Theologians revolt
One third of the Catholic theology professors in Switzerland, Germany and Austria have called on the Vatican to allow the ordination of women, for priests to be allowed to marry, for congregations to have greater input into the selection of bishops and to not exclude same-sex couples or people who have remarried.
The theologians said they could no longer stay silent in the wake of a wave of sex abuse scandals involving Catholic priests that erupted last year.
Close to 100 priests and lay members of the church were suspected of having abused children and adults in Germany alone, and a German hotline to report sex abuse set up by the church received more than 2500 calls in its first three days.
The 144 professors signed a document outlining the reforms they are calling for. They hope to begin a dialogue with the church.
“We have the responsibility to contribute to a new start,” the document states.
Father Dave, we need more like you in the churches.
Unfortunately I feel Catholicism will be around in its fundamentalist form for many years to come.
Something I heard the other day: choose pleasant words – you might have to eat them later on. There are other ways to engage in a discussion other than becoming so fearful and cross that we attack people, and not just their ideas etc.
St John, whose body of writing was submitted to the Church after the Church had already existed for some time, and therefore had made some real contributions as well as having shown some flaws, offered the Church this: ‘God is love, those who live in love live in God and God lives in them’. I feel that he was calling us to an essential truth about God, by which we might then measure all sorts of assumptions we might want to make about what God really thinks. From this we can assert clearly that, whatever pur opinion about homosexuality, the gender of the priest, or even whether the theology of the ‘other’ agrees with ours – whatever the case, God loves the person we have an issue with profoundly. Its also helpful to understand grace as being needed in the approach to God by all people. I am a hetrosexual male priest in the Angican church. In speaking pastorally with a parent of a young man who had just reavealed to others his same-sex attraction, I answered the ‘is it a sin’ question in this tentative way: At the penitential rite on Ash Wednesday, one of the prayers read: ‘For misusing our sexuality, Forgive us good Lord’. I told the parent that I prayed that prayer with all my heart full of the conviction of sin, in as profound a sense of repententance as I have ever prayed. She said, but you haven’t had an affair, you haven’t done anything…wrong. And I said that God looks at the heart.
Faithfulness and integrity of mind as well as body are what Jesus asks for in many matters, including sex. And in light of this, who can stand before him without need of grace, especially in these matters?
…and what kind of self respecting Christian say “PISS OFF”, in capital letters no less, to other people? It’s rude and impudent. You ought to be very ashamed of yourself Mr Harris. I know you won’t be which further tells me what kind of person you are. Even traditional believers do not speak to others like this. You cannot tell me that the church condones this.
Robert Harris,
Regardless of what I may think of religion and it’s doctrines, it’s people like you and your closed minded intolerance that cause me to lower my level of respect for the church as an institution.
You do no one any favours, yourself especially, by spewing out aggressive rhetoric intent of driving people apart.
Times change, people change. If religion is to survive it needs to adapt.
Robert Harris or Cardinal Pell in disguise, or whatever your real name is, the story of Sodom is about rape and not showing hospitality to strangers, much like yourself here.
There was a Roman Catholic Priest who published a book on the subject, and theologians have written about it. With just over 1600 Catholic Priest left in Australia, and their average age being 64, I am sure in my lifetime I will sadly see the doors shut on the last Catholic Church in Australia. The path of hate of people like yourself is at odds with the Bible, and good Christians.
The story of Jesus kissing the prostitutes foot, and not telling her to “Piss Off”, is a great contrast between the way you live your life, full of Bile and hate.
Millions of Christians around the world advocate for the rights of Same-Sex attracted people. They are Bishops, Scholars, Nuns, Scholars, Priest, and ordinary folk who attend Church. Even the Uniting Church in Victoria funds anti-homophobic programs for schools and education workers drive across the State.
If you look at Gippsland in Victoria, you have a Catholic Bishop who organized a petition against Same-Sex Marriage, and almost two thousand people signed it out of a population of over 100,000. It appeared many Catholics did not wish to support the Catholic Bishop! On the other hand the Anglican Bishop of Gippsland supports Same-Sex marriage.
People are fighting for us, in the same way that people stood up to Church leaders who wanted the segregation of people who had a different skin colour. People who had dark skin were told by some Church Leaders they were an abomination and against the Natural Order of things. Similar augments are now being made against us simply for existing.
In time, I have no doubt the hate of some Church Leaders will die with them. And as with race, we to will become a non issue for the vast majority of Church Leaders. But all this will take time. Already great cracks in the teaching of hate are showing, and proving to be not acceptable to the many good and decent Christians around the world.
Forget about trying to change the church to your way of thinking.
Women cannot represent Jesus Christ he was a male, the Blessed Virgin Mary is who women are to represent.
The Pope is the head of the church not you theologians.
Leave celebecy alone, if your divorced, don’t expect to be a fully fledged practising catholic.
Sodomites and lesbians, is still an unatural way of wife, and can’t be considered a blessing by the church.
So either accept the Popes and God’s ruling or PISS OFF to some other church. regards Robert Harris