Word: synods
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Over the past year an intensive debate about secularization has raged within the ranks of Roman Catholicism. Liberals say the church should plunge more deeply into social problems; conservatives contend such involvement has already gone too far. Late last week Pope John Paul, summing up an extraordinary synod of bishops in a modern Vatican meeting hall, called for a careful balance of both views. The church is the "mystical body of Christ," he said, thus emphasizing its spiritual quality, but it is simultaneously "at the service of the world...
This moderate approach also ran through a "Message to the People of God," a 1,500-word inspirational document that the bishops issued at the close of the synod. The statement called the church the "mystery of the love of God present in the history of men." It is necessary to "avoid evil sociological and political interpretations of the nature of the church," said the delegates. At the same time, they proclaimed, the church must respond to such issues as "lack of respect for human life," "economic disequilibrium," suppression of civil and religious liberty, racial bias and the arms race...
Meeting in Collegeville, Minn., last June, the bishops of the U.S. discussed the status of the American church, in preparation for the synod, and last week their president, Bishop James W. Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, sent the Vatican an official report, requested from all bishops' conferences, on behalf of the Americans. Malone, 65, attended Vatican II and is the U.S. hierarchy's delegate to the November meeting in Rome. His 14-page statement reflected not only Collegeville comments but proposals from two dozen Catholic scholars. The report, strongly endorsing the effects of Vatican II in the U.S., said that...
Sister Rita Hofbauer of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in Silver Spring, Md., said that Malone's statement was "stronger than a lot we've been hearing," but doubted the role of women in the church would be a serious concern at the synod, since it is not a significant issue outside the West. Malone's document complained about poor communication between Rome and religious orders. It did not refer specifically, however, to the unsettled dispute between the Vatican and 24 U.S. sisters who last year signed a pro- choice newspaper advertisement on abortion. The Vatican has threatened...
Attending a retreat with a group of priests in Youngstown last week, Malone told TIME, "What we need now is not to turn aside from Vatican II teaching but to grasp it with new enthusiasm and to pursue its implementation with new vigor." Since the synod will provide only two weeks to do that, Malone's report also asserted, it might be time for a special U.S. synod to deal with Vatican II. Though the U.S. bishops meet briefly once or twice a year, their last extended national council was in 1884. The U.S. bishops' conference and the Vatican have...