German bishops urged to reform, heed pope s warnings ucanews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ucanews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As the names Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, and John Chrysostom suggest, the middle centuries of the first millennium, the era of the Church Fathers, were the golden age of the Catholic episcopate. The Catholic Church recognizes 35 men and women as exemplary teachers; 14 of them 40 percent of the entire roster of the Doctors of the Church were bishops who lived in that epoch. Theirs were not tranquil times. But even as these brave shepherds battled heresies within the Church and overbearing rulers who tried to subordinate the Church to their power, they created a spiritual patrimony from which we still benefit today, as the Church regularly ponders their sermons, letters, and biblical commentaries in the Liturgy of the Hours.
Church is running out of reasons not to ordain women Replacing the phrase ‘lay men’ with ‘lay persons’ is hardly a radical change
Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 01:00 Gina Menzies
In 2016 Pope Francis established a commission to examine whether women could or should be ordained deacons. Stating that the outcome was inconclusive, he established another commission in 2020. Handout photograph: Vatican Media/EPA
Pope Francis recently announced that he would remove the phrase “lay men” from Canon 230 and replace it with “lay persons”. This change to the church’s legal code means that women can now be permanently installed as lectors or acolytes – essentially, readers, distributors of Communion and assistants at Mass and the sacraments.
Catholic Archbishop-elect of Dublin prepares for major reorganisation Dermot Farrell assures change will follow consultation with priests and parishioners
Sat, Jan 2, 2021, 01:00
Listen now 4:10 Archbishop-elect Dermot Farrell of Dublin believes Pope Francis has given Catholics ‘a great lead’ on homosexuality. Photograph: Alan Betson
Your Web Browser may be out of date. If you are using Internet Explorer 9, 10 or 11 our Audio player will not work properly.
With half of Dublin’s priests over 70 and due to retire within the next five years and congregations ageing and declining, the Archbishop-elect Dermot Farrell of Dublin faces the job of managing decline.
These problems are now exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, not least financially, with income down by up to 80 per cent in Dublin during the first lockdown last spring and priests’ income cut by 25 per cent.