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Future of Catholicism
Headlined throughout the world, the Catholic Church’s standing within society has been both challenged and fortified in recent decades. As a part of its Future of Religion series, Patheos considers Catholicism’s future –- its internal vitality and its public position in society and the world. Contributors include: Kevin Appleby, Fr. Robert Barron, Kathy Coffey, Kate Dugan and Jennifer Owens, Michele Dillon, Hugh Hewitt, James Hitchcock, Ted G. Jelen, Deacon Greg Kandra, Rev. James Martin, S.J., Tim Muldoon, Barbara R. Nicolosi, J. Peter Nixon, Thomas Peters, Shu-Fy H. Pongnon, Elizabeth Scalia, Paul Snatchko, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, John Kenneth White, and J. Matthew Wilson
See the daily symposium on this topic at the Catholic Portal Blog, Summa This, Summa That
Future of Religion
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by Kevin Appleby (Office of Migration and Refugee Policy, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Church involvement in immigration reflects both policy and pastoral concerns.
by Fr. Robert Barron (Founder, Word on Fire global media ministry)
Now is a great time to be a priest. Some of the holiest saints have emerged during periods much like our own, fraught with difficulties and rich in opportunities.
by Kathy Coffey (National speaker, Retreat leader, and Author)
Christians can’t waste time judging, carping, and condemning. Let’s get on with the task of being Christ to a hungry, hurting world.
by Kate Dugan and Jennifer Owens (From the Pews in the Back)
If young Catholics more honestly grapple with how and why we are Catholic, we might emerge with a very different version of what Catholicism is and how we do it. We need to begin to tell the story of our own Catholic identity, and it won't be the story of our parents or grandparents.
by Michele Dillon (University of New Hampshire)
In continuity with its past, the future of Catholicism will undoubtedly incorporate new strands into its theology, organizational structure, and everyday practices.
by Hugh Hewitt (Professor of Law and Nationally Syndicated Radio Show Host)
"We are witnessing the opening of a great evangelical era in American Catholicism."
by James Hitchcock (St. Louis University )
The growth of lay movements, the rise of Christian ecumenism, and the expansion of Catholic faith in the global south are all signs of health.
by Ted G. Jelen (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Four major trends in contemporary Roman Catholicism will pervade a global church and pose both challenges and opportunities.
by Deacon Greg Kandra (News Director for New Evangelization Television (NET))
The Church will eventually have married priests, for reasons that are as much pastoral as pragmatic. And the Church will not have a good reason to keep saying no.
by Rev. James Martin, S.J. (Author and Culture editor, America magazine)
The Catholic Church needs to listen to the voices of all sorts of people who have much to offer from the experience of their lives as faith-filled members of the Body of Christ.
by Tim Muldoon (Catholic theologian, writer, and spiritual director)
Tomorrow’s Catholic Church will be a communion of mystics who see their task as rooted in the incredible command of Jesus to love the neighbor.
by Barbara R. Nicolosi (Screenwriter, Chair of Act One Program)
The Boomers' exit from cultural influence creates a two-sided pastoral challenge for the 21st-century Church.
by J. Peter Nixon (Author)
Our children and grandchildren are abandoning the faith because they perceive -- rightly -- that its demands are at fundamental variance with the lives we have prepared them to lead.
by Thomas Peters (Author and Blogger at American Papist)
The universality and deeply rooted tradition of the Church will both benefit from 21st century technology.
by Shu-Fy H. Pongnon (Assistant News Director, NETNY)
The Church is a beautiful mess of people, places, and things that will alternately horrify and inspire you.
by Elizabeth Scalia (Patheos Catholic Portal Manager)
Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West, and it has nearly come full-circle; it is bringing new treasure from the East and up from Africa. There is almost a sense of completion to this.
by Paul Snatchko (Blogger and marketing manager)
I worry that this slow march-away of sleeping-in millions may portend the future of our beloved Catholic Church in the United States and the world.
by Sister Mary Ann Walsh (Director of Media Relations, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Today the challenge for church leaders is twofold: to speak out and to make their voices heard. The former takes courage, but the latter is no easy task because it demands that leaders take to the Web and other forms of social media to spread the Gospel.
by John Kenneth White (Catholic University of America)
There is more light than darkness, more hope than pessimism, that the U.S. Catholic Church will adapt to a new century and, once again, attract new congregants.
by J. Matthew Wilson (Southern Methodist University)
The American Church can and must do a better job of communicating, both to its own members and to those beyond itself, the range and force of its position on other morally consequential political questions.
