036 :
22 Nov 2011

The morality and justice issues connected with copyright... The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents this second report on a series of concerns that emerged at a Conference on Copyright and Church Music held last Saturday at the Parramatta Diocesan Centre. The focus today is an educational one on explaining the copyright procedures that need to be understood at the local parish or school level by those who have responsibility in those places for reporting copyright usage. [more]

035 :
21 Nov 2011

The morality and justice issues connected with copyright... The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents this report on a series of concerns that emerged at a Conference on Copyright and Church Music held last Saturday at the Parramatta Diocesan Centre. [more]

034 :
01 May 2011

A very special homily... In place of a lead commentary today we present for reflection the homily by the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres which has been causing many people around the world to pause to reflect on. The spirituality reflected in this homily would seem to be deeply sympathetic to the sort of spirituality so many who have dropped out of regular participation in institutionalised Christianity are looking for. It is love centred, inclusive spirituality seeking to reach out to all of Creation and lift each individual to their full potential. [more]

033 :
15 Nov 2010

Healing the victims of clerical sexual abuse and healing the institutional culture! The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents this report of the inaugural Australasian Clergy Abuse, Reparation & Prevention Conference held in Sydney last Friday. [more]

032 :
18 Sep 2010

Curbing our anger and societal violence... For reflection today the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, invites you to read the 2010 Social Justice Sunday Statement that has been published by the Australian Catholic Bishops. While there are many things deserving of criticism in the institution today, and some of them in the social justice domain, the editor argues that the social justice insights and teachings of the institution are something that we ought take seriously — as individuals and as a community. [more]

031 :
13 Jun 2010

The implications of the decision re the Pell appointment in Rome Catholic journalist and church historian Dr Paul Collins has just filed with us this breaking news analysis of the rumours that have been circulating in Rome and Australia around the possible appointment, or decline of an appointment, of Sydney Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, to head the Congregation for Bishops. Paul Collins will be interviewed tonight further on the ABC Local Radio program "Sunday Nights with John Cleary" [LINK]. There are significantly different implications that flow from assessments as to whether the Cardinal has declined the invitation or whether the invitation wasn't extended or has been withdrawn — implications at the international level and implications for the future of the Church in Australia and the aspirations of other players on the Australian ecclesial stage. [more]

030 :
15 May 2010

Does Mary need a makeover? It is difficult to know how to approach the e-Conference on Mary being sponsored by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Broken Bay Institute this coming Tuesday. Mary in the eyes of many, particularly the readership attracted to a website like Catholica, have a sense that Mary is in need of a significant makeover. The religious hype associated with this key figure who brought Jesus into the world has more than probably removed her a long way from the reality of who she actually was in flesh and blood reality. The more conservative sectors within Catholicism of course want to take things in precisely the opposite direction. Each group would have supporters in the leadership realms of the institution. Is this Conference an endeavour to cement in the communication styles and icons that have become so problematic for the institution in the educated world? Or will it be an attempt to "reclaim" the true reality of Mary? It's difficult to "read the signs" emanating from the promoters of this Conference. The choice of Fr Francis Moloney as lead presenter suggests this is going to be a conference worth participating in. He is one of the best workshop presenters we have in Australia and my expectation is that Francis is one oriented towards finding an image of Mary that sits more comfortably with the broad range of more educated minds we find in most of the Western world today. There are worrying signs though that some in the leadership realms of the Church seem to believe that "rescuing Mary from the modern mind" is a better way to go — that's the pathway, despite all the evidence, to re-evangelise Catholicism. Are the bishops and organisers of this conference attempting to have the proverbial "two bob each way" hoping, on the one hand to appease those in the leadership sectors who want to take things in a more conservative direction by sending out a sign "look, we are also running programs dealing with one of the big icons in the remnant sectors of Catholicism" while at the same time presenting a more subversive message "updating the image of Mary". It is really difficult to tell. If you would like to join us here on Catholica this coming Tuesday I propose that we have a cyber discussion between, and in conjunction with the presentations exploring the place of this 'First Disciple' in our lives. ...Brian Coyne, Editor of Catholica. [more]

