Archbishop urges Catholics to follow pope’s ‘road map’ of faith renewal
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In a wide-ranging address at the eighth annual Los Angeles Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia spoke of the “debris of failure” that must be dealt with if the Catholic Church in America is to be truly renewed.
The archbishop said the obvious problems include the clergy sex abuse crisis, a decline in priestly vocations, struggling Catholic schools and parishes, years of deficit spending and unrealistic financial management, and drastic demographic changes.
“The fact remains that roughly 10 percent of Americans describe themselves as ex-Catholics,” he reported. “If they all joined together in a new ‘Church of the Formerly Catholic,’ they’d be the second-largest denomination in the country.
“That’s our reality as disciples. That’s the debris of failure we need to deal with if we want to repair God’s house,” he told the crowd of 1,550 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels’ Plaza.
In his Sept. 18 address, Archbishop Chaput stressed that Pope Benedict XVI had given the church a “road map” of renewal in his Oct. 17, 2011, apostolic letter “Porta Fidei” (“The Door of Faith”).
In it, the pope announced the upcoming Year of Faith, which begins Oct. 11, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and ends Nov. 24, 2013, the solemnity of Christ the King. The special year will be highlighted with a worldwide program of worship, catechesis and evangelization.
“Morally, we live in chaotic times,” Archbishop Chaput said. “In such a climate, it’s very easy for people to develop habits that undermine virtue, character and moral judgment. It’s hard to reach a moral consensus when a culture can’t agree on even the most basic standards of right and wrong. As a result, for individuals, today’s conditions of daily life are often isolating and even frightening.”
Basically, during this period of new evangelization, the pope is asking Catholics to receive a blessing, he said. He’s asking members of his flock to examine their hearts and life habits without excuses or alibis.
“If you think that sounds easy or pious,” he said, “try it for a week.” [More]
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10 Comments
The “debris of failure,” a bishop friend of mine says the road to hell is aved with gold, but littered with Miters.
If what is outlined here is this pope’s idea of “Renewal” in the Church, we are in trouble, indeed. Perhaps he needs to take a good, hard look in the mirror at the current riches and extravagances of the Vatican, and the hypocrisy of the bishops and pope, and the oppression of women (including the sisters). Unless we can transcend “enforcing the rules”, and instead live as a Church on fire for Christ – there isn’t much hope for us.
Amen Debra!
EXCELLENT, Debra!
Well, Debra, I’m 100% with the pope. So, you can leave the Church anytime you want. Sorry that you are so focused on “women’s issues” that you miss the point of the Church, which is to give us a vehicle to obtain the grace necessary to help us do God’s Will. It’s about doing God’s will, not about women usurping the God-assigned headship of men.
I echo the sentiments expressed here. If the Bishops hope to have any voice in leading people spiritually, they must put their own house in order. They must stop the denial. They must own up to their mistakes. They must learn what the call to serve really means. They have to stop appearing to give lip service to the “right” behavior while doing something else. If they hope to have any credibility at all with the people of God, they must start by healing the wounds that they have inflicted on the People of God.
I refer to issues raised by Bp. Chaput. 1/2 Clery sex abuse- and Vocations. The pain of the betrayal of countless priests and the cover-up for years by the Bishops who chose to take care of their brother priests over the children is still to raw and unthinkable. The image of the “Holy Priesthood’ has been tarnished for years to come. A very dear priest friend of my and I were walking to his car after he did a wake service. Someone shouted from the Parking lot, “Hay Father, don’t molest any kids on your way home.” Also the celibacy issue is a block to vocations in American society. Look at the vocations to the married Deacons, they out number the priests 15 ton 1. The Bishops are in deniel or can’t speak out less they upset the Vatican. I belive in time as the church gets smaller, there will not be priest shortage as there will be less and less catholic around. We are journying through the raise and fall of the Roman Empire (church) It is losing its influence is our secular Pagen materialist society.. Church’s are being sold off and they become restruants.
As long as the bisops remain so power hungry and aloft, as long as they act like they are royalty, very few people will listen to them. When they start acting like true sevenths in a servant church, people will be drawn their Gospel message, like bees to honey.
The faithful are being asked to self examine but will Rome do the same? Will they who look at poor financial management creating the need to close schools and churches also admit married couples have the same decisions to make in limiting family size? Will they admit to scientific evidence that homosexuals are born that way and still need to share their lives with loving partners? Will they look at Christ’s sharing meals with sinners and still refuse divorced and remarried Catholics the Eucharist? Will they recognize women as equal and stop the lip service of how they have their own “special” role in the Church while pushing them away from the service they are capable of providing even if not of the same anatomy?
Victims of clergy sex abuse have been asking the bishops, for a long time now, “to examine their hearts and life habits without excuses or alibis.” And the bishops and popes have failed, miserably, even to contain the crisis. This “road map” can lead only to greater disaster.