Root & Branch Online and in person: EMPOWERING OURSELVES – Flourish & Thrive, Fri 30 Aug – Sun 1 Sept

August 13 2024

Hybrid online, live and in-person

Hinsley Hall, Leeds

Friday 30th Aug – Sunday 1st Sept.

R O O T  &  B R A N C H

A COMMUNITY FOR REFORM IN THE

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Root & Branch works for

a safe, just and inclusive Roman Catholic Church.

Empowering Ourselves will be opened by Joan Chittister and Mary McAleese on Friday evening, and Tony Flannery is the Keynote Speaker on Saturday morning.

Recently I had occasion to go back on the story of my dealings with the CDF over the past twelve years. Even though I was familiar with it all, and could remember the details clearly, reading again the two drafts of statements that were demanded from me by the CDF, and seeing what has been happening in the Church for the last few years with the Synodal Process, it all now seems so trivial, and so out of touch with the reality of the Church today; what was all the fuss about?

This is a marvellous documentary, well worth watching, in my view.

Three things struck me as I watched it. Firstly, it is now a hundred years since Chardin got into trouble with Church authorities. It was the result of an article he wrote about interpreting the Genesis story of creation, and how his study of evolution had taught him that this cannot be taken literally, and how this new understanding raised questions about various Church doctrines, especialally in relation to the traditional understanding of Original Sin.