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From the editor’s desk
A way out of the clergy crunch Free While the nation feels the impact of the credit crunch, Catholics are becoming aware of a clerical crunch - a shortage not just of credit but of clergy. The one-priest presbytery, which became the standard a few years back, is starting to look like a luxury as parishes find themselves without a priest at all, or at best a share in the one next door. This is the real significance of a petition signed by many leading Catholics that was submitted to the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales this week. It calls for the ordination of married men. The cost of not doing so is beginning to mount - not least the increased workload and stress on the priests remaining. Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham is by no means the only English bishop who feels the present insistence on celibacy is unsustainable, but he is the first to say so quite so openly. In a recent interview, he emphasised that it was a matter not just of expedience but of justice. What has brought that home, especially in England, is the growing number of parishes ministered to by a married priest who has taken advantage of the special rules applied to ex-Anglican clergy. Pope John Paul II was persuaded by Cardinal Basil Hume to allow priests of the Church of England who were already married to apply for ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. It was treated as a matter of discipline, not doctrine. In many cases what triggered their decision was the ordination of women in the Church of England, though the Catholic Church has insisted that opposition to women priests was not sufficient grounds for conversion in itself. What happened was that the issue made some priests question their assumption that the Church of England was part of the Church Universal, and prompted them to look for that Universal Church elsewhere. The prospect of women bishops in the Church of England may well persuade another batch of Anglican clergy that they are in the wrong place. But as a result, a Catholic priest who has never been an Anglican ...  Previous weeks
The new America Free Few who love and admire America could fail to be moved by the victory of Barack Obama in the election on Tuesday. It was, to adapt a phrase of Tony Blair's used of another distinctive moment, an occasion when people could sense the hand of history upon this man's shoulder. America's capacity to reinvent itself has rarely been more tellingly displayed than by the rise of the brilliant, black senator from ...
Two faiths, one challenge Free The symbolism of next week's inaugural meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Vatican is likely to be as important as what is actually said. The public perception of religion is that it leads to trouble, especially between one religious or ethnic group and another. Indeed, in Iraq and Pakistan, Christians have had reason to fear for their lives from extremist Muslims who are, it must be stressed, acting in ...
Tragedy not a basis for reform Free A rugby scrum gone wrong put paid to the life that Daniel James once led. The vigorous young man was left paralysed from the chest down, in constant pain and suffering from continual spasms. At 23, he persuaded his parents to help him travel to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland where a lethal dose of barbiturates was used to kill him. Nobody reading of ...
Our words, God's word Free One of the great unfulfilled promises of the Second Vatican Council was that a new encounter with Scripture would greatly enrich the life of the Church. That was what the bishops clearly hoped for, and what their decree Dei Verbum actually said. Scripture was to return to its role at the very heart of the Catholic faith. As the Catholic Church's neglect of Scripture was one of the complaints made by the leaders ... |
 In this week’s issueTo a blessed eternity A therapy for life Epicentre of the faith The labours of Obama Might of metaphysics We are not alone Bringer of dreams Latest NewsSurprise at delay over Becker's appointment as cardinal Longley sees value of secularism SSPX plays for time Australian ordinariate named Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms? Elena Curti Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools? Christopher Lamb Goodwin the scapegoat Elena Curti The pain of being a coeliac Catholic Sr M, guest contributor
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