Voice of the Faithful Focus, Oct. 18, 2012

Highlighting issues we face working together
to Keep the Faith, Change the Church

TOP STORIES

The Voice of the Faithful Marks Ten Years
Retired Bishop John McCarthy of Austin, Texas, comments on Voice of the Faithful’s 10 Year Conference.

Vatican II: A Half-Century Later, A Mixed Legacy
At Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, 50 years ago this week (Oct. 11), the newly elected pontiff stunned the world by calling the first Catholic Church Council in nearly a century — the Second Vatican Council, or what’s known as Vatican II.

Chilean Bishop Accused of Sexually Abusing a Minor Quits
The Vatican has accepted the resignation of a Chilean bishop accused of sexually abusing a minor. Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez acknowledged “an imprudent act” in an interview with a local newspaper, but denied that his accuser was a minor at the time.

Catholic Theologian Preaches Revolution to End Church’s ‘Authoritarian’ Rule
One of the world’s most prominent Catholic theologians has called for a revolution from below to unseat the pope and force radical reform at the Vatican. Hans Küng is appealing to priests and churchgoers to confront the Catholic hierarchy, which he says is corrupt, lacking credibility and apathetic to the real concerns of the church’s members.

Milwaukee Archdiocese, Victims Fail to Reach Bankruptcy Settlement
The court-ordered mediation between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and victims of sexual abuse has failed, sending the parties back to U.S. Bankruptcy Court to resume what one court official has called a scorched earth legal battle.

Archdiocese of Vienna to Undergo Radical Parish Reform
The Vienna archdiocese, which is one of the largest in Europe and extends from the Czech frontier down to the southern Alps, will undergo radical parish reforms, reducing its 660 parishes to 150 in the next 10 years.

Scandal-Hit Cardinal Brady to Go as New Cardinal Lined Up
The Vatican is set to make Cardinal Sean Bradypay the price of the recent scandals surrounding him by announcing his successor within two months.

VATICAN II

Scoring JPII & B16 as Interpreters of Vatican II
Michael Mullins of CathNews.com writes weekly about blogs and here collects several about Vatican II during the fiftieth anniversary week of the council’s opening session.

The Birth of the World Church
From 1962 to 1965 the eyes of the world focused on the city of Rome and the revolution in understanding and practice taking place as an age-old institution struggled to find its place in the modern world. The occasion was the Second Vatican Council, and almost two decades later, in April 1979, the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner sought to measure its impact.

Vatican II: Gone but Not Forgotten
Fifty years ago this month, the Roman Catholic Church embarked on a period of soul-searching that reverberated far beyond St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope John XXIII called Catholic bishops across the globe to the Second Vatican Council, opening the windows of a monarchical church to the modern world.

The True Meaning of Vatican II
Vatican II was just the second council of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church to take place in the Holy See — specifically, St. Peter’s Basilica. (Overall, however, it was the 21st Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church — previous councils having taken place at roughly the rate of one per century).

The Opaque Incoherence of a Church in Crisis
Today the best experts in the Catholic Church cannot coherently explain its governance structures or its juridical infrastructure. This is largely thanks to Vatican II, which failed to articulate clear guidelines for the future development of conciliar collegiality or church governance at any level.

Pope on Vatican II: Nothing to See Here …
The pope’s memories of Vatican II, published Oct. 11 in L’Osservatore Romano and covered by Catholic News Service, highlight once again the battle over the council’s interpretation on its 50th birthday. His money quote: “The council fathers neither could nor wished to create a new or different church. They had neither the authority nor the mandate to do so. That is why a hermeneutic of rupture is so absurd and is contrary to the spirit and the will of the council fathers.” (Maryknoll Father William Grimm, editor of UCA News, offers a brilliant view from the other side.)

Pope Marks 50th Anniversary of Vatican II with Warnings of Spiritual ‘Desert’
Pope Benedict XVI, on Oct. 11, urged Catholics to confront the spiritual “desert” of today’s secularized world and to rediscover “the truth and beauty of the faith.”

Pope Marks 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, Seeks to Correct Errors that Emerged
Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council — the church meetings he attended as a young priest that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world but whose true meaning is still hotly debated.

Vatican II at 50
Fifty years ago today the Second Vatican Council began with a clear indication of who had gained control of the Catholic Church’s direction. From the Latin Mass to meatless Fridays to the concept of salvation, numerous components of the faith were set to be reformed, led mostly by clerical academics who had served on preparatory commissions.

A Different Fire: Vatican II and ‘New Evangelization’
In the Second Vatican Council, the Church opted for a hermeneutic of reform, which contained elements of both rupture and continuity. It was not one or the other, but a right mix of the two. We might argue to this day about what exactly a right mix might mean, but there is no doubt that that was the choice of the Council.

NCR Editorial: The Promise of Vatican II
The phrase “people of God” appears in Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the first document approved by the council (Vatican II). That document altered an ecclesiology that had become rigid and brittle over time, opening space for new theological insights and a new way of understanding what church is and who its members are.

Fifty Years On, Catholics Still Debate the Meaning of Vatican II
When Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council half a century ago, he said he wanted to “open the windows” of his almost 2,000-year Church to the rapid changes in the modern world.

Under the Moon of Vatican II
On Oct. 11, Catholics celebrated another moonlight moment. It is the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II and the magical moment that has become known as John XXIII’s “Moonlight Speech.”

