Education, Work and Catholic Life

Foreword

As I write this piece, the Catholic church is in crisis – it is confronted with its own historical culpability in sexual exploitation and criminal violence against multiple generations of its own youth and children, accusations of systematic cover-ups of these and other activities undertaken by a priesthood and leadership that range from economic corruption to longstanding discrimination against women. The church is facing skepticism from right wing, nationalist governments and liberal, social democratic governments and political parties alike; it is held in suspicion by autocratic states who see it as competing for moral authority and social control. It has its own internal fractures between liberal and conservative factions – and faces increasing pressure from growing Pentecostal and evangelical movements. But when we refer to the ‘church’ as in crisis, we refer to an institution, a fully operational corporate entity, supported by government regulation and, in many countries, taxation exemptions and subsidies. The church is a de facto nation state with its own laws and regulatory regimes, historical alliances and enemies, foreign policies and policing, disciplines and punishments.