In the many published reports of the sexual abuse of children by priests in past years there is discernible a common pattern in the inadequate responses of Church authorities to the allegations and evidence of sexual abuse. Since judgment of conscience and moral decision flow from moral discernment, which in turn is based on moral perception, inadequate moral perception renders faulty an entire moral-response process. The moral perception underlying the decisions of Church authorities bearing responsibility in the sexual abuse scandal is seen to be, unfortunately, consonant with the moral perception cultivated in the moral theology in which they were educated.

The hope that marked the closing of Vatican II has faded regarding women, who are still restricted from power and authority in the Church. While ordination remains a pressing question, two related questions, those related to married clergy and lay involvement in authority and power, reflect upon the first and on each other. Yet, since power and authority are legally restricted to ordained persons, and given the present objections to women priests, it would seem necessary and possible to restore the female diaconate in order to allow women greater formal and official participation in the Church.

This essay explores the formulation of Catholic social teaching as a form of ministry structured in relation to charism. After situating the concept of charism theolgically, it addresses the significance of charism as an organizing principle for the ministry of Catholic social teaching, referring in particular to the experiences of Oswald von Nell-Breuning and Dorothy Day. Finally, it suggests a form of ecclesial participation, such as the retrieval of mystagogy, that would facilitate the free and full exercise of charisms by all those called and gifted to serve the church in the formulation of Catholic social teaching.

The purpose of the ministerial structures of the Church is to establish a context by which Christians continue and complete Christ's ministry. Ordained ministers ought to facilitate this in such a way as to collaborate effectively with God in the establishment of the Kingdom. A consideration of the Church's tradition, beginning with Scripture and continuing in its life of faith, suggests that no single form of ministry is normative. The ordination of Christians who make a long-term commitment to what the Church may legitimately recognize as ministry would enhance the Church's life and celebrate the sacramental character of that ministry. Consonant with Gaudium et spes the Church should abandon the distinction between secular and sacred ministry and recognize the sacramental character of ministry wherever it is practiced. Sacramental ordination to ministry is the specification and concretization of Christians' baptismal commitment.

The achievements of Roger Haight's provocative book Jesus Symbol of God rise and fall according to the strengths—and weaknesses—of Haight's symbol theory as applied to his christological project. While this essay expresses a largely positive view of Haight's overall project, it focuses on two key shortcomings pertaining to Haight's symbol theory as it shapes his Christology: first, that his notion of symbol is too low to serve traditional Christology; second, that Haight strips religious symbols of their prophetic power by conceding too much to his audience. Drawing on the symbol theories of Karl Rahner and Paul Ricoeur, to whom Haight is deeply indebted for his understanding of symbol, a path is indicated by which Haight's model could more adequately wed symbol theory and Christology in yielding a more fruitful understanding of Jesus as symbol of God.

The Church has the duty in every age of examining the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the gospel, so that it can offer in a manner appropriate to each generation replies to the continual human questionings on the meaning of this life and the life to come and on how they are related. There is a need, then, to be aware of, and to understand, the world in which we live, together with its expectations, its desires and its frequently dramatic character (Gaudium et spes 4).