Opening the Church to the World
Vatican II, which has been rightly described as the most important religious event of the 20th century, began 50 years ago today in St. Peter’s Basilica. Over three years, from 1962 to 1965, some 2,800 bishops from 116 countries produced 16 documents that set the Roman Catholic Church’s course for the future. Its proceedings were closely followed in the media, bringing the church into the homes of hundreds of millions of ordinary Catholics on nearly a daily basis.

Successes and Failures of Vatican II Could Help Shape Better Vatican III
Oct. 11 marks a momentous anniversary for the Roman Catholic Church as 50 years ago on that day the opening session of the Second Vatican Council began.

Vatican II: Roman Catholic Church Still Deeply Divided 50 Years after Historic Reforms
Five decades ago, Pope John XXIII challenged Roman Catholics to “throw open the windows of the church.

Why I’m Still a Catholic
I suspect Vatican II’s central idea of a Pilgrim Church definitely influenced my thinking as a young 20-something believer. It raised my expectations. It stretched my idea of faith. But it was a slow-burn, nothing hasty. Only gradually did my Catholic identity shift.

Vatican II Changed the Catholic Church—And the World
Fifty years ago on Oct. 11, hundreds of elaborately robed leaders strode into St. Peter’s Basilica in a massive display of solemn ecclesiastical pomp. It signaled the start of a historic three-year assembly that would change the way members of the world’s largest Christian denomination viewed themselves, their church and the rest of the world.

The Vatican’s Very Own Revolution
On January 25, 1959, the newly elected Pope John XXIII invited 18 cardinals from the Vatican bureaucracy to attend a service at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He told them he planned to summon a global church council. The horrified cardinals were speechless, which the Pope mischievously chose to interpret as devout assent.

CHICAGO, IL

Outside The Loop Radio: Episode #312 – The Future of the Catholic Church
Mike Stephen hosts a roundtable discussion on the future of the Catholic Church with Voice of the Faithful members Janet Hauter, Dr. Paul Culhane and Dr. Mike Stephen, Sr.

FLORIDA

After Sandusky, Florida Passes One of Nation’s Toughest Sexual Abuse Reporting Laws
The Penn State scandal helped shape a new Florida sexual abuse reporting law that has been called the toughest in the nation, holding universities and individuals financially and criminally liable for failure to report suspected abuse.

LOS ANGELES, CA

Files on Catholic Priests in Abuse Cases to Be Made Public
Personnel files of Los Angeles Archdiocese Catholic priests accused of sexual molestation will be released to the public within the next few months, an archdiocese lawyer said Wednesday.

ALTOONA, PA

Abuse Victims Group Calls for Diocese Action
David Clohessy stood alone on the side of South Logan Boulevard with a handful of laminated portraits of smiling children clutched tightly in his hands.

PHILADELPHIA, PA

Priest Again Facing Charges that He Sexually Abused Altar Boy
A Philadelphia judge has reinstated three felony charges against a Catholic priest who is accused of forcing oral sex on a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997.

PHOENIX, AZ

Phoenix Diocese Releases List of clergy Involved in Abuse Cases
The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has released a list of 29 clergy members who have been accused or convicted of abusing children, becoming one of only 25 dioceses in the United States that has published such a list.

SALEM, NH

Healing Mass in Salem for child Abuse Victims
But critics say Libasci has disappointed clergy abuse victims
For the first time in the Greater Salem area, the leader of New Hampshire’s Roman Catholics will offer a healing Mass for victims of child abuse.

SAN JUAN, TX

Protesters Demand Names of Priests Accused of Sexual Abuse
A small cluster of activists gathered for the media outside the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville offices near the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle holding pictures of children – victims of sexual abuse by clergy members across the country.

AUSTRALIA

Church Accused of Hindering Child Abuse Probes
The damning assessment of the Catholic Church’s conduct is contained in a submission Victoria Police has made to a state parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

GERMANY

German Catholic Church Links Tax to the Sacraments
A paradox of modern Germany is that church and state remain so intimately tied. That bond persists more and more awkwardly, it seems, as the church’s relationship with followers continues to fray amid growing secularization.

Church Tax Decree Bodes Ill for German Catholicism
The German bishops’ recent decree refusing sacraments to Catholics who stop paying a church membership tax has been greeted with incredulity and opprobrium around the world.

IRELAND

Catholic Church Delayed Reporting Child Sex Abuse Allegation to Authorities
Church authorities took almost four months to report allegations of child sex abuse despite new guidelines that incidents should be immediately reported to gardai and the HSE.

Bishops Shun Church Reform Assembly
Catholic Bishops declined to attend a conference at the weekend organized by priests who want reform of the church.

Jury Fails to Reach a Verdict in Trial of Priest Accused of Abuse
A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a young girl nearly 30 years ago.

Bishop Knew Priest Moved by Him Went on to Abuse Again
Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby has been aware since the mid-1990s that a priest he moved following allegations of child sex abuse continued to abuse children in his new parish, contrary to statements by the bishop last month.

THE NETHERLANDS

Final Report: Care System Failed to Protect Dutch Children

The Samson Committee investigating the abuse of children in state care in the Netherlands since 1945 is accusing the entire system—from the government to the foster care service to care homes themselves—of failing to do enough to protect children against sexual abuse.