VENERABLE BISHOPS, “Do not keep silent: By keeping silent in the face of so many serious grievances, you taint yourselves with guilt.” By HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

An excerpt from:

Church in worst credibility crisis since Reformation, theologian tells bishops – by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

HANS KÜNG

VENERABLE BISHOPS,

Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am making this appeal to you in an open letter. In doing so, I am motivated by my profound concern for our church, which now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis since the Reformation. Please excuse the form of an open letter; unfortunately, I have no other way of reaching you…

… There is no denying the fact that the worldwide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics was engineered by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger (1981-2005). During the reign of Pope John Paul II, that congregation had already taken charge of all such cases under oath of strictest silence. Ratzinger himself, on May 18th, 2001, sent a solemn document to all the bishops dealing with severe crimes ( “epistula de delictis gravioribus” ), in which cases of abuse were sealed under the “secretum pontificium” , the violation of which could entail grave ecclesiastical penalties. With good reason, therefore, many people have expected a personal mea culpa on the part of the former prefect and current pope. Instead, the pope passed up the opportunity afforded by Holy Week: On Easter Sunday, he had his innocence proclaimed “urbi et orbi” by the dean of the College of Cardinals.

The consequences of all these scandals for the reputation of the Catholic Church are disastrous. Important church leaders have already admitted this. Numerous innocent and committed pastors and educators are suffering under the stigma of suspicion now blanketing the church. You, reverend bishops, must face up to the question: What will happen to our church and to your diocese in the future? It is not my intention to sketch out a new program of church reform. That I have done often enough both before and after the council. Instead, I want only to lay before you six proposals that I am convinced are supported by millions of Catholics who have no voice in the current situation.

1. Do not keep silent: By keeping silent in the face of so many serious grievances, you taint yourselves with guilt. When you feel that certain laws, directives and measures are counterproductive, you should say this in public. Send Rome not professions of your devotion, but rather calls for reform!

2. Set about reform: Too many in the church and in the episcopate complain about Rome, but do nothing themselves. When people no longer attend church in a diocese, when the ministry bears little fruit, when the public is kept in ignorance about the needs of the world, when ecumenical co-operation is reduced to a minimum, then the blame cannot simply be shoved off on Rome. Whether bishop, priest, layman or laywoman – everyone can do something for the renewal of the church within his own sphere of influence, be it large or small. Many of the great achievements that have occurred in the individual parishes and in the church at large owe their origin to the initiative of an individual or a small group. As bishops, you should support such initiatives and, especially given the present situation, you should respond to the just complaints of the faithful. Read complete article – by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” Erik Erikson

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6

Protect children and the entire world will be safe.

Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children. Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

Father Hans Küng - read more 

Photo - Pope John XXIII

Easter HOPE, New LIFE for the Future of the Roman Catholic Church - Enkindled by HANS KÜNG

Rev. Fr. Hans Küng states, “Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church.”

An excerpt from:

Church in worst credibility crisis since Reformation, theologian tells bishops 

by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

6. Call for a council: Just as the achievement of liturgical reform, religious freedom, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue required an ecumenical council, so now a council is needed to solve the dramatically escalating problems calling for reform. In the century before the Reformation, the Council of Constance decreed that councils should be held every five years. Yet the Roman Curia successfully managed to circumvent this ruling. There is no question that the Curia, fearing a limitation of its power, would do everything in its power to prevent a council coming together in the present situation. Thus it is up to you to push through the calling of a council or at least a representative assembly of bishops. Photo

With the church in deep crisis, this is my appeal to you, venerable bishops: Put to use the episcopal authority that was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council. In this urgent situation, the eyes of the world turn to you. Innumerable people have lost their trust in the Catholic Church. Only by openly and honestly reckoning with these problems and resolutely carrying out needed reforms can their trust be regained. With all due respect, I beg you to do your part – together with your fellow bishops as far as possible, but also alone if necessary – in apostolic “fearlessness” (Acts 4:29, 31). Give your faithful signs of hope and encouragement and give our church a perspective for the future. Read complete article - by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

In deepest gratitude, on behalf of millions of Catholics, our Christian sisters and brothers, and non–Christians, and all our friends, to Rev. Fr. HANS KÜNG in his fervent effort to enkindle Trust and the Spirit of Vatican II bringing us back together in true appreciations for our differences and love for every human being, most especially for children. This is our Easter and the HOPE that Pentecost will be our AWAKENING!!! 

