Garry Wills on How Celibacy Is Not the Cause of the Sex-Abuse Crisis — The Priesthood Is: "The Priesthood Is Itself an Affront to the Gospel"

Responding to a prediction by Father Tom Reese that the Catholic church will begin relaxing its celibacy requirement for priests this year,  I wrote, 

Not Blogging Lately Because I Don't Think That I Have Much to Say That Will Make Much of a Difference

I'm not blogging much lately because I don't think, honestly, that I have much to say that will make much of a difference to any of the conversations going on around me. I appreciate readers who have contacted me to ask how I'm doing, and who have shared your similar sense that we're being overtaken by a huge cultural wave at a global level that is moving the global community to some very dark fascist places — and we have all too little power to change the direction of that wave right now.

The "Why I'm Leaving" and "Why I'm Staying" Statements After Pennsylvania Report: My Theological Take on Them

There was an interesting discussion thread here several days back about the spate of articles after the Pennsylvania grand jury report with titles like "Why I'm Leaving" and "Why I'm Staying." American Catholics are openly discussing why they're leaving the Catholic church or why they're committed to remaining in it.

Gerald Slevin on Pius IX and the Doctrine of Infallibility: Pope Francis Can Make the Church Great Again by Eliminating the "Infallibility Trap"

Earlier today, I linked to a very fine statement by Irish lay Catholic Ursula Halligan in response to recent comments by Archbishop Eamon Martin of Ireland. Archbishop Martin notes that the Catholic community has difficulty welcoming people who do not live up to its ideals — notably, LGBTQ people. In response, Ursula Halligan asks Archbishop Martin,

In the News: Hurricanes, America's Moral Crisis with Trump, and What Are Churches Good for Again?

Some pieces I've read in the last few days that, to my way of thinking, tell a story. I hope you'll agree: what story do you hear as you read this commentary?

Neal Gabler, "America's Moral Crisis": 

Jennifer Haselberger's Affidavit in the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocesan Bankruptcy Case: "A Question of Equity and Fairness" Grounded in the Corporatist Tradition of Catholic Theology and Ecclesiology

Before we left for our recent vacation, I made a promise here, I seem to recall, to read and comment on the 22 May affidavit of Jennifer Haselberger, former Chancellor for Canonical Affairs of the Catholic archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. The affidavit is Haselberger's testimony in the bankruptcy case of the archdiocese now pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota (case no. 15-30125).

"The Easiest Way to Make Oneself Righteous Is to Make Someone Else a Sinner": The Churches and LGBT People Today — Grace or No Grace?

"the easiest way to make oneself righteous is to make someone else a sinner." @rachelheldevans #searchingforsunday pic.twitter.com/H1Tfkq3E2h

— Joe Troyer II (@jtroyer2) June 25, 2015

The tweet at the head of the posting, which Joe Troyer tweeted last Thursday, captures a page from Rachel Held Evans's book Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2015). As you can see, Joe zeroes in on the statement, "[T]he easiest way to make oneself righteous is to make someone else a sinner."

The Story of the Refusal of the Episcopal Cathedral in Orlando to Baptize the Son of a Gay Couple: My Reflections

For a variety of reasons, I've been following with some interest the story of the refusal of Anthony Clark, dean of the Episcopal cathedral in Orlando, St. Luke, to baptize the baby of a married gay couple, Rich and Eric McCaffrey. I first became aware of the story a few days ago when Faithful America sent out an email asking people to sign a petition calling on the bishop of the diocese, Greg Brewer, to assure that no priest in his diocese refuse baptism to a child on the basis of the sexual orientation of the parents. The petition states,

Quote for Day: Mary Hunt on Most Important Takeaway of Vatican Attack on U.S. Nuns — "Women's Equality in the Church Is No Longer Negotiable"

Mary Hunt at Religion Dispatches in a post-mortem statement about the Vatican attack on American nuns:

More Catholic Voices on "Jesus' Effusion of Inclusion, Love and Mercy"

Mark 1:1 (NRSV)

In addition to Jerry Slevin, whose latest essay on Pope Francis and structural reform of the Catholic church I've just discussed, other Catholic voices are being raised right now to call on the leaders of the church to point it back to Jesus and the gospels:

Jerry Slevin on Pope Francis as a Ray of Hope in a Crisis of Trust — A Holy Mess

At his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin maintains that if Pope Francis represents "a ray of hope" for the Catholic church, as many Catholics wish to believe, the window of opportunity for hopeful light to enter the church will close, perhaps definitively, if Francis is not prophetic and transparent. Meanwhile, Catholics watch, and are increasingly less convinced by the convenient, shopworn arguments about hierarchical power that have been overused to thwart the open discussion and faithful dissent necessary to maintain a vital church.

Pope Francis and Synod: Coercive Top-Down Model of Church, or Consensual Bottom-Up Lay-Dominated Model? Recent Analysis Worth Reading

The synod on the family opened in Rome yesterday, and as this gathering begins, journalist Robert Mickens states, in an interview with Ari Shapiro of NPR,

The Catholic Conversation about Sexuality and Family on Eve of Synod: Ten Modest Theological Conclusions

Ten modest theological conclusions that I think one might reach as one surveys the discussions going on in Catholic circles about issues of sexuality and family on the eve of the synod on the family (I'm keying, in particular, off my two postings yesterday — here and here):

The Vatican Document on the Pastoral Challenges of Family: "Gospel of the Family" and the Bible (but Where's the Good News?!)

When I first wrote about the document recently prepared by the Vatican as a foundation for discussion of family life at the upcoming synod on the family — the so-called instrumentum laboris that will guide the synod's discussion and which reports on the responses submitted by lay Catholics and bishops to a Vatican questionnaire on the family — I noted that one of the document's significant shortcomings is that it reads like a laundry list in which every affirmation it makes is equal to every other affirmation. The document is, in key respects, a replication (though obviously a highly select one) of what lay Catholics and bishops told the Vatican as they responded to its questionnaire on the family, but it lacks a clearly discernible theological center in which to put its lengthy list of concerns into a meaningful, coherent scheme that would provide a helpful snapshot of precisely what the people of God believe about family matters at present.

The Vatican Document on the Pastoral Challenges of Family: Problematic Framing of Its "Communication" of "the Gospel of the Family"

Suppose you are, God forbid, in a difficult spot with your spouse of many years, and you both agree to resort to couples counseling to try to sort out your problems. You're convinced that he doesn't listen. He's certain that he's a very skilled listener. This presents a serious problem for both of you, this breakdown in communication, with the obstinate certainty of one of you that he listens and listens well, and your strong sense that you're, in fact, not really being heard at all.

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, 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?: 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. 

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "Double Canonization Doesn't Lead to Recognizing Diversity but to Neutralizing Both Options"

The following snippet is from a statement issued by the Spanish Asociación de Teólogas y Teólogos Juan XXIII at the end of May, re: the double canonizations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. At the Iglesia Descalza site, Rebel Girl has helpfully provided an English translation:

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "You Have to Be Environmentally Conditioned for Narcissism . . . to So Casually Express Superiority Over Others"

I never cease to be amazed at the quality of some of the comments (and writing) right here at Bilgrimage. As far as I'm concerned, some of the best writing on the internet is to be found in comboxes here. Here's an example from the weekend — Brian Gallagher responding to my observations about what makes the JPII-BXVI generation of Catholics (many of them, at least) tick: