News tagged with "catholic-church"

Seeking new paths through the abuse maze

In response to a recent article in ucanews.com highlighting the issue of sexual abuse of women in the Church, Sister Helen Mendonca of Streevani (Voice of Women), a Pune, India-based human rights group, called for a consultation on the problem. That group developed guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse in the Church [...]

‘I have faith in Catholic church, but also issues’

Like many Roman Catholics today, I find it difficult to explain why I belong to this church, writes Bruce Tallman in London Free Press website.
Before I get a few words out, the embarassing list is thrown in my face: crusades, inquisitions, corrupt popes, misogyny in not ordaining women, homophobia, sexual scandals. The list goes on.
Lately, [...]

Austrian bishop asks to end celibacy

An Austrian bishop wants Church to drop its celibacy requirement for priests and make it a voluntary option.
Eisenstadt Bishop Paul Iby said that it should be up to the priests to decide whether they want to live a celibate life.  In an interview to the Die Presse daily, he said he would also welcome ordination of [...]

Church-run bakery and café transform lives

Several middle-aged men who were struggling with financial and personal issues are now enjoying a regular income, thanks to a bakery and café run by the Catholic Church in Penang, Malaysia.
Lighthouse, a Church drop-in center for urban poor and homeless people, opened these two outlets last year.
When former trishaw peddler Yew Lye Huat, who started [...]

Web library for learning liturgy

The Catholic Liturgical Library, an online resource that provides information about the liturgies of the Latin rite, receives over 1,000 visitors a day.
The library has “a wealth of information. If you have a question on the liturgy, or just want to expand your knowledge about it, this is a great place to start your journey,” [...]

Sex abuse: Don’t kill the messenger

When clerical sex abuse exploded into media, Catholic  Church leaders have accused the media of unjustly targeting the church. But they could be wrong, writes Jesuit Father James Martin in America, a national Catholic weekly.
His following column appeared on April 1 in his blog “In All Things.”
More so than in 2002, when the clerical sex [...]

Church drafts dialogue guidelines

The Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh has drafted guidelines to improve its relations with other religions.
The guidelines aim to dispel some popular misgivings and misunderstandings about the Church so that it can work properly in the central Indian state, says Bishop Sebastian Vadakkel of Ujjain, chairman of the commission for ecumenism and dialogue of the [...]

Youths’ sex attitude worries Church

The changing attitude of young people toward sex and family is a major concern, says a high-level body of the Indian Church.
“One area of concern is the change in attitude toward sex, stability of family, wife-sex relation,” noted the Catholic Council of India (CCI).
The council, representative body of Indian Catholic bishops, priests, religious and laity, [...]

Church fights drug-use epidemic

The Catholic Church in Myitkyina, northern Myanmar, is battling a sharp rise in HIV/AIDS infection due to an epidemic of intravenous drug-use among the young.
There are around 300,000 drug users in the country, according to the United Nations, but some NGOs believe there could be as many as 500,000.
At least 35 percent are HIV positive [...]

Gay marriage legalization regretted

The Washington archdiocese has expressed regret that a District of Columbia bill to legalize same-sex marriage was approved despite Church opposition and without protecting religious freedom.

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