Editorials Bah, humbug
BAH, HUMBUG "Be not afraid" may be a papal watchword, but fear is the overriding note of a Vatican instruction on the collaboration of clergy and laity in pastoral ministry signed by the heads of...
...so much for the large contingent of nuns and lay professionals in prison, hospital, and campus work...
...BAH, HUMBUG "Be not afraid" may be a papal watchword, but fear is the overriding note of a Vatican instruction on the collaboration of clergy and laity in pastoral ministry signed by the heads of eight curial offices (Origins, November 27...
...Lay people may not bless the sick "with the oil of the sick or any other oil"(Crisco...
...Inevitably there has been a reconsideration of distinctions between laity and clergy, in some cases thoughtful and well-founded, in others casual and careless...
...The habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass" should be "avoided" and, where in place, "eliminated...
...Clergy absence or an "excessive work load" is no excuse...
...Advisory parish councils must have priests presiding at their meetings for decisions to be valid...
...The conciliar affirmation of the gifts and responsibilities of all the baptized, on the one hand, and a looming clergy shortage on the other, have produced a flowering of new collaborative ministries and lay roles...
...Instead, the Vatican counsels that bishops exercise "special prudence" in deciding whether priests can retire at age seventy-five...
...How will the church manage...
...Upon the authors of this document, we bestow the Grinch-who-stole-Christmas award...
...Only the ordained, for example, are to use titles such as chaplain or coordinator...
...The Vatican response is to apply strict readings of canon law, slight the great gains in cooperation, and deny the facts on the ground...
Vol. 124 • December 1997 • No. 22
