In his first-ever live webchat on Boston.com on Friday, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, called his new plan to reorganize the archdiocese a strategy for rebuilding rather than downsizing, and said he hoped it would rejuvenate the priesthood.
“If we are going to evangelize well, parishes need to be grouped in a way that resources can be deployed toward outreach, welcoming, and the growth of the church in our archdiocese,” O’Malley said.
Comments
Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic!
You said EXACTLY what I was going to say. They are clinging to beliefs and self-serving behaviors which do not make any logical or spiritual sense. Unless they are willing to change; deeply examine their teachings on sexual matters and women; hold their bishops responsible for covering up sexual abuse; welcome HONEST conversations with parishioners, sexual abuse victims, former Catholics, gay Catholics; and prove they can be trusted, they will continue to lose priest, parishioners and respect.
i wish the Cardinal would be forthright rather than choosing euphemisms like "a strategy for rebuilding" to describe his plan based on the current shrinking condition of the church. The clergy and parishioners are continuously downsizing themselves automatically through attrition and occassional scandals and lawsuits. This is a strategy of survival through crisis management requiring a reorganization in order to continue as a church. A "strategy for rebuilding" will begin when the clergy population begins to grow.
When I read his statement that "the Mass is the center of our lives," it occurred to me that this might be a major part of the problem the Catholic Church has. I think the Mass can be an important part of people's lives, but shouldn't be the center. The center should have to do with life, living, people, solving problems, and making the world a better place. Worship can have place in this--on Sundays, for example--but to make worship on Sundays the main focus of one's life is a distortion, and substitution of a small part for the larger whole.
I don't believe that male only priests and unmarried priests are unchangeable doctrine. In fact the early Church, earlier than the pope cares to consider did have married priests. They accept married priests from other faiths who wish to convert. Interesting It can be changed. The hierarchy are just to stubborn to change it. They are biting their noses to spite our faces. If they were not so entrenched in male power they might be able to have more than enough priests were they to ordain women. The difficulties are of their own making.