(RNS) Is Pope Francis endorsing heresy? It might look that way from headlines that made it seem as though the pontiff had said that everyone – even atheists! – were destined for heaven. What he actually said was boilerplate Catholic doctrine.
(RNS) As U.S. Catholics grow increasingly accepting of homosexuality, there’s going to be inevitable conflict as an uneasy “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy clashes with gay Catholics’ increasing visibility in the form of marriage licenses or wedding announcements.
(RNS) Nothing can upset the folks in the pews as much as changing the liturgy that they’re used to, and that seemed likely to be the case when the Vatican ordered revisions to the familiar prayers of the Catholic Mass. But now, more than a year after the changes took effect, a survey of American priests shows that they are more disturbed by the innovations than their flock.
DUBLIN (RNS) After 32 years as an interior designer, Patricia Wojnar went back to school for a master’s degree in bereavement studies, a hot commodity in Ireland’s “post-Catholic” economy that features growing markets for wedding and funeral officiants who aren’t associated with the scandal-scarred Catholic Church.
(RNS) News that scientists in Oregon had for the first time recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos prompted dire warnings from religious leaders who say the research crosses a bioethical red line and could lead to designer babies.
(RNS) The Vatican on Wednesday said that Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned in February amid reports that he had made sexual advances to a number of priests, will do penance in an undisclosed location outside of his country.
(RNS) Even as an annual review this week gave Catholic bishops high marks on sex abuse prevention policies, officials with the church’s oversight agencies expressed serious concerns about “recent high-profile failings” in several dioceses.
(RNS) The priest who headed a leading treatment center for clergy suffering from emotional, sexual and addiction problems has resigned in the wake of accusations that he misused funds in his home diocese and that he was engaged in an “inappropriate adult relationship.”
NEW YORK (RNS) The nation’s top Catholic bishop has said the hierarchy would benefit from hiring an “attractive, articulate, intelligent” laywoman to present their message because, as he put it, “In the public square, I hate to tell you, the days of fat, balding Irish bishops are over.”
(RNS) The gay man ousted from posts at his New York parish after a critic complained that he had married his partner delivered a petition with more than 18,000 signatures on Thursday to Bishop William Murphy asking to be reinstated.
