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THE QUESTION
Benedict and U.S. Church
What can Pope Benedict XVI say and do to repair the growing rifts between the Vatican, the clergy and the laity in America?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on April 22, 2008 7:06 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Pope Looked Outward, but Not Inward
While the Pope looked outward and made several very accurate structural criticisms of society, he never looked inward and made similar criticisms of his own hierarchy.
Posted by John Dominic Crossan, on April 27, 2008 2:13 PM
Mixed Reactions: One Jewish Perspective
The integration of religion fully into our lives, including the need to use it to address the great moral issues of our time, is something to which Jews can strongly relate.
Posted by David Saperstein, on April 27, 2008 12:17 PM
Benedict's Choice Is No Choice
The phrase "private matter" means, "Don't go off on your own." And faith losing its soul is code for a familiar theme to lay Catholics: without the Mother Church you are lost.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on April 24, 2008 2:12 PM
The Public Nature of the Human Soul
Religion that stays private, that does not cry out to heaven when fundamental human dignity is violated and does not take this struggle into the public square, is soulless religion.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on April 24, 2008 1:38 PM
Half-Stepping Religion or a Whole Gospel
My belief is that any religion that focuses solely on the individual is a stunted religion.
Posted by Gardner Calvin Taylor, on April 24, 2008 11:58 AM
Benedict a Man of Conviction, Contradiction
Benedict's trip was a success. It softened his image. It raised the profile of the Catholic Church. It energized many Catholics. It gave the impression that he is willing to engage in dialogue with other faiths, but it clearly showed a man -- and a Church -- of contradictions.
Posted by Sally Quinn, on April 22, 2008 8:17 AM
Time for Third Vatican Council
The Pope should convene the Third Vatican Council so that the hierarchy can solemnly return the gift of infallibility, and beg instead for the gift of accuracy, and maybe also for the gifts of transparency, honesty, and integrity?
Posted by John Dominic Crossan, on April 22, 2008 6:31 AM
My Three Catholic Wishes
If the Catholic Church continues to ignore the way that adolescence in the west has changed with lightning speed because of technology, the sexual revolution, and the women’s movement (among other issues), then the Catholic Church will soon have to face an even greater drop in membership as this generation’s Catholics.
Posted by Donna Freitas, on April 22, 2008 5:28 AM
Benedict: Protect Children from Future Abuse
To date, in Benedict’s papacy, how has the Catholic Church shown it is planning to go about preventing more abuse by priests?
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on April 18, 2008 12:07 PM
Speaking and Listening
America will overhear the Pope and perhaps will hear some things very clearly. But as a pastor and leader, his words and actions need to be unashamedly for his own people.
Posted by William Tully, on April 18, 2008 9:56 AM
For the Media, Benedict Creates a New Narrative
Any reporter who tries to fit the old news templates from John Paul II's visits over Benedict's trip is going to miss the point, and badly.
Posted by Gustav Niebuhr, on April 18, 2008 5:31 AM
Benedict Should Reject Pius
Sally Quinn asked: "What can Pope Benedict XVI say and do to repair the growing rifts between the Vatican, the clergy and the laity in America?" My response: He could tell the Vatican to abandon efforts to confer sainthood on...
Posted by Elie Wiesel, on April 17, 2008 4:00 PM
Pope Benedict and the Mystery of Two Worlds
The current crises inside Catholicism are only the latest difficulties that began after Christ disappeared from view. In every age balancing the two worlds of God and man has been a deep mystery.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on April 16, 2008 12:22 PM
Benedict's Mixed Messages to Islam
Given the multi-religious and multi-ethnic nature of America, not only Catholics but also Jews, Protestants, Muslims, and members of other faiths and faith will be monitoring Benedict's comments on inter-religious relations.
Posted by John Esposito, on April 16, 2008 7:57 AM
Benedict XVI: The Shows and the Rifts
The problem is not the excellent scholar Joseph Ratzinger, or this good man in the papal role. The problem is the traditional autocratic papacy itself, of which he is the current embodiment.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on April 15, 2008 2:34 PM
Will the Pope Really Listen or Just Talk?
I hope and believe that Pope Benedict will acknowledge and express contrition for the church’s moral failings regarding the sexual abuse tragedy in the American church.
Posted by Chester Gillis, on April 14, 2008 5:46 PM
Pope Can Speak; Church Must Act
The church needs to develop new ways of preaching and explaining the gospel in a way that is understandable and inspiring to people in the 21st Century. Simply repeating old formulas will not work.
Posted by Thomas J. Reese, S.J., on April 14, 2008 3:11 PM
Pope Benedict and American Catholicism: On The Titanic's Deck
The saying, "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic," a favorite maxim of the nuns in the parochial schools I attended, is no longer true.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on April 7, 2008 3:42 PM
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