Free Republic

Why Do So Many Miss Experiencing Jesus in Our Parishes and How Can We Change This? Msgr. Charles Pope • November 9, 2016 • We were blessed this past weekend to have Sherry Weddell, author of Forming Intentional Disciples, visit the Archdiocese of Washington and speak to priests and lay leaders. Her work is a great blessing to the Church in calling us back to “job one,” which is to make disciples. In Catholic parishes evangelization is too often relegated to committees or tossed into the “we’ll get to that next year” file. Weddell’s mission is to create greater...

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond. Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2012 / 06:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops are encouraging parishes to incorporate into their communities a new blessing for a child in the womb, which the Vatican approved on March 25. “I'm impressed with the beauty of this blessing for human life in the womb,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “I can think of no better day to announce this news than on the feast of the Annunciation, when we remember Mary’s ‘yes’ to God and the incarnation of...

BRUNSWICK - The Vatican this month reaffirmed its position that priests should be celibate. But Louise Haggett remains faithful to her belief that the Roman Catholic Church's celibacy rules need changing now more than ever. The church could grow its shrinking ranks of priests and touch many more lives by lifting its celibacy requirements, said Haggett, a lifelong Catholic who runs a nonprofit referral service for married priests. In the decade since Haggett launched her Rent-a-Priest Web site, more than 100,000 people have been married, buried, baptized or otherwise attended to by married priests who are listed on the site....

Church Buildings -- Monuments with Mixed Messages Design for Monastery Chapel, Clear Creek, Oklahoma, by Thomas Gordon Smith by The Rev. John A. Valencheck If you should happen to move to my town and needed to find a bank into which you could deposit your money, you might look into the one that is right down the street. Though it is a fine institution, it is not much of bank as far as bank buildings go. In fact, banking appears to be a rather minor aspect of what you might do in the building. Entering in the main door, if...

The Catholic Church in the United States is in a state of profound transition. A priest or layman transported through time from 1965 to 2005 would be astonished and most likely disconcerted by the dramatic changes that have taken place in the 40 years following the close of Vatican II. Evaluating American Influence Of course, the hierarchical and sacramental nature of the Church remains unchanged. What, however, has clearly changed are the numbers and status of laity, religious, and clergy in the mystical Body of Christ. Related to this is the altered understanding of their roles in the Church. I...

by Fr. Christopher Nalty Other Articles by Fr. Christopher Nalty Supporting the First Steps to New Orleans’s Recovery 09/10/2005 I returned home from Rome on the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, to spend time with my Dad during his last week of radiation treatment for cancer (I pray that he's going to be fine). My family and I evacuated on Sunday. In This Article...Drowned CommunitiesTurning Attention from the Dead to the LivingA Good First Step: Housing the Workers Drowned Communities I'm currently at my family's property in Brewton, Alabama; we were some of the lucky ones with someplace to...

Catholic League president: Church must start playing hardball against victimization New York, Aug. 30, 2005 (CNA) - Yesterday, William Donahue, president of the Catholic League for religious and civil rights called recent verbal attacks on Archbishop William Levada, and legal bullying in the diocese of Spokane, WA, “outrageous” and “no longer about” the alleged victims of the sexual abuse scandal. “The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church”, he said, “is no longer about the alleged victims—they have had their day in court—it is about the victimization of the Catholic Church. The time has come for the Catholic Church to...

  Boston archbishop reveals pain of closings By Ken Maguire, Associated Press Writer  |  November 13, 2004 BOSTON -- Archbishop Sean O'Malley made an emotional appeal Saturday to Catholics who oppose the downsizing of local parishes, saying the cuts are so painful that he sometimes asks God to "call me home and let someone else finish this job."   In a letter directed at protesters, O'Malley said the church's financial status is "much worse than people realize" and that a plan to close or consolidate 83 of the 357 parishes is for the good of the archdiocese.Parishioners from at...

ELLSWORTH — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has a proposal to address the shortage of priests that could bring about the reduction of Maine’s 135 parishes to 35. Around the state, the change could mean longer commutes for priests and parishioners to attend Mass. How the proposal would affect the parishes and satellite worship sites in Hancock County is unknown. “They’re talking about merging smaller parishes together into larger canonical parishes,” said Diocese Communications Director Sue Bernard. “We’re looking at how the church can best do its mission over five to 10 years,” Bernard said. “What...

Today is not an easy day for the people of the Archdiocese of Boston. This morning all of our pastors and parishes were notified of the results of the reconfiguration process. Many parishes received the news that they would be remaining open and welcoming people from other parishes in the months ahead. As a result of this process there will be 65 less parishes, but this translates into the closing of 60 churches since five of the former parish churches will continue as worship sites. Although this reconfig-uration responds to the very special needs of the present, a radical reconfiguration...

Diocesan Survey Finds Catholics’ Needs Unmet (Special to The Wanderer) CLEVELAND — The Diocese of Cleveland on April 17 released the "preliminary aggregate results" of a parish survey involving 129 participating parishes and 46,271 area Catholics. The results of the survey, available on the Diocese of Cleveland’s web site (www.dioceseofcleve land.org), presents a glaring disconnect between what parishioners expect to be done well, and what is done well. For example, in the category "how important to me," the number one issue for Cleveland-area Catholics was "Masses that are prayerful, reverent, and spiritually moving." But "how well done" are Masses in...