Word: priesthoods
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...mind now to touch a kid, even if it's just to pat him on the head or tap him on the shoulder." The scandals are forcing the American clergy -- and, ever so reluctantly, the Vatican -- to examine the nature and tradition of the priesthood. But what can be done? And how much reform is the church willing to undertake...
...Greeley estimates that the church across the U.S. spends $50 million a year on therapy for priests and damage judgments to victims -- and that 2,000 to 4,000 priests may have abused 100,000 underage victims. Some Catholics wonder whether the scandals point to underlying problems in the priesthood. Robert W. Pledl, a Catholic attorney representing St. Lawrence victims, is struck by how insensitive and defensive the clergy were. "I just don't think that would happen if priests had families of their own," says Pledl, who thinks mandatory celibacy creates a priestly world where "women and children...
...medical community has become a priesthood in white coats. And like any priesthood, it has a tendency to attach to dogma. In this case, the dogma declares that it is always necessary to do something--anything--for a patient, even when no profitable treatment is available. Thus doctors will often perfunctorily prescribe some treatment for mononucleosis, though the illness will pass on its own and in its own time. Doctors often pursue unbelievably expensive courses of treatment in cases where there is no reasonable prognosis for recovery...
...Father James Porter and accused the diocese of ignoring his misdeeds. The accusers, who agreed not to disclose the financial terms, were sober in victory. Cash "is not a medicine. It won't make any one of us healthy," said Peter Calderone. Porter, now married, out of the priesthood and living in Minnesota, faces sex charges there and in Massachusetts. Last month the sluggish U.S. Catholic bishops made their first joint response after years of scandals, pledging prompt action on charges, removal of miscreants and care for victims...
...admission of homosexuals to the armed forces, euthanasia and that hardy perennial, abortion. Another is that of the ordainment of women in the Catholic Church. In the ardently debated Pastoral Letter on Women's Role in the Church, while liturgical inculturation was encouraged, women were still barred from the priesthood. Can women be expected to be content in an organization which does not allow them full participation...