Saturday, June 15, 2019

A priestly formation not fit for purpose

An excerpt from an interview Dr Tina Beattie gave to The Tablet after a talk she gave in Dublin.

Tina Beattie  is professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton.


“Since John Paul II and Benedict XVI set out to crush the spirit of Vatican II, we’ve seen a theology of priesthood which inculcates a sense of superiority and ontological difference, premised on the essential maleness of the priesthood, which makes members of the senior hierarchy and some of a younger generation behave more as our lords and masters than as our servants and pastors."

She went on to say: "The institutional church has been corrupted through and through by models of priestly formation which are not fit for purpose."

Beattie's analysis is accurate and happening right across the universal church.

Certainly not fit for purpose and many of those placed in jobs of guiding young men towards priesthood not at all fit for the job.

The church might well be creating a monster far worse than anything Tina Beattie has in mind.


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