• Pope Francis’ ‘Paradigm Shift’: What it Means and How to Respond to It
“The evolution in the Church's understanding of the Gospel over the centuries is not a question of a paradigm shift, but of the development of doctrine, organic and in continuity with the faith.” - November 30, 2018
• Analysis: What is next for Curial reform?
The next gathering of the Council of Cardinals, also known as the C9, will take place Dec. 10-12. It will likely be the last meeting of the council as it is presently constituted. - November 28, 2018
• Analysis: On sexual abuse, what will U.S. bishops, and the pope, do next?
At the U.S. bishops’ conference meeting in Baltimore this month, Cardinal Blase Cupich proposed that metropolitans—archbishops—should be responsible for investigating claims of misconduct or negligence against their suffragan bishops. If metropolitans are accused, the plan says, the senior suffragan bishop should investigate. - November 26, 2018
• Cherished Beliefs of the Sexual Revolution (and How They Protect Sexual Predators)
One curious feature of the current clergy sex-abuse scandal is the reticence of the non-Catholic media to go after the predators. Many journalists in the “Legacy Media” seem to have an “anti-Catholic default” setting. One might think such journalists would leap at the chance to pile on with negative reports about the behavior of the Catholic hierarchy. Yet most secular newsrooms have been quite subdued on this issue. - November 26, 2018
• Confessions of a Catholic Whistleblower
In late July, I began giving internal diocesan documents to an investigative reporter in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. Three years earlier, Bishop Richard J. Malone had offered me a job as his executive assistant, which I eagerly accepted. I was overjoyed to be working for my beloved Church. Unfortunately, within three years I would transition from buoyant new hire to crestfallen whistleblower. - November 22, 2018
• The Vatican’s Agreement With China Looks Even Worse Now
COMMENTARY: The provisional agreement, now two months old, is being used to suppress the faithful. - November 21, 2018
• Synodality Upended
Last Monday, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathered for the 2018 General Assembly, the Holy See informed Cardinal Daniel DiNardo that the bishops could not proceed with their original plans. They had hoped to pass a tougher Code of Conduct for bishops and new procedures for involving the lay faithful in episcopal accountability. Instead, DiNardo had to announce to his brothers that the Holy See had essentially suspended their collegial agenda. The very “synodality” that has been a hallmark of this pontificate had been upended sub Petro. Why? - November 19, 2018
• While New Legislation Waits for Rome, Revival of Leadership Can Start at Home
EDITORIAL: Cardinal DiNardo is right: The Church’s hope for true reform lies not in new policies, but in renewed holiness. - Novemebr 18, 2018
• True Healing for Our Church Depends on What the US Bishops Do Next
Since the McCarrick scandal broke this summer, the collective Catholic faithful of the United States have been engaged in a tense conversation with their shepherds. From many of the bishops’ remarks at this month’s annual gathering in Baltimore, they have clearly heard what the faithful have been crying out for. - November 18, 2018
• The Pope Owns This
This is no time to be dismissive. This is a time to work together for reform and a new springtime of faith in the Church and in the world. - November 16, 2018
• From Baltimore Catechism to Baltimore Cataclysm
The bishops must recognize the paramount importance of teaching doctrine, rather than running from it or “spinning” it. - November 16, 2018
• A Silent Vatican in a Time of Crisis
The Holy See has become increasingly mute in the face of frequent criticism — an approach which is having a detrimental effect on the Vatican, the papacy and the Church. - November 15, 2018
• Pope Francis has broken with previous popes, causing ‘heresies, schisms’: Vatican theologian
In a forceful interview with Italian Vaticanist Aldo Maria Valli, Msgr. Nicola Bux has warned that the current pontificate is issuing statements that are generating “heresies, schisms, and controversies of various kinds” and that the Holy Father should issue a profession of faith to restore unity in the Church. - November 15, 2018
• Analysts Urge Bishops to Address Seminary Problems on National Level
Suggestions include database of seminarians dismissed for misconduct and a national audit. - November 14, 2018
• Motivation Remains Unclear for Vatican Request that US Bishops Delay Action
Cardinal Marc Ouellet told the Register that he wished to offer ‘reassurance that the Congregation [for Bishops] is working for the best evaluation and accompaniment of the American episcopate’s questions.’ - November 13, 2018
• About Those ‘Gay Clergy Networks’
COMMENTARY: Church leadership won’t solve this current crisis unless it confronts homosexual practice among the clergy and especially the networks of homosexually oriented clergy operating to protect each other. - November 12, 2018
• Priest on EWTN: Church won’t link sex abuse crisis to homosexuality over fear of gay lobby
The Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis is about the culture of homosexuality in the priesthood, Mgsr. Charles Pope told EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo on the World Over program Thursday night. It’s also about the bishops’ failure to impart the Church’s moral teaching, he said, and is not rooted in clericalism. - November 12, 2018
• USCCB meeting: What just happened, and what might happen next?
During a holy hour Monday morning, two survivors of clerical sexual abuse spoke to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about their experiences, and their hopes for the future of the Church. - November 12, 2018
• The Sex-Abuse Crisis and Culture Change in the Church
COMMENTARY: Building on the day of prayer and reflection at this year’s fall assembly of the U.S. bishops, might the ‘Crisis of 2018’ prompt salutary shift away from a corporate model of episcopal leadership? - November 12, 2018
• To the Bishops, Before Their General Assembly
The revelations of Archbishop McCarrick’s horrid behavior, its long-term cover-up, and the failure to hold accountable those who empowered him could cause the faithful to distrust all bishops. This is a tragedy. - November 09, 2018
• Restoring Trust
On Monday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will convene for its 2018 Fall General Assembly—a meeting that may be one of the most important in the history of American Catholicism. - November 9, 2018
• On current interest in the End Times
As I stood in line waiting to go to confession recently (yes, I still do that), a man who’d lately exited the confessional approached me and in a confidential tone of voice said, “I’m beginning to believe we are in the End Times. Do you think that might be true?” - November 8, 2018
• A Cry of the Heart to Our Bishops: Please Restore Order to the Church!
Our collective cowardice must be transformed into a clear, loving witness that is willing to endure the scorn of the world to reassert the truth of the Gospel. - November 5, 2018
• Archbishop McCarrick and 'Dallas 2'
Nov. 13 will mark sixteen years since Cardinal Bernard Law and then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick addressed the U.S. bishops’ conference on the topic of sexual abuse. - November 1, 2018