Vatican

THREE

Yes, please. Vatican II seemed to be moving in the right direction. Now we need Vatican III to assess how well we have done and what needs to still be done so that the church is not decades behind the Holy Spirit.

Issues have surfaced that require the people, the actual body of christ, be heard through their various representatives. The catholic church runs like a corporation, the presbyterian church more like a congress. In the catholic church priests get elevated through the hierarchy, people don't get to vote, and its a promotional business model that operates more like crony capitalism. The presbyterian world operates more like congress because congregations actually vote for their leaders. They convene summits and choose pastors with the elders voting after a vetting process. The leadership has to be in some sense not totally unaccountable to the body of christ. The business model of the catholic church is such that no one gets voted off the island. This can create some pretty obstinate characters. It creates stability but all rigidity and when it is wrong it can't admit it.

This is how autocratic regimes work. They are totalitarian with power presumptions that can block the flow of the holy spirit- crush it even, in the name of institutional stability. They have to be studied and accountable every so often.
The perceived 'war with women' that Americans believe that the catholic church is about has a lot to do with the fact that the power structure is all male. Women religious orders are shrinking because it defines 'religious' as someone in a habit with a black cloth on their head. That's not what Jesus thinks of as 'religious' necessarily. Women are not given equal rank in education, position, salary or responsibility. They are not represented in faculties in religious schools as much, they are expected to be the silent benefactors to priests who live in luxury
rather than ministry partners. The married priesthood issue should be examined. It has turned hearts ugly. It is the biggest contraception out there. It blocks the Holy Spirit.
Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the one unforgiveable sin. When the church's rules block out the Holy Spirit it is getting close.

Vatican III- Absolutely. Because don't you think enough harm has been done already?