State of the Church

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

-- Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times

And what might be the focus of these investigations? What might the Church be so concerned about?

According to Cardinal William Lavada, one investigation is warranted on the ground that the women are not promoting "the church’s teachings on three issues: the male-only priesthood, homosexuality and the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the means to salvation."

I suspect that it is regressive moves like this that make Christianity harder to embrace for people in a time when there seems to be much spiritual soul-searching. If the Church wanted to clean house, it could perhaps focus more on the sexual abuse issues of its male-only priesthood, but, no, it must become narrower and reactionary. This just doesn't really show off the love of Christ in its best light. The tolerances seem to be crookedly askew, and it is not a vey compelling vision of God and morality.

State of the Church

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.

-- Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times

And what might be the focus of these investigations? What might the Church be so concerned about?

According to Cardinal William Lavada, one investigation is warranted on the ground that the women are not promoting "the church’s teachings on three issues: the male-only priesthood, homosexuality and the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the means to salvation."

I suspect that it is regressive moves like this that make Christianity harder to embrace for people in a time when there seems to be much spiritual soul-searching. If the Church wanted to clean house, it could perhaps focus more on the sexual abuse issues of its male-only priesthood, but, no, it must become narrower and reactionary. This just doesn't really show off the love of Christ in its best light. The tolerances seem to be crookedly askew, and it is not a vey compelling vision of God and morality.