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Where Peter Is

Category: Church News

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Church News / Pope Francis

Virgins and the Vexing of Ed Peters

The Holy See has published a new document, Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, addressed to bishops outlining instructions on the Order of Consecrated Virgins within their dioceses. This Instruction was put forward to answer questions being asked by many women and bishops across the world concerning the Order and how it ought to operate. An innocuous enough topic, affecting a small though invaluable minority in the Church, this has nevertheless (and, by now, predictably) become a target...

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abuse crisis / Breaking / Cardinal McCarrick / Church News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

McCarrick update, the Prosperity Gospel, Francis in Vogue, Scandal in Honduras – Links for 7/20

Here are some of the important stories we’re following this week: 1. The Cardinal McCarrick scandal has gotten even worse. Yesterday the New York Times reported that a 60-year-old man came forward to describe the sexual abuse he suffered from McCarrick, beginning when he was 11 and continuing into his young adulthood. This man was the first baby baptized by a newly-ordained Father McCarrick in 1958. The man’s sister recounts: It was explained to us...

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Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal António Marto / Church News / Pope Francis

Fatima diocese: An interesting approach to Amoris Laetitia

In last June 28th, António Marto, the Portuguese bishop of Leiria-Fatima, was made cardinal. This is a validation of his ministry, since António Marto has been said to be supportive of the Pope’s approach, namely by adopting a merciful demeanor toward sinners and an attitude of closeness to ordinary people. It is also interesting to note that this diocese encompasses none other than the Sanctuary of Fatima: a hub of sanctity, a treasure for the Catholic Church and,...

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abuse crisis / Cardinal McCarrick / Church News / Scandal / Uncategorized

McCarrick and the abuse of seminarians

On June 28, I posted about the recent revelations of credible and substantiated abuse accusations against Cardinal McCarrick by a former teenage altar boy. I also discussed Cardinal Joseph Tobin’s revelation that there have been three past accusations directed at McCarrick by adults in New Jersey, and two had been settled out of court. At the time, I also mentioned that “over the last week an increasing number of sordid stories about his sexual harassment...

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Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Manuel Clemente / Church News / Papal News / Pope Francis

The Reckoning: Lisbon’s faithfulness to Amoris Laetitia

On Feb 6th this year, Manuel Clemente, the Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon, issued guidelines on how to interpret and implement Amoris Laetitia‘s (AL) polemic Chapter 8 in his diocese. I wrote an article about it on this blog, titled “The Patriarchate of Lisbon’s faithfulness to Amoris Laetitia“. One of the things I appreciated more in these guidelines was how they didn’t try to artificially fit AL into a preconceived idea, be it the Kasperite liberalization of...

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Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Burke / Church News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

The dubia, synodality, and the joy of the Gospel

On June 21, Pope Francis fielded questions from journalists aboard the volo papale from Geneva, Switzerland to Rome. A German reporter named Roland Juchem asked him about a proposal of some of the bishops of his country to admit the Protestant spouses of Catholics to sacramental communion. The question has a backstory. Last February, the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz – under the direction of Cardinal Reinhard Marx – approved by majority vote a pastoral guide for inter-communion....

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Amoris Laetitia / Cardinal Caffarra / Church News / Uncategorized

Not a sidestep, but an affirmation

For two years, critics of Amoris Laetitia have pointed to Poland as a celebrated example of a national bishops’ conference upholding their view of “orthodoxy.” Beginning in 2016, when a senior Polish bishop vowed to never allow communion to the divorced and remarried under any circumstances, the common view was that the Polish Church rejects the pastoral model that Pope Francis laid out in chapter 8 of the document and further clarified with the affirmation...

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Church News / Economics / From Papa Francis / Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones / Social Justice

Thoughts On The Vatican’s New Document On Economic And Financial Issues

Last week, the Vatican released a new magisterial (= authoritative teaching) document about “economic and financial issues” (Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones, the opening words and thus title). Co-signed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the office for “Integral Human Development” (Vaticanese for social justice), it is a synthesis of the teachings of the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, on this topic. It is “offered to all men and women of good...

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Amoris Laetitia / Church News / Pro-Life

Did Amoris Laetitia open the door to contraception coverage at Notre Dame?

In February of this year, Fr. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, wrote a letter explaining that after years of fighting in court, and even after being granted an exemption by the federal government under the Trump administration, Notre Dame would allow for their health insurance programs to directly cover “simple” and non-abortifacient contraceptives. In this statement, Fr. Jenkins referred to the “conscientious” decisions of Notre Dame’s employees and students...

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Breaking / Church News / Easter / From Papa Francis / Papal News / Pope Francis / Uncategorized

Happy Easter from WPI!

“We Christians believe and know that Christ’s resurrection is the true hope of the world, the hope that does not disappoint. It is the power of the grain of wheat, the power of that love which humbles itself and gives itself to the very end, and thus truly renews the world.” — Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi message, Easter 2018 On behalf of the contributors to Where Peter Is, I hope you all had a...