The Catholic Church has gone through changes. Many of the changes have been good and have steered away from traditional, outdated practices. However, there are current issues that need to be addressed.
A large advancement in the church was the creation of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. According to “Why Is Vatican II So Important?” by NPR, “there hadn’t been an ecumenical council — an assembly of Roman Catholic religious leaders meant to settle doctrinal issues — in nearly 100 years.”
To start, the creation of this council allowed Catholics to listen to Mass in their native language instead of Latin.
“On the downside, people stopped learning anything about their Catholic faith,” said Leslie Stopka, Catholic campus minister at the Office of Faith and Action. “No more Baltimore Catechism, just a lot of ineffective religious education.”
The Catechism is a summary of Christian principles used for religious education.
It wasn’t until 1992 that Pope John Paul II published the new Catechism of the church. This new Catechism helps people of the Catholic Church better understand the belief system.
As the church grows over time, certain practices disappear and new practices emerge.
“Sometimes our understanding of things change, therefore how we do things change, (whether that be) the doctrine or our actions as a church,” said Stopka.
According to Stopka, an example of this is our current understanding of people who commit suicide.
“For centuries, people who committed suicide were not allowed to be buried inside the churchyard, as they have sinned against God,” said Stopka.
With advances in medicine, it is now understood that people who commit suicide are mentally ill, which allows them to be buried beneath holy ground.
Moving forward, another practice that is no longer required is for women to cover their heads during Mass. According to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, “women … shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord.” This was no longer required of women in the 1970s.
These and other changes have shown that the Catholic Church is willing to change and has grown from its past. While practices have changed over the centuries and over even the past few decades, dogma does not change.
Dogma is the belief Catholics have a set of principles that they follow, and will follow, forever. It is the foundation of religion.
In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI and Dr. Mahdi Mostafavi, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, agreed on a declaration.
“Faith and reason are intrinsically non-violent. Neither reason nor faith should be used for violence,” according to the Vatican.
Last year, Pope Francis declared the death penalty as unacceptable because it is “an attack on human dignity,” according to the New York Times article “Pope Francis Declares Death Penalty Unacceptable in All Cases.”
This may cause some issues with Catholic politicians in the U.S. because many Catholics support the death penalty.
The topic of pedophilia within the Catholic Church has been increasingly prominent in the media.
“If the 1950s were a ‘normal’ level (of pedophile cases), then it increased in 1960s, peaked in the 1970s, decreased in the 1980s and was ‘normal again in the 90s,” said Stopka. “This shows true through the data collected via diocesan records that were reviewed by Bishops and it also shows true in other large organizations, schools, Boy Scouts, etc.”
Every Catholic Diocese in the country has investigated sexual abuse allegations. All the ones that have been validated are kept track of on BishopAccountability.org.
While there are many sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church, the Church is starting to recognize and report cases. According to NBC news, “Pope Francis issues new Vatican City law for reporting sex abuse allegations,” Pope Francis “issued a new law that for the first time requires Vatican personnel and diplomats of Vatican City to immediately report allegations of sexual abuse to authorities.”
If there are any allegations that are not immediately reported, then the Vatican personnel can be fined or face jail time.
“I think it’s important to understand (pedophilia) so we can truly seek healing and justice,” said Stopka. “What do we do now? We tell the truth, we dig for the truth. We tell our children the truth so they can tell their children. Only truth and time can heal this wound.”
