US laity still have ‘serious partners’ in episcopate, writes Michael W. Higgins Having barely weathered the media fallout of the McCarrick Affair and the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report with its indictment of some 300 priests over 70 years with a thousand abuse allegations, the American episcopate is bracing itself for a highly scrutinised meeting…
What do you do during a desert time, when confidence in leadership has disappeared, trust in an institution of established record has collapsed, anger is on the ascendant, recriminations are flying about unmoored, chaos is a partner of the times? One might think I am talking about the ever-roiling political reality in the United States,…
Letter from America It was an interesting moment – a disturbing as well as inspiring one. I was listening to an early morning National Public Radio programme – the award-wining public affairs All Things Considered – and the interviewer was speaking to the survivor of prolonged and horrific clerical sex abuse. It had the…
Even as their numbers continue to decline in most jurisdictions, nuns, as in cloistered contemplatives, and religious sisters in the active congregations, continue to attract, bemuse, fascinate, confound and even repel observers from both within and outside the Catholic orbit. Various documentaries on the ‘religious’ calling of women by the BBC and other networks, the…
Letter from Canada The death of Gregory Baum on October 18 in Montreal marked the close of an era for the Catholic Church in Canada. But not only is it Canadian Catholicism that both mourns and celebrates the life and work of an inspiring nonagenarian; it is the universal Church as well. Baum was…
Those questioning Pope Francis are causing much disquiet, writes Michael W. Higgins Many of the 50% plus white male Catholic voters in the last US election who helped elect Donald Trump were not unaware that this was a president who would shake things up—big time. After all, that was a major part of his appeal.…
The Kerryman’s sometimes disturbing spirituality is a summons to a greater appropriation of faith writes Prof. Michael W. Higgins As we begin a new year with so many geopolitical challenges, ecclesial turbulences, and economic uncertainties on the horizon there are always grounds for hope, new discoveries, grace-filled epiphanies. The best of times and the worst…
While having dinner recently with my former producer, Bernie Lucht, the Montreal Jewish intellectual and onetime head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship intellectual affairs programme, Ideas, he looked across the table at me and asked plaintively why the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was being so callous with the dying. Bernie had confused the…
Third level Catholic institutes provide an environment for the contest of ideas as well as the communication of ancient truths, writes Michael W. Higgins
The Pope understands that a worthy shepherd must have the pastoral instincts and authenticity that link him with the laity, writes Michael W. Higgins