this is my pre editor draft of the catholic peice, its not as through as i'd like and it doesnt feature latin but hey

Catholicism is in crisis. Priests are dying and there are not enough young seminarians to replace them causing parishes to close, and the tasks of the church to be neglected. The Church is irrelevant to most of its members and they go for days of obligation if at all. If this crisis is not addressed the church may not die, but its strength will be sapped. To address these concerns, three things have to be done immediately. First lift the ban on female priests, second give ordinary Catholics (or the lay) more power and remind them of their obligations and lastly make the church transparent on all levels.
The most controversial of these three is the ordination of women. The Holy Father has forbidden the discussion of it. The problem is that the prohibition is not biblical. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians talks about a Deaconess by the name of Phoebe. Before that there were woman in Christ’s life who did His work and who worshipped with Him. They buried Him and were the first to see him rise. Women act in all aspects of the Lords Supper except blessing. They are even altar servers, until very recently an all male calling. If we ordain women there would be more priests and priests who care about the life of the faith.
We can also prevent the exodus of priests by allowing the to encourage them to participate in the power they do have and give them more prominence. The Second Vatican Council changed the church to concentrate on the lay. The priest now faces the congregation when blessing the host, the mass is spoken in the vernacular, and they read at the pulpit and serve the Eucharist.
The problem is that there is a devout class that rises to fill these tasks, not a community. The tasks of the basic Christian (feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, mourning the dead, visiting the imprisoned) are left to the priest, not giving him time for the sacraments. The parish members who avoid these tasks are betraying the faith. To save the priesthood the lay will need to follow their obligations.
The last is transparency. The Vatican is ancient and large and beaurocracy comes naturally, which causes a split between the church at home and the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome is contained with in a hermetic bubble, with a tendency towards interior contradiction. For example speaking constantly about the importance of Ecumenism and then delivering an encyclical on the Superiority of Catholicism. There is also the censoring of Liberation Theologists. Five years after the pope did this he was talking about the power of the worker on the floor of Saint Peters.
To Change the church, to make it relevant and to stop the bleeding of Priests and parishioners is to prayerfully consider the implications of who we are. It is to fulfill the duties of faith and demand clear direction from Rome and our diocese. We need to agitate for change, because with out change, the damage done will be irreversible.