029 :
12 Feb 2010

The problems faced by parish musicians, composers, publishers and copyright agencies... The Editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, attended a forum for Catholic musicians and composers yesterday in Sydney. The forum was attended by parish musicians and composers as well as publishers and representatives of one of the major copyright agencies in Australia. The forum had two principal objectives: the first was to continue the work begun about two years ago of forming a national association for those involved in the production of Church music. The second was to address a number of particular issues that have been facing those involved in the different aspects — composing, publishing, copyright issues, and performance and reporting issues at the local parish level. Today's report includes a short video interview with Paul Mason, one of the convenors of the new Australian Pastoral Musicians' Network. [more]

028 :
08 Oct 2009

International Petition Organisers sharply critical of the Vatican... The organisers of the international petition which drew nearly 55,000 signatures, with a heavy weighting from intellectuals and the more reflective sector of Catholicism, have issued a strong rebuke to the Vatican for the brush-off that the Vatican has endeavoured to serve up. Here is the full text of the media release issued by the petition organisers today. [more]

027 :
29 Mar 2009

Video reports from the Catalyst Forum… Undoubtedly helped by the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney's decision to ban this meeting from being held on Catholic Church property, the organisation Catalyst for Renewal held an enormously enthusiastic one day intensive forum at the Salvation Army Congress Hall in Sydney on Saturday, 28th March 2009, to discuss Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's provocative book Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church — Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. This book has generated extraordinary interest around the world and has now clocked up 20,000 sales according to the publisher. The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, attended the Catalyst Forum with video camera adn today presents some edited highlights of the Forum on the Catholica YouTube channel. [more]

026 :
17 Mar 2009

Issues regarding the Education of Eastern Catholics in Latin Catholic Schools… Catholica is in receipt of an important news story that has been forwarded to us with the authority of the Eastern Catholic Bishops resident in Australia. Last Friday, 13 March, the Bishops and leaders representing the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in Australia held a joint meeting in Sydney. They have endorsed a paper they had commissioned and have voiced a very strong complaint to the other Latin Church Australian Bishops and, through them, to the National Catholic Education Commission and the Catholic Education Offices and Catholic teachers of Australia concerning the religious education and treatment of Eastern Rite Catholic children in Australian Catholic schools. Catholica has been informed that Bishop Peter Stasiuk on behalf of the Eastern Catholic Bishops has been in touch with Archbishop Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, who, according to Bishop Peter, has accepted there is solid foundation to the complaint and undertaken to have the matter placed on the agenda of the full meeting of the ACBC in May and Archbishop Philip has also undertaken to have the matter forwarded to the National Catholic Education Commission. This is a news story loaded with significant political implications not only for the Catholic Church in Australia but at the international level and, we submit, in realms entirely removed from the issues being addressed that are the focus of immediate complaint. We publish in full the background paper here which has been passed to Archbishop Philip Wilson. It makes for very, very interesting reading in light of some of the recent conversations we have been having on Catholica. [more]

025 :
23 Nov 2008

US Reform Groups planning big American Catholic Council in 2011… The major US Catholic Reform Groups have begun planning a major conference of lay American Catholics to be held in 2011. A development of thi nature on this scale is probably without precedent in the history of the Church. [more]

024 :
27 Oct 2008

Is there a better way to get bishops more responsive to the needs of Australian Catholics today? We publish the text of an email that Catholics for Ministry are in the process of sending out to the signatories of the petition that went to the Australian Bishops last year. The email attaches a copy of the secret questionnaire that the Vatican's representative in Australia sends to a carefully selected number of people sounding out suitable candidates for vacant positions. Paul Collins and Frank Purcell, convenors of Catholics for Ministry describe the document as "dismaying and scandalous" and have pointed out its deficiencies in a letter to the Papal Nuncio. [more]

023 :
17 Oct 2008

Launch of new scholarly study on Pope Pius XII by Australian scholar, Dr Paul O'Shea… The general tone of the three principal addresses at the launch of Dr Paul O'Shea's new scholarly study of Pope Pius XII urged a sense of caution in the urgency in some sectors of the Catholic Church to canonize the controversial wartime pope. While acknowledging Eugenio Pacelli's sincerity and "holiness" the speakers urged caution on two principal grounds — one being that not all the evidence is yet available to scholars. The other ground for caution is that despite the man's good intentions and sincerity the evidence mounts that he did make significant errors of political judgment in responding to the Nazi threat against the Jewish people. His lack of action, or lack of courage in speaking up, made the situation worse for the Jewish people. We present the full video of all the addresses at the launch ceremony which was held in Parliament House, Sydney. [more]

022 :
08 Oct 2008

An intriguing Catholic Education Office appointment — Editorial Comment: Provocative priest and writer, Fr Eric Hodgens, is again stirring the possum in Melbourne and calling for greater accountability from the Church leadership in Church administration. In 2006 he caused headlines questioning the appointment of a former politician to a leadership position in the Catholic Education Office seemingly without widespread consultation of stakeholders in Catholic Education. In this article recently published on his website, Fr Hodgens, queries the wisdom in the appointment of a lawyer seemingly without significant educational experience to the position of Deputy Director of Catholic Education. We publish this article on Catholica out of our commitment to generate greater scrutiny of how our Church is administered. We do receive feedback here at Catholica which strongly suggests the views expressed by Fr Hodgens do echo a larger and significant groundswell of demoralisation amongst the now large, professionally employed sectors of the Catholic Church in some dioceses in this country who are under considerable constraint and fear for their ongoing employment to not express their views publicly on aspects of how their Church is administered. The demoralisation is not uniform. Many leaders seem to have good relationships with their professional workforces and morale is healthy given all the other pressures the Church is under today in Western nations like ours. [more]

021 :
20 Aug 2008

Powerful US lay group calls for resignation of leading Cardinal… In a significant escalation of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the United States the lay movement formed in the wake of the Abuse scandal, Voice of the Faithful, has published a media release today calling for the Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal Francis George, to resign. [more]

020 :
12 Jun 2008

Collins-Purcell urge petitioners to now write directly to Pope Benedict! In the wake of the "disappointing" response from the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops last week, Dr Paul Collins and Frank Purcell, the organisers of a petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops last year, last night announced a new campaign to generate at least a thousand letters which they hope to have delivered to Pope Benedict during his visit to Australia next month. The letter they are suggesting people write addresses the looming crisis in Ministry this nation faces with a lack of priests to officiate at weddings, funerals and Sunday liturgies. [more]

019 :
06 Jun 2008

Petitioners respond to letter from President of ACBC Dr Paul Collins and Frank Purcell, the organisers of a petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops last year, have responded publicly to a letter sent to them on behalf of the Bishops by the President of the ACBC, Archbishop Phillip Wilson. Effectively their message back to Archbishop Wilson amounts to an almighty "Not Good Enough! Mr President". They have sent out letters and emails to the nearly 17,000 signatories to the petition expressing their disappointment at the response and are in the process of preparing a more formal response to Archbishop Wilson and the Australian Bishops. The letters we are publishing here were sent out late on Friday afternoon to petition signatories and that has already begun to generate responses on the Catholica forum which can be found HERE. [more]

018 :
06 Jun 2008

Disturbing email… The editor of Catholica has been aware for several days of a fairly sensational email that has been circulated to Sydney priests by a former Sydney-based Opus Dei accountant, Dennis Dubro, at Warrane College. We have now confirmed the authenticity of the email and are able to provide the following details, including the text of the email... [more]

017 :
16 May 2008

Bishop Robinson rejects criticism of his fellow bishops… Bishop Geoffrey Robinson has released a brief but pointed statement rejecting the criticisms leveled at him in the recent statement issued by the Australian Catholic Bishops. [more]

016 :
15 May 2008

Mahony bans Robinson & Vatican applies pressure too… The Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, has written to Bishop Geoffrey Robinson denying him permission to speak on Church property in his territory and has endeavoured to urge Bishop Robinson to cancel his speaking tour in North America. Cardinal Mahony's letter also reveals that the Vatican has been endeavouring to apply pressure to Bishop Robinson to stop promoting his book. Catholica has received this news, and the text of Cardinal Mahony's letter via Robert Blair Kaiser and Frank Douglas. Mr Kaiser, who is the author of the controversial novel, "Cardinal Mahony", also responds. This news story has partly been triggered because Robert Kaiser is in the course of preparing a promotional trip to Australia for the Australian release of his book, "Cardinal Mahony — A Novel" and he came across this sensational story in the course of preparing for his trip to our country. [more]

015 :
02 May 2008

A matter requiring urgent investigation… It is with a heavy heart we break this disturbing news story centred on the Bethel Covenant Community in Perth. The allegations raised are serious and it is to be hoped that the relevant State and Canonical investigating authorities establish the truth or otherwise of the allegations as quickly as possible. [more]

014 :
04 Dec 2007

Bishops' Response to Petitioners… The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson, has responded to the signatories to the petition via Paul Collins on behalf of the Conference. We publish the letter of response and comments by Dr Paul Collins. [more]

013 :
26 Oct 2007

Public Forum in Melbourne… A number of Melbourne Catholics call a public forum to discuss the Petition to the Australian Bishops. [more]

012 :
08 Aug 2007

Petition Details… This information story provides details of the wording of the petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops and suggestions as to how people can support the petition by promoting and helping collect signatures. It also has links to printable versions of the petition. [more]

011 :
02 Aug 2007

Call to Australian Bishops to consider ordination of married men, and women In a breaking news story on Wednesday evening, a group of lay and religious Catholic leaders and activists has published a petition calling on the Australian Catholic Bishops to collectively discuss the possibility of ordination of married men and, separately, the controversial issue of the ordination of women. [more]

010 :
20 Jul 2007

Report on Sr Joan Chittister's public lecture in Australia Brian Coyne presents a report on the provocative public lecture given by Sr Joan Chittister on 20 July 2007 at Mount St Benedict College, Pennant Hills, to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict. [more]

009 :
20 Jun 2007

Leaked letter discloses priest disquiet over remuneration levels in Sydney Archdiocese The rumblings of disquiet in the Archdiocese of Sydney look set to continue. Catholica has been sent a copy of a letter addressed to "fellow priests" in the Archdiocese which seeks to apply pressure on the Archdiocesan authorities for a salary and superannuation increase for priests. [more]

008 :
14 Jun 2007

Fr Dan Donovan on The Religion Report Catholica readers will be interested in The Religion Report on ABC Radio National this week. Of particular interest is the interview Stephen Crittenden has with Fr Daniel Donovan on both the events of the past week and on his criticisms, first aired through Catholica, of the Draft Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Sydney. [more]

007 :
28 May 2007

Provocative speakers at New Pentecost Forum The New Pentecost Forum on Sunday certainly presently a line-up of provocative speakers — a nun criticisingthe government for "prostitution of language" and a peace activist explaining why she broke into the top secret defence facility at Pine Gap. [more]

006 :
22 May 2007

Union response... Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Services Union welcomes guarantee from Vinnies CEO and clarifies reporting of the issue. [more]

005 :
19 May 2007

Follow-up to yesterday's Vinnies story... The Vinnies have responded to the Union's claims in yesterday's story and we publish the reasons why the coverage of the story on CathNews was "pulled" from their website late on Friday. [more]

004 :
18 May 2007

Vinnies under fire from Australian Services Union... Cliff Baxter broke this news story early on Friday morning regarding concerns from some members and employees of the Society, backed by the Australian Services Union, over alleged plans to "corporatise" the Society. [more]

003 :
26 Jul 2006

New sponsor found for O'Murchu lectures... Breaking news: new sponsor found who will ensure Diarmuid O'Murchu lectures can still be presented in Melbourne in January 2007. [more]

002 :
04 Jul 2006

Catholic Church in Britain is facing its greatest threat since the Reformation... Times Online... Link to breaking news story: Catholicism 'faces biggest crisis since Reformation'
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, Times OnLine. [more]

001 :
28 Jun 2006

Diarmuid O'Murchu's lecture series in Australia cancelled because of Vatican investigation into his writing... Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne has withdrawn his permission for Fr O'Murchu to present a series of workshops in Melbourne next January. [more]