Eugene Kennedy
Eugene Kennedy
Eugene Cullen Kennedywas an American psychologist, syndicated columnist, and a professor emeritus of Loyola University Chicago. He remained a professor of psychology at the university for several years. A laicized Catholic priest and a long-time observer of the Roman Catholic Church he wrote over fifty books on psychology, religion, the Catholic Church, and THE psychology of religion, and also published three novels, Father's Day, Queen Bee, and Fixes. He wrote a column for the Religious News Service, distributed by the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth18 August 1928
CountryUnited States of America
The seminary of the future must relate itself to flesh-and-blood men, or it provides a framework that only talks about the people of God but never really shares life with them.
The perception of the horizon is an earthbound event; all horizons disappear in space, and we are left shorn of the sweet roots that have held us to the earth, challenged to imagine what is truly present just before us, a unified and seemingly limitless universe.
The priesthood is not dying, but the clerical state is dead. It needs to be buried, preferably with a Viking funeral in Boston Harbor so nobody can miss the spectacle of its passing.
Francis seems familiar because Catholics have already known him in the Vatican II priests who have been their pastors and sacramental ministers over the years since that council brought new life to an old church. Catholics have known him in the bishops and priests who brought the spirit of the council to their dioceses and parishes.
There would be no need for love if perfection were possible. Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of the forgiveness, encouragement and that missing half of ourselves that we are searching for, as the Greek myth tells us, in order to complete ourselves.
We may thank God that we can feel pain and know sadness, for these are the human sentiments that constitute our glory as well as our grief.
The mystery of being human and, certainly, of being a Catholic lies in our embracing together the imperfect state known as the human condition. First and foremost, if we could ever be perfect or do things perfectly, we would eliminate mystery, an essential ingredient in the good life and the spiritual life.
As dutiful bishops soon discover, authoritarianism, or control from the top down, characterizes the hierarchical tradition.
From his first hours as pope, Francis has re-enacted or spoken of the great pastoral transformation of Vatican II as his own agenda.
Human experience resembles the battered moon that tracks us in cycles of light and darkness, of life and death, now seeking out and now stealing away from the sun that gives it light and symbolizes eternity.