Church challenges could lead to rejuvenated parishes, bishop says

Published: 2005-01-07

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany called Jan. 6 for a commitment to revitalization of the parish despite the sex scandals, vocation crisis, pressures of secularism and other challenges facing the church. "Just as at the Last Supper the moment of betrayal and shame became a moment of gift and grace, the present crisis can be one of rejuvenation and joy," he said in a New York talk. He acknowledged that "we've been living through the greatest scandal in the history of American Catholicism, with dioceses declaring bankruptcy and parishes bleeding members." He continued, "We have a beloved pope who is melting away before our eyes, as a recalcitrant Curia seeks to steer the bark of Peter back to the 19th century." But the current crisis could lead to a church "less clerical" and "more evidently a community of disciples," one no longer "functioning as a sort of multinational business, operating through a distant and unaccountable bureaucracy," he said. Bishop Hubbard made the opening presentation to the annual Diocesan Leadership Symposium sponsored by the National Pastoral Life Center in New York.

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