"The Church's Challenges"
The title is taken from an article in the April 18 issue of Business Week magazine. It purports to examine the four main challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church, and what might be done to meet them.
The article's writers seem to feel it necessary to start with a paean of praise for the deceased jpII, referring to his "personal charisma and uncompromising moral authority". If you've dropped by this neck of the woods before, you know how I feel about the previous pontiff. His was a pontificate of uncompromising backwardness. That's all. He stymied attempts to move the church into the present century at every turn. He did, indeed, leave an institution that "badly needs reform".
The first challenge listed by the article is the shortage of priests.The priest to parishioner ratio has dropped in the U.S from 1950's 1:650 to today's 1:1,500, and the average age of the priests is 60 years old. Figures are much the same in Europe. Parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia are experiencing growth in their numbers, but it is still not enough. This problem "strikes at the very heart of Catholicism" since only priests can bless the bread and wine to bring about transubstantiation. With fewer priests, there will be fewer opportunities for r.c.'s to receive communion, and, gasp! the religion would become more like protestantism.
Big, hairy deal. If you believe in j.c., you believe in j.c. Why not stop worrying about whether or not the communion is properly cannabalistic, and devote the time you'd otherwise use to ponder this quandary to volunteering in a soup kitchen instead? Then you could rest secure in the knowledge that you were helping to feed his flock. Wouldn't that earn more brownie points for heaven than squabbling about who blesses the wafers?
Liberal minds say that the priests should be allowed to marry, since celibacy is tradition, not doctrine. Jesus is not quoted anywhere in scripture as admonishing those who would minister to the faithful to abjure love for a spouse. jpII, however, was adamant that the clergy must be celibate. 71% of recently surveyed U.S. catholics are in favour of making celibacy optional, but ti would take a mighty brave pope to make such a break with the tradition that makes the church a haven for pedophiles. Let's see how Benedict handles this problem.
The second problem is church finances. Speaking of pedophiles, they have bankrupt three parishes and cost the church in the U.S. at least $700 million in settlement payments, as well as making big holes in the weekly collection plate. This in turn hurts the churches of the third world, since they depend so much on the western world for money to operate. In the Congo, we are told, the number of faithful tripled during jpII's years of power tripping. That would have been due to his insistence that the faithful be fruitful without giving a thought to whether they could support the new lives they were creating, or not. The churches there now lack the funds to pay basic operating expenses. So how will Benedict direct the resources at his disposal? How will he persuade the westerners to cough up more funds for the third world parishes? We'll have to wait and see.
The third problem is referred to as "the west-south split" In Latin America and Africa, those pesky protestants are in there doing their best to claim every soul they can, and islam is busily doing the same. There are only so many souls on the market. Even though the numbers of adherents seem to be swelling r.c. ranks in these places, at the same time many are defecting to protestant denominations. Protestant congregations "offer less hierarchy" says the general secretary of the protestant organization, the Latin American Council of Churches. The director of the political science department at Iberoamericana University, a Jesuit institution, says that the church "needs to tone down the dogma of its doctrine". Good luck on that one, people. The r.c. church has specialized in thundering fire and brimstone at anyone who has the temerity to disagree with it. Getting the hierarchy to let go of such perceived power would be an accomplishment indeed. I don't think Benedict could. I do not believe he would even want to. He has too much of that power himself.
The last problem listed is the rigidity of the hierarchy. jpII spent his years at the top of the heap in concentrating ever more power in the vatican. He stuck his finger into every ecclesiastical pie going. He enjoyed having the power and wielding it. His successor used to head up the office of the church that evolved from the office of the inquisition. Talk about power. I don't see him willingly relinquishing any of it. Some liberal minds are suggesting that one possible solution to this problem would be to limit the term available to spend in the vatican bureaucracy. The theory is that, since clergy members get in there and then stay for life, the hierarchy loses touch with the realities of the world and the needs of the people. Suggestions have been made that the turnaround time should be three to five years. That might help to bring in new ideas and waft some fresh air through the miasma of dogma dictated from a disconnected distance.
Good luck to any and all who think to revive the flagging institution and move it forward from the dark ages. It is topheavy with a hierarchy that enjoys the perks of life at the vatican and would rather relinquish the loyalty of those who see reason than miss one meal prepared by their personal chefs. From his stronghold in the vatican, Monsignor Klaus Kastel declares "Tradition has to be observed as much as possible." Translate that to read, "My cushy way of life, and that of the rest of the hierarchy, has to be continued at all costs." Jesus may have lived from hand-to-mouth while he preached and ministered to his flock, but that's not the least bit interesting to Kastel, or Benedict, or the rest of them at the vatican. Neither is it part of the tradition that Kastel feels to be so important. Just as long as their next meal is on time and served in sumptuous surroundings, by someone ready to kiss their hands and fawn on them, none of them will ever acknowledge any need for reform.
