Catholic Church

By Joan Frawley Desmond, EWTN News - Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago received a respectful hearing from Church leaders at the Vatican summit as he outlined his updated plan for deploying metropolitan bishops to investigate bishops accused of sexual abuse and negligence... Back home, however, there are strong indications that his proposal faces a hard sell, as Church leaders and lay experts weigh reforms designed to restore the bishops’ credibility in the wake of the McCarrick scandal.

By Jeanne Smits, LifeSiteNews - Homosexuality, not clericalism, is at the root of the abuse crisis the Catholic Church is facing, and especially the “Obama-era” style of thought that adult homosexual relations are not sinful: this is the gist of an interview given by a prominent Vatican theologian, Monsignor Nicola Bux, to the Italian daily La Verità.

By Msgr. Charles Pope - As a boy, I remember wondering why so many people liked to rush to Church to get ashes smudged on their foreheads. Frankly, I had some revulsion at the idea. I didn’t like it at all and would secretly rub them off when no one was looking. Today, though I’ll admit I still don’t like it too much, I behave myself and don’t rub them off!... I pray that this doesn’t seem impious, but I still marvel at how many people pack into the church to get ashes on their foreheads. Sadder still, some who come don’t seem to want Holy Communion nearly as much.

By Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., The Stream - It’s a silly argument. Just because something isn’t named in the Bible, it doesn’t follow that Christians should avoid it. On the contrary, a practice could still very well be grounded in Christian theology and history. It could still have great spiritual benefit that has stood the test of time. And it could help Christians work together for a common good... Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends just before Easter, is surely at the top of the list of such practices. Christians have been observing this long period of fasting and penance before Easter for many, many centuries.