Religion: Message from the Bishops

The Catholic hierarchy of the U.S. issued a 25,000-word pastoral letter last week that was both a summons to continued renewal of the church and a warning against excessive zeal for reform. In the spirit of recent papal encyclicals on social affairs, it urged Catholics to be concerned with the eradication of "indignity, injustice and inhumanity" on the ground that "when one of us is denied justice, all are threatened." At the same time, the letter upheld the primacy of the spiritual over the secular and censured a kind of religious amnesia that has blotted out respect for past traditions.

"With sadness,"...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!