Tag Archives: sensus fideii

Catholic_Church, Marriage / family, Sexuality and gender, Theology

Oppose Catholic Employment Discrimination

October 22, 2017 Terence Leave a comment

In North Carolina, a Catholic bishop is arguing in court that the church must have a fundamental right to fire LGBT Catholic employees who exercise their legal right to marry.

Lonnie Billard, left, with husband Richard Donham (pic – New Ways Ministry)

A bishop has claimed that the diocese over which he presides would be “irreparably damaged” if it is unable to fire church workers at will.

Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina, made his remarks while being deposed in the federal workplace discrimination court case of Lonnie Billard, who was fired from Charlotte Catholic High School in 2014 when his engagement to a man became public.

Jugis said in the deposition that continuing to employ church workers who advocate against or violate “fundamental moral tenets” of church teaching would be a cause for “scandal.”

-New Ways Ministry

What is truly scandalous, is when church bishops ignore both the Gospels’ clear message of inclusion for all, and the Church’s own teaching on the primacy of conscience and the importance of social justice – including employment justice.

Continue reading Oppose Catholic Employment Discrimination →

Catholic_Church, Pastoral Ministry

Pope Francis Promotes “Sensus Fideii”, Listening Church

October 19, 2015 Terence 2 Comments

For LGBT Catholics, possibly the most important news I’ve seen coming out of the Synod assembly on marriage and family, is a speech that Pope Francis gave on Saturday, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops.

It’s been widely reported that he spoke in favour of “decentralization”, but there’s much more of great importance. Not only is he speaking in favour of decentralization, but also reminds the bishops of the importance of listening, and of the “sensus fideii”, and of collegiality at all levels of the church — from the top, down to parish level. He also describes the structure of the church not as the usual pyramid, with pope and bishops at the top and the rest of us down below – but as an inverted pyramid, with pope (and bishops) at the bottom – because their job is service, not control. I see this as the most important, most exciting news to have come out of the synod thus far. (I’m working towards an English translation, which I’ll publish later at my website, “The Queer Church Repository”, with commentary on the blot, “Queering the Churcch”)

Continue reading Pope Francis Promotes “Sensus Fideii”, Listening Church →

Marriage / family, Sexuality and gender

Worldwide, 78% of Catholics Support Contraception.

February 10, 2014 Terence Leave a comment

It’s a myth that Catholic support for contraception is restricted to the wealthy countries of North America and Western Europe. A 2014 global survey of self-identified Catholics in twelve countries (those with the largest Catholic populations) has found that overall, 78% of Catholics worldwide support the use of contraception. Even in Africa, Catholics are divided, without a clear majority backing the official Catholic prohibition.

Do you support or oppose the use of contraceptives?In this diagram, “100%” represents the extent of agreement with the Vatican position, and so the points closest to the centre are those most strongly disagreeing with the Humanae Vitae prohibition on artificial contraception. It’s clear that none of the countries included show any strong support for the Vatican position, and most are firmly against. Continue reading Worldwide, 78% of Catholics Support Contraception. →

Spirituality, Theology

Conscience Formation, Spiritual Formation, and The Holy Spirit

September 21, 2009 Terence 4 Comments

David Ludescher, a regular OT reader, has put to me some important questions on the formation of conscience. These arose in response to my post on empirical research findings on the current state of British Catholic belief, and some observations I made on the implications for our understanding of the sensus fidelium (on sexual ethics and priestly ministry in particular).

These questions were put in a comment box, which I have reproduced in an independent post for easy reference. Just follow the link to read the questions in full. This is my response:

Continue reading Conscience Formation, Spiritual Formation, and The Holy Spirit →