Church Structural Renewal

The deep crisis that affects the Catholic Church in Ireland has its immediate origins in the scandal of clerical sexual abuse and its mishandling by Church authorities. However, the crisis has wider and deeper ramifications and causes that have to do with a male, clericalist culture and over centralised organizational structure that do scant justice to the nature of the Church as the People of God. The remedy to this crisis will involve both personal and structural renewal and reform. There is need to recover and update the vision of the Second Vatican Council, whose 50th anniversary we will be celebrating from 2012-2015.

The Jesuit Centre of Faith and Justice is committed to collaborate with other, especially lay groups within the Church, to bring about the conversion needed to implement the required changes in our Church at both national and universal levels. As one resource towards this process we offer the publication A New Vision for the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland.