The Narthex

Former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Gerhard Cardinal Müller issued a "Manifesto of Faith" last week.  Many within the Church hailed the document as both necessary and timely.  Others responded less positively, attacking his manifesto as animated by a spirit of division and comparing him…

Pope Francis has repeatedly voiced support for hearing more from women in the Church. According to Crux (Jan. 31) this week he and the Vatican were offered advice from prominent survivor of clerical sexual abuse Marie Collins. In fact the sturdy Irishwoman, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the…

It was 1953 when I found myself at 11 years old tuning into Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s weekly Tuesday night commentaries on our black and white television. I don’t know how I got motivated to watch him every week, because my parents weren’t into Catholicism. I was raised a Catholic,…

For three days in the winter of 1077, King Henry IV of Germany knelt barefoot in the snow, clad in a coarse wool shirt, outside a castle gate in northern Italy.  Inside the castle was Pope St. Gregory VII.  The king desperately wanted the Pope to hear his confession and…

Cardinal Marx has called for "new thinking" on sexual issues, including celibacy. His liberal perspective reflects pressure to end mandatory priestly celibacy, a contested issue since sexual freedom has become a core principle of modern German culture. Catholics there have become skeptical of celibacy. Last November, the lay Central Committee…

Pope Francis is humanely concerned with over a dozen man-made problems that even school kids would wonder why the world doesn’t do something about: plastics littering the oceans, deadly drug gangs in Mexico, insane wars sparked by the pride of men, murderous Christian persecutions in Muslim nations, materialistic culture and…

Does the Synod of Bishops on Young People, running this month in Rome, strike anyone else as same-old same-old? The Church continues to come across as bureaucratic and uninspiring. Aside from some free trips to Rome for some motivated young people, it's hard to see how a train of meetings…

Historical caricatures to the contrary, Martin Luther did not, at least initially, intend for the Protestant Revolution to happen.  Even a cursory glance at his 95 Theses shows them to be far from revolutionary (assuming papal authority, validity of indulgences, etc.) and more like propositions for debate.  The debate however…

During the persecution of Catholics in Elizabethan England, Jesuit priests pretending to be family relatives or tutors hid in specially constructed ‘priest holes’ to avoid royal prosecutors. Surprise inspections and raids of family homes were not uncommon and if a priest was found, he would face torture and execution. Today,…

Legatus, a group of Catholic business leaders, announced it is withholding an $850,000 tithe to the Vatican until it gets adequate answers to questions raised by financial and sex-abuse scandals in the Church. Without stating as much, the group is acknowledging the presence of present-day "temple prostitutes" and is acting toward…

Many a cardinal and bishop has praised lay involvement in the Church. One wonders if involvement by ex-FBI agents is what some didn't have in mind? A group of American laymen called Better Church Governance (BCG) is launching a new initiative to assess cardinals’ records on combatting abuse and corruption,…

The de facto split in the Church's hierarchy -- between orthodox and heterodox bishops, or traditional and liberal bishops -- manifests itself even in administrative details such as the bishops' retirement. The current Church-wide system of bishops automatically tendering their resignations at age 75 but not actually retiring until the…