eye on "Monstrous Triumphant Rallies Staged for the Predecessors of Pope Francis"

In his book Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013) Hans Küng casts a very cold eye on the massive PR-savvy rallies that began to be a hallmark of the contemporary papacy with the actor-pope John Paul II, who was convinced that focusing media attention on the papacy through massive well-staged (and lavishly funded) rallies, especially featuring young Catholics who were familiar with rock stars from popular culture, would save the Catholic church.

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church?: Küng's Diagnosis of a Church Sick Unto Death

I'm nearing the end of Hans Küng's book Can We Save the Catholic Church? (London: William Collins, 2013), about which I began blogging several days ago. Before I provide any kind of overview of the book or summative statement about it, it occurs to me that it might be helpful if I identify the premise from which Küng's analysis flows. 

Hans Küng, Can We Save the Catholic Church?: An Excerpt re: President George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI

I've mentioned in the comboxes here in the past several days that I'm now reading Hans Küng's new book Can We Save the Catholic Church?, trans. Dr. Herrlinger of Tübingen, with reworking by Thomas Riplinger and Andrew Lyon (London: William Collins, 2013). Kathy Hughes, a faithful reader of and contributor to this blog, kindly sent me a copy of the book.*

Reforming the Catholic Church Today: Three Perspectives

Steve's surgery seems to have gone well, and he has spent the day sleeping. Thank you, all who have asked about this and have told us you'll be praying. We both appreciate it very much.

Weekend News Roundup: Hans Küng and Catholic Revolution, Birth Control and Abortion, Scouts and Anti-Gay Discrimination

As the week turns, I want to direct readers to a miscellany of news items on the religious front that, to my mind, seem important.  Many readers of Bilgrimage many well have read some or all of these stories, and some of you have, in fact, brought several of them to my attention.  But for those who haven't yet run across these items, here's my Sunday news roundup:

Celebrating Religious Freedom, Remembering Those the Vatican Has Bullied and Silenced

Here's how Joseph O'Callaghan, an emeritus professor emeritus of medieval history at Fordham and former chair of the board of Voice of the Faithful in the diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, chose to celebrate the Catholic bishops' "Fortnight of Freedom":

Giovanni Franzoni on the Catholic Hierarchy's Attempt to Coerce Civil Society as Betrayal of Vatican II

Giovanni Franzoni

In the thread of comments following my posting about the attack on Hans Küng for his recent critique of Pope Benedict, Colleen Baker and Phil Ewing recommend a presentation that Giovanni Franzoni, a former Benedictine abbot, gave earlier this month at the 31st Congress of the Asociación de Teólogos y Teólogas Juan XXIII in Madrid.  A transcript of Franzoni's presentation is at the Iglesia Descalza blog site.

Knives Out for Hans Küng as He Critiques Pope Benedict: My Reflections

I find the discussion following my posting yesterday about Hans Küng's reflections as Pope Benedict visits Germany fascinating.  I haven't yet responded to the comments following the posting.  I plan to do that later today. 

As Benedict Visits Germany: Hans Küng on What the Reform of the Reform Is Costing the Church

Yesterday, I wrote,

Hans Küng on JPII Beatification: Chronic Sickness in a Church of Sumptuous Pomposity Masking Total Emptiness

As Tom Fox notes in National Catholic Reporter, Paddy Agnew published a good overview yesterday of critical responses to the beatification of John Paul II.  Agnew is writing in the Irish Times.

For Catholics Who Still Don't Get It . . .

Hans Küng

Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng has an important message: 

Carl Olson on Hans Küng: "A 100-Member Gay Men's Choir Led by Gene Robinson"

 

In the discussion thread following my analysis of the blowback against Nicholas Kristof re: the problem of patriarchy in the Catholic church, two perceptive readers, Joseph O’Leary and Kathy Hughes, note that Carl Olson fisked Hans Küng earlier this week at his Insight Scoop blog.  Kathy calls Olson’s fisking of Küng “the dimmest response to Küng that I’ve seen in a long time.”

On the same day that readers made these observations at Bilgrimage, Fr. Jim Martin published a balanced and theologically insightful overview of Küng’s piece at America’s “In All Things” blog—a response which suggests that he has actually read and understood Küng’s theology over the years. 

Leonardo Boff on Benedict's Legacy at the Five-Year Mark: A Failed Shepherd

Bishop Accountability published a link yesterday to an interview with Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, in which Boff reflects on the track record of Pope Benedict on the occasion of Benedict's fifth anniversary as pope.  For non-German speakers, the interview in Süddeutsche Zeitung is unfortunately in German.  But the Bishop Accountability summary of the article (scroll down the page at Bishop Accountability to which the preceding link points, and you'll find it) has a partial summary.

Hans Küng on Healing a Church in Crisis: No Denying That Ratzinger Engineered Cover-Up

Some members of the boys’ club rallying to the Vatican’s defense in recent days are now proclaiming that the crisis in the church is over.  The Vatican has weathered the storm quite well, these defensores fidei are announcing.  The storm is already abating.

This announcement, which purports to be objective description of how things stand at present, is, of course, spin.  It’s designed to give those who call for continued open discussion of the abuse crisis—and, in particular, of the Vatican’s role in it—the impression that their continued conversation is silly and ineffectual, mere petty gossip and pubtalk.  It’s designed to close ranks even more tightly and to keep outsiders from straying into a pub that has hitherto been exclusively clerical (and therefore exclusively male).