At the age of 82, my good friend Hans Küng is still at it. He launched a new book on March 10 (the same day his former university colleague, Joseph Ratzinger — a.k.a. Benedict XVI — launched Part II of his book on Jesus). The title of Küng’s book in English, Can the Church Still [...]
Posts under ‘Catholic Church’
The Catholic Church Burns While the Bishops Fiddle
Two items crossed my desk and mind yesterday. Together, they evoked Nero and his fiddle. The first was an excellent article by my fellow parishioner at Ascension Parish on 107th Street, Peter Steinfels. It’s titled “Further Adrift,” playing on the title of his 2004 book, A People Adrift, and showing that in the light of [...]
Not So Easy, your Holiness!
Pope Bendict XVI’s recent efforts to deal with the clergy sexual abuse problem are not only too feeble; they’re downright dangerous. The National Catholic Reporter reported on Benedict’s sermon for his general audience on Sept 8 with this lead: “The problem of abuse by clergy is solved more by a spirit of penitence and conversion [...]
The Pope Just Doesn’t Get It!
He may be infallible. But he sure can screw up when it comes to public relations. That was painfully clear in the latest Vatican publication of “Substantive Norms” on how it is going to get tough on priest pedophiles. As reported in the New York Times and in the National Catholic Reporter, the document, in [...]