Holy See response to Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission: another example of clericalist obstinance 

/in /by

Des Cahill and Peter Wilkinson, co-authors of the RMIT report on child sexual abuse, look at the Vatican response to the Royal Commission recommendations to bishops requesting Vatican support. This article was published on Pearls and Irritations website on September 10, 2020 and reprinted with permission: https://johnmenadue.com/

It is almost three years since the Royal Commission inquiring into child sexual abuse recommended that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) request from the Holy See responses on 14 matters. The Holy See responded in February 2020 with ‘observations’. Seven months later the ACBC has forwarded them to the Commonwealth Attorney-General and made them public.

Clericalism and the hands of the priest 

/in /by

Rex Hackett, retired priest, Yamba, NSW, discusses clericalism and its origins. 

I was celebrating Mass recently in my unit as I am now retired from parish responsibilities. While praying the Eucharistic Prayer, I noticed the words on one of the ordination cards there from my ordination in July 1966: the beautiful hands of a priest.

Can Catholicism be a place of inclusion and mercy? 

/in /by

Eric Horne is 90 years of age and a parishioner at St Leonard’s Parish, Glen Waverley, Victoria. He reflects on becoming a Catholic as an adult and where the Church is going at this time.

Don’t create more clericalised laity 

/in /by

John Scanlon considers the challenges facing the clericalised church which affects both clergy and laity after the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Sexual Abuse and The Light from the Southern Cross.

Catholic ethics and the problem of an ethically compromised COVID-19 vaccine 

/in /by

Kevin McGovern, a Melbourne Catholic priest, is a former Director of the Caroline Chisholm Centre for Health Ethics in Melbourne, Australia. He is an adjunct lecturer at both Australian Catholic University and Catholic Theological College within the University of Divinity. This article originally appeared on the ABC Religion & Ethics website on August 25, 2020. Website: https://tinyurl.com/y3r2pfpf 

Developing ethically uncompromised cell lines and vaccines is important; in the crisis of this pandemic, developing and using an effective vaccine so as to save lives is even more important.