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From the Executive Director

The Catholic Bishops' conferenceof England and Wales reportsthat over 16,500 young Catholicscompleted the online surveyahead of the 2018 Synod, YoungPeople, the Faith and VocationalDiscernment (The Tablet, 8 July17).

Pope Francis made a strongpitch to young people saying, “Abetter world can be built also asa result of your efforts, yourdesire to change and your

generosity. . .The Church alsowishes to listen to your voice,your sensitivities and your faith;even your doubts and yourcriticism. Make your voice heard,let it resonate in communitiesand let it be heard by yourshepherds of souls."

The Bishops of England andWales have sent their surveyresponses onto Rome. They arenow asking local churches tofind "meaningful and creativeways of listening to youngerpeople."

In Bangor, Maine, BishopRobert Deeley wants youngCatholics to help him understandhow the church can becomemore relevant. He is in listeningmode. In a world where some dim fearof hell or cultural pressures nolonger motivates a generation toattend Mass, it is a hopeful signto witness the outreachextended to younger Catholicsand the grace of their reachingback to the church.

Some of our bishops understandthe need to listen deeply. Someof our bishops understand thatthe concerns, hungers, andhopes of young Catholic adultsmust be respected as part of thedialogue for shaping the futureof the church.

These Catholics are today'shope for the mission of theGospel tomorrow. They are areminder of why we all labortogether to build a future for thechurch. Please continue to doyour part and take action

today!

Open the discussion on marriedpriests

DeaconChat: Start aConversation on WomenDeacons

Write a letter to our U.S.cardinals asking them to supportCardinal Anders Arborelius' ideaof a College of Women advisorsto Pope Francis

Thank you for all you do!Deborah Rose-MilavecExecutive Director

Sr. PierretteThiffault Officiates at Weddingin Canada

Cindy and David had theirreligious wedding on Saturday,July 22, celebrated by… awoman.

The exceptional ceremony tookplace in a Catholic church atLorrainville, 650 km west ofMontreal in Canada.

In the rural diocese of Rouyn-Norand in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, the lackof priests is such that the bishopcalled on the assistance of Sr.Pierrette Thiffault of the Sistersof Providence.

Why Sr. Pierrette?

“You need to ask my bishop,”she smiles, explaining that inthis zone several priests areresponsible for up to seven oreight different parishes each.“I was happy and proud to be

able to provide this service formy diocese,” she says.Read more

CDF's new prefect will modelcooperation

Massimo Faggioli believes PopeFrancis's most important curialappointment thus far,Archbishop Luis Ladaria asPrefect of the Congregation forthe Doctrine of the Faith, willmodel a new, more collaborativeapproach in working withbishops and the rest of theCuria.

He describes Ladaria as an ableacademic theologian who studiedunder some of the best Jesuitsin modern Catholic theology. Hehas expertise in Christology,theological anthropology, andpatristics.

According to Faggioli, Ladaria isa moderate voice who knowstraditionalists' circles well, notbecause he is close to them, butbecause he has sometimes beenaccused of heterodoxy by them.

James Bretzke SJ, a theologianwho teaches at Boston Collegeand lived with Ladaria in Romefor three years while teaching,describes him as a "careful, fairand good theologian, [one whois] not ideologically driven."

Faggioli believes Ladaria couldreshape the CDF, shift the roleof the International TheologicalCommission, bring a new way ofdealing with complex issues, andmodel new cooperation in Romeand beyond.

Read more (subscription link)

The collapse of the monarchy

In his latest Letter from Rome,Robert Mickens intones afuneral rite. He announces thedeath of an institution.

Mickens writes that the lastabsolute monarchy in the West,the organization of the RomanChurch, is collapsing. He arguesthat its "outdated model. . .nolonger incarnates the reality ofthe lived experience ofbelievers, the staggeringmajority of whom live insocieties that are becoming moreand more, and to varyingdegrees, participatory andrepresentative democracies."

"A Church where the mostimportant decisions are madealmost exclusively by a celibatemale clergy, and where bishopsare held to little or noaccountability, is unsustainablein a world where patriarchal andmonarchical societies—begrudgingly, but steadily—areceding rights and duties to thosewho are not part of the nobility,the clergy, or one specificgender."

Further, Mickens argues thatFrancis is expediting thecollapse. His blueprint?Evangelii Gaudium.

And then, with pastoral flair,Mickens shows that in the midstof collapse, new life is risingup.

Ultimately the pope’s goal is tomake the structures and

mentality of the Church morereflective of the Gospel andperson of Jesus Christ, and toliberate it from a codified systemof rules and philosophical ideasstill deeply wedded to the cultureof the ancient Greco-Romanworld. Read more

Investigative journalist JasonBerry urges Francis to createan independent judiciary atthe Vatican to deal withbishops complicit in clergy sexabuse

Jason Berry writes that CardinalGeorge Pell’s return to Australiato face criminal charges hasdealt a severe blow to PopeFrancis’ reform agenda, makinghim the third consecutive Popeto find himself in a swamp overthe long, aching crisis of clergysex abuse.

Regardless of the allegationsthat he now faces, Pell’s recordin Australia on sex abuse cases,particularly his approval of bare-knuckle legal counter-attacks onvictims, should have disqualifiedhim from a Vatican post.

Berry also believes that CardinalGerhard Müller should havebeen let go sooner because ofhis complicity in sending anabusive priest to a new parishwhere he was subsequentlycharged with 22 cases of abuse.

