BOSTON (MA)
The Heights
By Heights Editorial Board
The Issue: Group seeks changes to Church governance
What we think: The timing is right
In this time of pain, struggle, and change in the Catholic Church, it is only appropriate for its congregants to come forth and discuss the need for the inclusion of lay people in the governance of the church.
Geoffrey T. Boisi, former chairman of the University's Board of Trustees, announced plans this week for the creation of a nonprofit organization that seeks to transform the nation's largest religion. There couldn't be a better time than now. The church has been plagued by a horrific sexual abuse scandal, low Mass attendance, a dip in financial support, and an inability to ordain a larger number of priests.
The group - theAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management (NLRCM) - would include people from all over the country, and would work toward administrative changes that would enable parishioners to have more of a say in the way their individual church and diocese operates.
As Boisi told The Heights, if we want the Catholic faith to prosper and reflect the will of its followers, "we must act with conviction, passion, and courage, but most of all we must act now."