Pope Francis is trying to address gaps in the regulatory processes of the Catholic Church. But clergy can still decide whether, and to what degree, to share information.
Suicide bombers struck Sri Lanka’s churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing and injuring hundreds of people. Seven percent of Sri Lanka’s population is Christian – most of them Roman Catholics.
Pope Francis has discouraged homosexual men from entering priesthood. Prior to the 12th century, even celebrated priests could write about same-sex desires and the church paid little attention.
Many young Catholics are moving away from their faith and joining the growing number of the religiously unaffiliated. The missionary group FOCUS is evangelizing on campuses, though there are concerns.
The Vatican will open its archives on Pope Pius XII next year. An expert explains the papacy of Pope Pius XII and the fear of communism confronting much of the Western world at the time.
Pope Francis recently confirmed that clergy members abused nuns. Since the early days of monasticism, the presence of nuns led to restrictions that limited contact between men and women.
While Pope Francis has publicly acknowledged sexual abuse by clergy, the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church still makes it difficult to report and address cases of abuse.
In the Catholic understanding, priesthood is not simply a job that a someone can be fired from. Ordination is a deeply spiritual ceremony that is believed to transfer the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Catholic survivor movement in the United States was founded by two women: Jeanne Miller and Marilyn Steffel, in the late 1980s. It has taken close to 30 years for the Vatican to take action.
Twenty-five years ago, an Irish nun handed a report to the Catholic Church that detailed sexual abuse against nuns by priests worldwide. It was ignored. But now nuns are finally sharing their stories.
Pope Francis is meeting bishops for a global summit to discuss sexual abuse by clergy. Such a response, says an expert, is part of a past pattern, unlikely to bring a lasting change.
At times we just don’t know what’s the right thing to do. St. Ignatius, who founded the Society of Jesus, developed a method of discernment that can be useful even to those who are not religious.
Sex abuse by Catholic priests may be as devastating in many cases as sex abuse by a family member because of institutional betrayal, two trauma psychologists write. It calls for special measures.
There is rich Catholic heritage of resistance. Catholic protesters have used powerful religious symbols, including vials of their own blood, as an extension of Christ’s blood, to demand change.
For scholars, researching the Catholic Church can mean a laborious process involving several years. And talking to survivors of clergy sex abuse can carry its own pain and personal toll.
While the problem of priestly abuse might be centuries old, its modern paper trail began after World War II, when ‘treatment centers’ appeared for rehabilitating priests. Many were send to New Mexico.
Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Environment & Sustainability; Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan