What is the Catholic future?

After the dust has settled, what will be the future for the Roman Catholic church? Will it have one at all? Depending on whom you read, this is the worst crisis since the reformation, or merely since the Modernist convulsions of the early 20th century. Inside the Vatican, however, everyone seems confident that the right measures have been put in place; the guilty will be punished, and the scoffing infidels left behind. Suppose this month's scandals have not been a turning point. In that case they have certainly accentuated trends which were already under way: the shrinkage and declining prestige of the celibate priesthood in the west; the hostility of secular opinion; the breakup of Catholic Ireland; Benedict XVI's conviction that it is the modern world that is out of step with reality. Are all these developments inevitable or will there be some other turning point? Monday's response Austen Ivereigh: The Catholic church survived the French and Russian revolutions. It will survive this crisis too, but humbler, poorer, and more honest Wednesday's response Mary Kenny: Those who are committed to the faith feel that now, more than ever, is when the church needs support Friday's response Christa Pongratz-Lippitt: The only way forward now is above all for the hierarchy openly and publicly to admit the church's guilt