Church in worst credibility crisis since Reformation, theologian tells bishops – by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times

HANS KÜNG 

Pope Benedict has made worse just about everything that is wrong with the Roman Catholic Church and is directly responsible for engineering the global cover-up of child rape perpetrated by priests, according to this open letter to all Catholic bishops 

VENERABLE BISHOPS,

Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am making this appeal to you in an open letter. In doing so, I am motivated by my profound concern for our church, which now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis since the Reformation. Please excuse the form of an open letter; unfortunately, I have no other way of reaching you. Photo - Vatican II Autumn 1963

I deeply appreciated that the pope invited me, his outspoken critic, to meet for a friendly, four-hour-long conversation shortly after he took office. This awakened in me the hope that my former colleague at Tubingen University might find his way to promote an ongoing renewal of the church and an ecumenical rapprochement in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.  Photo - Vatican II

Unfortunately, my hopes and those of so many engaged Catholic men and women have not been fulfilled. And in my subsequent correspondence with the pope, I have pointed this out to him many times. Without a doubt, he conscientiously performs his everyday duties as pope, and he has given us three helpful encyclicals on faith, hope and charity. But when it comes to facing the major challenges of our times, his pontificate has increasingly passed up more opportunities than it has taken: - read more - by HANS KÜNG – The Irish Times 

Father Hans Küng - read more 

My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs – read more

Photo - St. Peter's Basilica

"Although they swore obedience to the pope, bishops owed complete obedience only to God" - Fr. Hans Kung, Swiss Theologian

Kueng urges bishops to defy pope and opt for reform

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Reuters, India

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Swiss theologian Hans Kueng has urged Roman Catholic bishops to defy Pope Benedict and push through reforms from below to restore the credibility of their church shaken by child sexual abuse scandals.

The veteran liberal critic of the Vatican wrote in an open letter to bishops around the world on Thursday that Benedict's five years as head of the world's largest church had been "a papacy of missed opportunities and chances not taken."

Kueng, who worked with the future pope in the 1960s, has long been out of favour in Rome but has stayed a priest championing the reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

He said an open letter was his only way to reach bishops, the Church's key leaders at the local level, in what he called the Church's "worst crisis of confidence since the Reformation."

The scandal of "thousands of youths abused by priests in the United States, Ireland, Germany and other countries" is having "disastrous consequences" for the Church, he said.  Read more - By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor – Reuters, India

Photo - My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” Erik Erikson 

NSPCC calls for reform of child abuse inquiries – Teachers UK – read more

www.teachers-uk.co.uk

Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation – read more

Protect children and the entire world will be safe.

Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children. Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

German Theologian Urges Bishops To Pressure Pope - The Associated Press – CBS News

(AP)  BERLIN (AP) - Dissident theologian Hans Kueng urged bishops on Thursday to push for reforms in the Roman Catholic in defiance of Pope Benedict XVI.

Kueng, an 82-year-old former colleague and friend of the pontiff, said the church was now in its deepest crisis since the Protestant Reformation after recent revelations of sexual abuse by clergy caused an erosion of trust.

In an editorial published Thursday in daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and other publications, Kueng said bishops should call for a new synod to discuss reforms.

Kueng accused pope of not living up "to the great challenges of our time," saying on the fifth anniversary of Benedict's election to the papacy that his traditionalist approach had failed.

Bishops should not be "actors without voice or rights," Kueng said, arguing that it was legitimate for them to press Roman authorities for reforms if the pope blocked their efforts.

The Catholic Church in Pope Benedict's German homeland has been rocked by a widening abuse scandal in the past three months with hundreds of self described victims of heavy physical or sexual abuse coming forward. Read more - The Associated Press – CBS News

In deep appreciation to Fr. Hans Kung, The Associated Press and CBS News for being a voice of sanity and clarity – extremely beneficial for children, MSK

Vatican -> WATERGATE (AGAIN)? - No “Checks and Balances” Kids Are Being Hurt!!! – read more

Flagrant Disregard For All Of Humanity, Especially For Children – Being Publicly Demonstrated by Benedict XVI and hierarchy - Failure to Accept Responsibility for Decades of Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups – Kids Are Being Hurt!!! – read more

Pope should endorse independent investigation - By Gerald T. Slevin - retired attorney - The Washington Post – read more

“Pope’s No. 2” Bertone - Blatant Intellectual Deficit of Hierarchy, Condemning People by “Rumor, Hearsay and Innuendo” -> Slander, Flagrant Disregard of the Law, Civil & God’s – Harmful to Children – read more

Photo - “Rumor, Hearsay and Innuendo” GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. 

“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” Erik Erikson

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6

Protect children and the entire world will be safe.

Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children. Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

Rescue Catholicism from Vatican – by JAMES CARROLL - The Boston Globe

POPE BENEDICT XVI has denounced the predator priests with due severity, but he cannot credibly chastise their enabler bishops because he has been one of them. The whole Catholic Church seems to be in crisis, but what is really at stake here is the collapse not of Catholicism, but of Catholic fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism is the raising of religious barricades against tides of change…

Fr. Hans Kung - - - Many Catholics no longer expect anything from this pope - - - - - Benedict XVI

Fr. Hans Kung is a Catholic priest, a Swiss theologian, and a prolific author. Fr. Küng is President of the Global Ethic Foundation and was named a theological consultant for the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII and played a major role in the writing of the documents of Vatican II. 

Read More: 

Hans Kung, Declaration Toward a Global Ethic

Nihil Obstat

February 24, 2009

“The church risks becoming a sect. Many Catholics no longer expect anything from this pope. It’s very sad,” Kung said in an interview published by the French newspaper Le Monde on February 24, 2009.

Fr. Kung noted that one of the four traditionalist bishops whose excommunication was lifted by the pope minimized the Holocaust, igniting widespread criticism. The pope’s misjudgement on such an important issue, Kung said, reflected his own isolation.

To read more:  Nihil Obstat