The article's writers seem to feel it necessary to start with a paean of praise for the deceased jpII, referring to his "personal charisma and uncompromising moral authority". If you've dropped by this neck of the woods before, you know how I feel about the previous pontiff. His was a pontificate of uncompromising backwardness. That's all. He stymied attempts to move the church into the present century at every turn. He did, indeed, leave an institution that "badly needs reform".
The first challenge listed by the article is the shortage of priests.The priest to parishioner ratio has dropped in the U.S from 1950's 1:650 to today's 1:1,500, and the average age of the priests is 60 years old. Figures are much the same in Europe. Parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia are experiencing growth in their numbers, but it is still not enough. This problem "strikes at the very heart of Catholicism" since only priests can bless the bread and wine to bring about transubstantiation. With fewer priests, there will be fewer opportunities for r.c.'s to receive communion, and, gasp! the religion would become more like protestantism.
Big, hairy deal. If you believe in j.c., you believe in j.c. Why not stop worrying about whether or not the communion is properly cannabalistic, and devote the time you'd otherwise use to ponder this quandary to volunteering in a soup kitchen instead? Then you could rest secure in the knowledge that you were helping to feed his flock. Wouldn't that earn more brownie points for heaven than squabbling about who blesses the wafers?
Liberal minds say that the priests should be allowed to marry, since celibacy is tradition, not doctrine. Jesus is not quoted anywhere in scripture as admonishing those who would minister to the faithful to abjure love for a spouse. jpII, however, was adamant that the clergy must be celibate. 71% of recently surveyed U.S. catholics are in favour of making celibacy optional, but ti would take a mighty brave pope to make such a break with the tradition that makes the church a haven for pedophiles. Let's see how Benedict handles this problem.
The second problem is church finances. Speaking of pedophiles, they have bankrupt three parishes and cost the church in the U.S. at least $700 million in settlement payments, as well as making big holes in the weekly collection plate. This in turn hurts the churches of the third world, since they depend so much on the western world for money to operate. In the Congo, we are told, the number of faithful tripled during jpII's years of power tripping. That would have been due to his insistence that the faithful be fruitful without giving a thought to whether they could support the new lives they were creating, or not. The churches there now lack the funds to pay basic operating expenses. So how will Benedict direct the resources at his disposal? How will he persuade the westerners to cough up more funds for the third world parishes? We'll have to wait and see.
The third problem is referred to as "the west-south split" In Latin America and Africa, those pesky protestants are in there doing their best to claim every soul they can, and islam is busily doing the same. There are only so many souls on the market. Even though the numbers of adherents seem to be swelling r.c. ranks in these places, at the same time many are defecting to protestant denominations. Protestant congregations "offer less hierarchy" says the general secretary of the protestant organization, the Latin American Council of Churches. The director of the political science department at Iberoamericana University, a Jesuit institution, says that the church "needs to tone down the dogma of its doctrine". Good luck on that one, people. The r.c. church has specialized in thundering fire and brimstone at anyone who has the temerity to disagree with it. Getting the hierarchy to let go of such perceived power would be an accomplishment indeed. I don't think Benedict could. I do not believe he would even want to. He has too much of that power himself.
The last problem listed is the rigidity of the hierarchy. jpII spent his years at the top of the heap in concentrating ever more power in the vatican. He stuck his finger into every ecclesiastical pie going. He enjoyed having the power and wielding it. His successor used to head up the office of the church that evolved from the office of the inquisition. Talk about power. I don't see him willingly relinquishing any of it. Some liberal minds are suggesting that one possible solution to this problem would be to limit the term available to spend in the vatican bureaucracy. The theory is that, since clergy members get in there and then stay for life, the hierarchy loses touch with the realities of the world and the needs of the people. Suggestions have been made that the turnaround time should be three to five years. That might help to bring in new ideas and waft some fresh air through the miasma of dogma dictated from a disconnected distance.
Good luck to any and all who think to revive the flagging institution and move it forward from the dark ages. It is topheavy with a hierarchy that enjoys the perks of life at the vatican and would rather relinquish the loyalty of those who see reason than miss one meal prepared by their personal chefs. From his stronghold in the vatican, Monsignor Klaus Kastel declares "Tradition has to be observed as much as possible." Translate that to read, "My cushy way of life, and that of the rest of the hierarchy, has to be continued at all costs." Jesus may have lived from hand-to-mouth while he preached and ministered to his flock, but that's not the least bit interesting to Kastel, or Benedict, or the rest of them at the vatican. Neither is it part of the tradition that Kastel feels to be so important. Just as long as their next meal is on time and served in sumptuous surroundings, by someone ready to kiss their hands and fawn on them, none of them will ever acknowledge any need for reform.
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