Berry contends that theinstitution has not a structurefor cleaning itself up and isfailing "abominably." Undercanon law, the Pope is a one-

man supreme court.

According to Berry, the lessonfrom thousands of lawsuits,prosecutions, and scandals sincethe 1980s is the failure of canonlaw in the realm of criminalstatutes.

Berry believes Francis is at acrossroads and that he shouldcreate an independent judiciaryat the Vatican to deal withbishops who are irresponsibleand obstructionists.Read more (subscription link)

Ordinary Catholics must helpwith reform

Kevin Liston writes that thereare many reform movementsactive in the Catholic Church.Most seem to focus on changingthe structures and systems ofthe church, on reshapingdoctrinal positions and updatingteachings. Organisational reformis necessary and long overduebut there is also need for acomplementary movementamong ordinary Catholics.

In recent decades, the sense ofownership that people have overtheir own lives has undergone asignificant shift. Personalauthenticity and autonomy arethe order of the day. Morepeople feel they each haveunique ways of beingthemselves and seek forms ofexpression that frequently donot fit traditional moulds.Read more

Clergy sex abuse: Francis isstill failing

Keiran Tapsel, a member of thecanon law panel before theAustralian Royal Commissioninvestigating clergy sex abuse,writes that the all-male clericalculture is a critical factor in thesex abuse scandal, but it fails topoint to the failure of PopeFrancis to change parts of canonlaw that embody that culture.

Pope Francis may feel restrainedby theology from having womenpriests. But Canons 478 and1420 require vicars general,episcopal and judicial vicars alsoto be priests. They thereforecan't be women except with adispensation given by the men inRome. This can be changed withthe stroke of a pen.

A more serious example ofclericalism is canon law'simposition of the pontificalsecret on all allegations andinformation about child sexualabuse by clerics. The onlyexception that would allowreporting to the civil authoritieswas given to the United States in2002 and to the rest of theworld in 2010, and it was limitedto where there are applicablecivil reporting laws. Very fewjurisdictions have comprehensivereporting laws. In the UnitedStates, only half the states haveclergy as mandatory reporters.

Pope Francis' attempts to holdbishops accountable have meantvery little because his capacity todo so is limited by the Code ofCanon Law. The three bishopshe forced to resign— Archbishop John Nienstedtand his auxiliary, Bishop Lee

Piché, of St. Paul-Minneapolis,and Bishop Robert Finn ofKansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri— had breached canon law inforce in the United States since2002 that required them tocomply with civil reporting laws.Bishops who live in jurisdictionswithout reporting laws complywith canon law by not reporting.

Since 1996, the Irish, British,Australian, and United Statesbishops have wanted mandatoryreporting under canon lawirrespective of reportingrequirements under civil law. TheHoly See has consistentlyrejected the requests. Read more

The Other Catholics: RemakingAmerica's Largest Religion

Julie Byrne, Chair of CatholicStudies at Hofstra University,writes about the diversity ofCatholic communities beyond therank and file parish in her bookThe Other Catholics: RemakingAmerica's Largest Religionpublished by Columbia UniversityPress.

Timothy Kelly, Chair of Historyat St. Vincent College,summarizes her work in hisreview for NCR.

He writes that thousands ofpracticing Catholics in the UnitedStates do not affiliate with Romeor the Orthodox churches.Instead, they participate inversions of Catholicism thatoffer clear alternatives to whatthey understand to be RomanCatholicism's too-liberal or too-conservative practices. Do these

independent Catholic churchesconstitute viable options forthose Catholics who seemincreasingly disenchanted withthe institutional church?

Julie Byrne estimates that these"independent Catholics" maynumber about a million, or, shenotes in other places, perhapshalf that. Some of these belongto versions of Catholicism thatare far more conservative thanthe Roman church, but othersbelong to the much more liberalbodies upon which Byrnefocuses The Other Catholics. Read more

Bishop Paprocki spreads theharm

Marianna Duddy Burke,executive director of DignityUSAwrites that while there willalways be differences in howChurch leaders interpret andimplement Church dogma, thepunitive and exclusive tacticspromoted by the BishopPaprockis of the world betraythe very soul of the Catholicfaith.

They go far beyond the terribledamage inflicted by thepromulgation of doctrines thatlimit human possibilities,especially in the realm of genderand relationships.

They reflect a view of humanityas fundamentally wicked andneeding to be controlled by theselect few who are powerful andgood.

They repudiate essential tenetsof our tradition and of Scriptures

from Genesis through theGospels. According to Genesis1: 31, humans were created inthe Divine image. We arebeloved enough that Godintervenes repeatedlythroughout history to restore ourfreedom, or to set us back on apath of righteousness. In theultimate act of salvific love,God’s own Begotten One wassent to redeem humanity,through ministry, suffering,death, and resurrection.Read more

Cardinal Pell denies charges

CNN reports that one of themost senior figures in theVatican will plead not guilty tomultiple charges of historicalsexual assault offenses, hislawyer told an Australian courton Wednesday.

Cardinal George Pell faced theMelbourne Magistrates CourtWednesday for his first hearingsince the charges were made byVictoria Police last month.The 76-year-old, who hasconsistently and strenuouslydenied the charges, has beengiven a leave of absence fromhis role at the Holy See asprefect of the Secretariat for theEconomy while he fights thecase in the city where he wasonce Archbishop.Read more

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