De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

As we start 2018 and Dioceses all over the UK (and beyond) are developing plans for the future (such as my own here ) we are being asked to discuss and consider a way forward as communities of believers as vocations dwindle and practising Catholics disappear even more rapidly. This has been discussed in numerous places with great clarity, perhaps most familiarly by Sherry Weddell in her book Forming Intentional Disciples , and most recently by Professor Stephen Bullivant in the Catholic Herald . Bullivant's article is concise and packed with valuable detail for anyone discerning the future direction of the Church. Key points are: There are more priestly retirements (or deaths) each year than ordinations.  A number of our seminaries have closed, the ones we still have are practically empty. Priest numbers fell between 1970 and 2014 by 48 per cent. Sunday worshippers fell by 55 per cent over the same period. In short, priest-to-worshipper numbers were better in 2014 ...

Deacon's Bench reports today that, twenty-three years ago, Bishop Glennon Flavin of Lincoln Diocese, USA, issued a letter to parishioners and physicians, decrying birth control as evil and immoral. He warned Catholic couples using contraception and the Catholic physicians prescribing it they were “committing grave sin.” On Tuesday, Bishop James Conley issued his own letter to parishioners reaffirming the Catholic Church’s stance prohibiting the use of all contraceptives, although his pastoral letter goes to greater lengths to explain the teaching in gentle tones. I think it is very powerful that every priest in the diocese has been asked to discuss the letter and talk about contraception during Mass this weekend. Wow! +Conley said: “We really live in a wounded world when it comes to the family,”  In a move that I think clearly demonstrates the reality of his gentle pastoral care for his flock, he explained how he chose to issue the letter during Lent ...