Keywords: Church Governance
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tim Kroenert
- 21 March 2013
8 Comments
Fr Murphy's atrocities include using the confessional as a lair in which to abuse his deaf students. With the Royal Commission already gathering steam, Silence in the House of God warns what revelations may be to come, and reminds those with high hopes for Pope Francis how much work remains to be done.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 14 March 2013
28 Comments
If the Church is to be a school for holiness it must reassure Catholics above all that it is a safe school. In schools, this normally demands a change of culture to shift focus from reputation and power to the dignity, growth and empowerment of students. In the Church it will mean dealing decisively with the abuse of power by clergy.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 14 March 2013
49 Comments
I indulge a passing self-congratulatory thought that the Pope is, like me, a Jesuit, and will understand our Jesuit ways. And that the Church, of course, will benefit immeasurably from his Jesuit training. That is immediately followed by a touch of anxiety: perhaps he will understand our ways all too well.
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RELIGION
- Brian Lucas
- 11 March 2013
15 Comments
Effective chief executives are those who work with collaborators who are better at most things than they are. The next pope needs to collaborate with the best theologians, communicators, diplomats and administrators, and have the strength of character to surround himself with those who will not defer to his status but tell him the truth.
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RELIGION
- Desmond O'Grady
- 11 March 2013
2 Comments
The internationalisation of the papacy over the past 35 years has been accompanied by an Italianisation of the Vatican media coverage, particularly in Benedict's reign. Vatican coverage reads like Italian political stories with smear campaigns, back-biting, wild accusations and turf wars.
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RELIGION
- Constant Mews
- 11 March 2013
26 Comments
The College of Cardinals is meant to be a representative assembly. If the Church is serious about reforming its governance it would do well to revisit the major constitutional reforms established in the 11th century, restoring the category of cardinal to those in the Church below the rank of bishop, and even to lay men and lay women.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 01 March 2013
37 Comments
There is a temptation to see justice, compassion and transparency as the obsessive concern of western liberals. They are much more universal than that; they are the contemporary, institutional rendition of gospel values. The unaccountable hiddenness of Vatican clericalism has reached its use-by date.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 28 February 2013
17 Comments
Like sex, scandals in governance attract an avid audience. So the master story of the papal election has become one of governance in disarray — of Vatican departments riven by ambition, scandal and acrimony. Even if the reports are not true, hearers begin to wonder who leaked them, and in whose interest.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 13 February 2013
25 Comments
When Joseph Ratzinger was elected many Catholics were surprised, some alarmed. They identified him with the stern disciplinary actions and doctrinal intransigence of the Congregation for the Defence of the Faith, and assumed he'd bring the same narrow focus to his leadership of the Church. The reality has been different.
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AUSTRALIA
- Moira Rayner
- 25 January 2013
21 Comments
Anti-discrimination acts are meant to protect vulnerable people, not corporations or dominant ideologies. The employers I represent reap the benefits of understanding that diversity and inclusion are brilliant for business and productivity. The Government's new human rights consolidation bill has missed simple opportunities for real improvement.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 22 January 2013
50 Comments
Bishop Harry Kennedy was not the only one out of his depth in the saga of paedophile priest Fr F; practitioners in law and psychology were found wanting. Other than Kennedy, most of the senior clergy involved appear to have done their job credibly according to the values and practices of the time.
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RELIGION
- Michael Kelly
- 27 November 2012
77 Comments
Rome is seen to be out of touch with the membership. Local bishops often behave as branch managers of a poorly administered, centralised multinational corporation. Royal Commission notwithstanding, there won't be healing of the community of faith until there is systemic change.
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