Quote of the Day

. . . In stating that he has failed in his attempts to reform “the Church”, [Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin] is not in fact referring to the whole, true church of all Catholics, but only to that part of it that is part of the Vatican power structure, the Catholic oligarchy. Personally, I have a growing sense that in the broader church, the one that really matters, the fundamental reform is already taking place, and may in fact be quite far advanced. This is the reform that takes place not in Catholic rule books, the Catechism and in Canon Law, but in the minds and hearts of Catholics.

It has been well known for years that ordinary Catholics simply do not any longer believe what they are told on matters of sexual ethics. The sexual abuse problems have further weakened their acquiescence, and have increased their opposition to claims of papal infallibility, of obedience to authority, and to church rules on ordination to the priesthood. Painfully for the Vatican, it has also reduced the willingness of many Catholics to continue paying for the the settlement of law suits, and the maintenance of the clergy, in a church where they are not allowed any input into decisions or the selection of priests and bishops.

We now know that a very substantial proportion (at the very least) of professional theologians essentially agree with them, and concur with the archbishop on the need for fundamental reform of church culture. This has become public in Germany, but is almost certainly also the case in other regions – only the precise proportions, and the willingness to go public, are likely to differ significantly elsewhere. . . .

– Terence Weldon
"Irish Archbishop Agrees: Catholic Church Needs Fundamental, Cultural Change"
Queering the Church
February 24, 2011