When he met with the U.S. cardinals to formulate some response to the sexual scandals besieging the Church, the Pope took the issue of clerical celibacy off the table. Against the strident voices of dissenters, disaffected clergy, and at least one American cardinal, His Holiness suggested that celibacy was part of the solution, not the problem. And the facts seem to bear him out.
The stench of their burning is with us yet. The stakes and gibbets where witches perished by the tens of thousands during early modern times still stand in popular imagination. For historians, the so-called great European witch-hunt has been a much-vexed issue, one easily contorted to suit the prejudices of every age.
The terrorism which manifested itself on September 11 has of course started a whole new round of alarmed warnings about the dangers of religious fanaticism, with some secularists professing to see no significant difference between Osama bin Laden on the one hand and the pro-life movement on the other.
Church leaders have been looking to psychologists for insights, at precisely the time when psychology needed the insights of the Catholic Church.
The horror and tragedy of priests involved in the sexual abuse of minors can hardly be overstated, but some of the reporting has contained falsehoods and downright fabrications. So Crisis has put together a list of the ten most common false media claims along with fact-filled responses to them.
The reason the American Church today stands accused of hypocrisy is that it has been teaching one thing, while a small but significant body of its priests including some bishops has been flagrantly violating that teaching. How can people who studied long and prayed hard before taking vows turn in such a direction, with a full-scale ideology to rationalize it? How can that happen? It could not have happened without a culture of "dissent," a culture that has, at its heart, a teaching of contempt for "Rome."
Every January, the International Bulletin of Missionary Research publishes a Statistical Table on Global Mission a detailed look at the world religious situation prepared by the mathematically indefatigable David Barrett. Browsing his numbers reveals more than a few interesting things.
The recent pedophile problems in various U.S. Catholic dioceses, especially Boston, have led predictably to a new wave of questions about priestly celibacy. Let us be clear: There is no relation between the vow of priestly celibacy and the incidence of pedophilia among Catholic priests.
The Crusades, of course, are a far more complicated series of events in history than the anti-Catholic statements of early Protestant historians would suggest. The Crusades should be understood within the context of the times and by their reality, rather than through the myths created for purposes of propaganda.
In case you havent already noticed, for some years there has been a growing effort in diverse educational and cultural circles to paint Christian history as a blot on human existence. If you have been annoyed at some of the things that your children have been picking up in school, or have not known how to respond to criticisms of Christianity that seems wildly off-base do not miss Vincent Carroll and David Shifletts new book Christianity on Trial; Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry. It is a comprehensive, systematic, and fair-minded examination of the facts, a truly remarkable achievement. Here is an excerpt from the introduction to the book and Robert Royals inspiring review.