Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The first session of the XVI Assembly of the Synod of Catholic Bishops will be held at the Vatican during the period October 4-28, 2023. The Synod will be devoted to the subject: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission. On September 19, the Vatican provided the final list of the Synod participants. https://www.synod.va/en/news/the-participants-of-the-16th-general-assembly-of-the-synod-of-bishops.html Of the twelve “fraternal delegates” listed, three are from the Orthodox Churches of the Byzantine tradition, and three are from the Oriental Orthodox Churches. With respect to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch is listed as a participant, and Father Hyacinthe…
Browsing: Catholic Church
Source: The Wall Street Journal Disagreements over same-sex relationships and the role of women are heightening tensions among Catholics worldwide. By Francis X. Rocca German Catholics have been meeting since last year to consider major changes to church life, including the blessing of same-sex relationships and the ordination of women—moves that many see as essential reforms after the clerical sex-abuse crisis. But the effort has drawn fierce criticism. Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, leader of the conservative minority of German bishops, has warned that the process could lead to a schism and even “a German national church.” His warnings have been…
Source: National Catholic Reporter by John D. Faris In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis March 27 characterized the worldwide trauma as: “God’s call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on.” Can this occasion also be a time of deeper communion among us? Catholics, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox hierarchs, pastors and faithful agree that the Eucharist, the body and blood of the Son of God, is the most precious gift of God to the church. It is of paramount importance to us! Nevertheless, while sharing the same belief in the…
Source: Orthodox Christianity [Bout, Sudan] Christian churches are under attack in Sudan. Three churches, including an Orthodox church, have been burnt down twice in the span of less than a month in the village of Bout in the Blue Nile state of the Republic of Sudan. The other churches attacked are from the Catholic Church and the Sudan Internal Church, reports the local Human Rights and Development Organization (HUDO). The Orthodox churches in Sudan are within the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Savvas of Nubia. The churches were first set ablaze on December 28, and after the congregations began to rebuild them with local…
Source: Orthodox Witness by Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis | November 24, 2014 Papa ante portas Novae Romae Orthodoxy resisted recapitulation to the pope of Rome in the council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-45) rejecting this synod, even though, as a result, Constantinople fell under the hordes of the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Great Schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman-Catholicism, dated from 1054, has remained to this day. Attempts to reunite the two Churches have intensified recently. Is reunification of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches possible almost a millennium later? Not only is it possible; it is imminent. In an interview with…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Mt. Athos, November 27, 2019 – On November 12, Patriarch Bartholomew participated in the Vespers service at the Catholic Abbey of Our Lady of St. Rémy in Rochefort, Belgium, together with Archimandrite Alexios, the abbot of Xenophontos Monastery, and Hieromonk Theophilos of Pantocrator Monastery, both on Mt. Athos. According to a new report from the Union of Orthodox Journalists, during his trip to Mt. Athos the previous month, Pat. Bartholomew attempted to convince several Athonite abbots and monks that there are no dogmatic differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and that reunion with the Catholic church is inevitable. Pat. Bartholomew…
Source: Houston Chronicle Non-priests should be given role when Catholic bishops are accused of scandals. This week’s meeting of American bishops in Baltimore offers an important test of whether the Roman Catholic Church is prepared to do what’s necessary to restore the hemorrhaging credibility of its priests and prelates. The assembled bishops will vote Thursday on rules for implementing new directives by Pope Francis. Among other changes, the pope’s decree requires all instances of child sex abuse be reported to the Vatican and to local police. Allegations that bishops have covered up accusations or mishandled investigations of priests will also…
Source: The New York Times A Gospel reading for the scandal in the church. By Ross Douthat At Mass this Christmas Eve, many Catholics who have spent a year reading headlines about abusive priests, indifferent bishops, predatory cardinals and Vatican corruption will sit and hear the long roll of Jesus’s ancestors with which the Gospel of Matthew begins. “Unless you like stats / just skip the begats,” wrote Jeanne and William Steig in their “Old Testament Made Easy.” But before he gets to the angels and the wise men Matthew gives us 39 of them, from the famous names (“Abraham begat…
Source: Chicago Catholic By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service Originally published on August 20, 2018 VATICAN CITY — “No effort must be spared” to prevent future cases of clerical sexual abuse and “to prevent the possibility of their being covered up,” Pope Francis said in a letter addressed “to the people of God.” “I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons,” the pope wrote in the letter dated and released Aug. 20. The letter was published less…
Source: The New Yorker By James Carroll Pope Francis will make a fate-laden journey to Ireland this weekend. On Sunday, when he addresses a throng of Catholics in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, he will recall the last papal visit to Ireland, that of John Paul II, in 1979. But another papal address of that year should also come to mind. In June of 1979, John Paul II spoke to more than a million Poles in a field outside of Krakow and set in motion events that changed history. But that was then. Nowhere is the difference between what the Polish Pope confronted and…
Source: The New York Times By making monasteries, of a sort, of our homes and hearts, we may develop the spiritual disciplines necessary to endure this seemingly endless trial. By Rod Dreher Mr. Dreher is the author of “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.” I have a Catholic friend who lives in an exceptionally bad diocese and who for years has been heaving rocks up mountains to keep his faith strong and his family in church. His resilience has amazed me. Yesterday, after a grand jury report revealed that bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church…
Source: US News & World Report Leaders in the Orthodox Church say the religion may need to adapt to contemporary times to remain relevant. By Sintia Radu, Staff Writer A season of religious holidays around the world moves into higher gear on Wednesday with the observance of one of the most important saints in the Orthodox Church, a person whose gift-giving legacy is partially tied to the birth of the Santa Claus legend in the U.S.and Father Christmas in the U.K. But with the arrival of St. Nicholas Day – observed on Dec. 6 in Western Christian nations but on different December days…