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Article: WE, THE PEOPLE--OF GOD.(a constitution for the Catholic Church)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- May 9, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The church needs a constitution
What do you think, an interviewer asked the noted theologian Charles Davis, "is the greatest challenge facing the church at the present time?" Davis was a peritus at Vatican II but, on becoming disillusioned over the church's lack of commitment to reform, left the priesthood in 1966 for a teaching career.
"My answer will surprise many," Davis replied, "but I regard the most important task at present a juridical one, namely the establishment of a democratic constitution for the church."
A constitutional reform was viewed by Davis as our communion's most pressing need because, "since the fifteenth century, the ...