Spiritual and Religious: A Task. Spiritual Progress Ever heard somebody say “I’m spiritual but not religious”?
Of course you have. After all, recent reports are showing that 72% of people between 18 and 29 use this statement to describe themselves. I, perhaps not surprisingly (I am a Jesuit after all), fall into the remaining 28%. When I read those numbers, and you can find other reliable (albeit less shocking) research numbers from the Pew Forum here and here, I admit to being a bit downcast, even angry. Little did she realize that there was something inside me that just had to get out, or that what I had to say about being spiritual but not religious wasn’t pretty or polished. But she also didn’t realize how much she – or the spark her comments put to those smoldering statistics – would teach me in turn about how far I still have to grow in learning to respond with love, hope, and patience.
Like any good philosopher, I better start us out with some definitions. Spiritual Connections.
The Media’s Blinders on Abortion. Philadelphia priest abuse trial a test case for Catholic church. By Sarah Hoye, CNN Philadelphia (CNN) – It's been four weeks since the beginning of the trial of the highest ranking U.S.
Catholic Church leader charged with covering up the crimes of priests against children. The main issue is not whether sex abuse occurred, as defense attorneys have pointed out, but how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia - Monsignor William Lynn in particular - handled the allegations against priests in the diocese. The trial against Lynn and the alleged offending priest, the Rev. James Brennan, has already created a shake-up in Philadelphia's Catholic leadership, according to Catholic commentator and blogger Rocco Palmo. "It's a shift you see once in 200 years," Palmo told CNN. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories And, he adds, the trial could have a worldwide ripple effect on the entire Catholic Church, which has been rocked to its core by widespread allegations of sex abuse by priests.
Both men have pleaded not guilty. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word-Gaudium et Spes. 1.
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds. 2. 3. Therefore, this sacred synod, proclaiming the noble destiny of man and championing the Godlike seed which has been sown in him, offers to mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. 4. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium. 1.
Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature,(1) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission.
This it intends to do following faithfully the teaching of previous councils. The present-day conditions of the world add greater urgency to this work of the Church so that all men, joined more closely today by various social, technical and cultural ties, might also attain fuller unity in Christ. 2. 3. 4.