013 :
28 Feb 2011

Questioning the understanding of Papal Primacy Part 4... Vynette's series grows more and more like an Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes detective puzzle as it proceeds. In today's instalment the chief objective is to try and establish the whereabouts of St Peter from around the time of the first Pentecost up until the time of his death in 67AD. [more]

032 :
27 Feb 2011

Some thoughts on Sexual Morality, Part 4: We human beings have lived on planet earth for hundreds of thousands of years and been copulating for just as long*. We still know so little about ourselves. We are still learning. John Chuchman's reflection today is intimately linked to this idea that we still have so much to learn about our own sexuality and the moral codes we need that will sustain and nurture our relationships. The old codes are no longer working. The Catholic Hierarchy have lost themselves pandering to a small minority and have become utterly remote from the vast majority in their flocks today. We need to dialogue amongst ourselves. As John writes: "Dialogue is an indispensable step along the path of human self-realization". [more]

007 :
26 Feb 2011

The abuse scandal is far from over... Clerical abuse campaigner Richard Sipe has sent us this new assessment of the renewed state of the clerical abuse scandal in the United States following the release last month of the second lengthy Philadelphia Grand Jury investigation into the sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by archdiocesan clergy and employees. Mr Sipe concludes that the prosecution of a higher level official in the Church grows closer and the abuse scandal for the institution is far from over in the United States. [more]

058 :
25 Feb 2011

Spirituality vs Religion... Now here is a new voice to Catholica exploring a topic that we often visit in our community from a fresh perspective. Emmy Silvius is a lay theologian working in the social services area and has a passion for social justice. From a previous discussion on Catholica Emmy found a pdf document of an address given by Dr David Tacey in 2003 to a group of Religious Educators arguing that Spirituality and Religion are becoming disconnected and they need to be reconnected. (Emmy provides a link to that in her footnotes and David Tacey's paper is also worth revisiting). What Emmy Silvius is essentially arguing in her commentary is how religion and spirituality might be reconnected. Spirituality is not just a selfish, individualistic pursuit, it has a community aspect. As she says in her opening line: "Spirituality is about connecting from the heart"! [more]

170 :
24 Feb 2011

Dr Elmer's most read commentaries during 2010: Number 10 Coming in at Number 10 with 1615 reads is Ian's commentary from 4th February last year. In fact it is the only commentary from last year to make the top 10 but that is the pattern on Catholica as most of our commentaries take some time before they build up a significant readership. This commentary from Dr Elmer delves back to explore what Jesus and Paul had to say on the subjects of eunuchs, castrati, celibacy and marriage. What is the meaning of all this today? Civilised societies do not expect men today to castrate themselves to serve the Emperor or the Church. The commentary sits well with the current discussion on Catholica about human sexuality in providing a glimpse into some of the attitudes discussed by Jesus and that founder of the modern Church, Paul, who won the argument about gentiles not needing to be circumcised. [more] | [see also today's email]

165 :
23 Feb 2011

Human Sexuality: A discussion • III • Finding a middle course... Tom McMahon central argument today would appear to be almost a question: how can society find a middle way for discussion about human sexuality between the fools' gold found in Hollywood and the popular media, and the medieval attitudes that still prevail in the Roman institution? He suggests women have to have greater input in the discussion and we need to take into account what we are learning from the insights of modern medicine and understanding of human psyche. Sex and human sexuality have become divided into two separate subjects. Tom argues we have to bring them together again. And by "we" he means "us" — people who meet in places like Catholica! [more] | [see also today's email]

164 :
23 Feb 2011

The meaning of priesthood today... Tom McMahon writes: "Father Eric Hodgens, Melbourne priest ordained 50 years has summarized in four pages the whole of my thinking as priest ordained in 1954. His description of being ordained not by, or for, God but for and by people tells the whole of his holy (wholesome) mindset. 10,000 cheers and thanks for Eric and his like who have braved 50 years of pioneering Vatican Two and its life-saving atmosphere. Here is the Jesus people-priest about whom I have been commenting on for the past two years." [more] | [see also today's email for explanation of how this commentary fits into the series of Tom's commentaries]

166 :
22 Feb 2011

The Impossible Dream: Part 2 Jesus Christ is not logical but paradoxical. Following Christ is about learning to live with paradox. Christ, like many other great leaders in history was seen as a fool in his own time, his insight and greatness only recognised after his death. The pursuit of truth is an exercise in foolishness in a rational world and one that places great store on social conformity and wanting to be liked and respected. These are the essential lessons Dr Andrew Kania seeks to draw out from this conclusion to his exploration of the novel Don Quixote. [more]

1660 :
21 Feb 2011

Time for a breather... I don't know about you but I'm a little exhausted following the conversation and material of the last few days. The Zeitgeist movie has knocked the stuffing out of me — so much to discuss and it's so difficult to know where to start. Vynette hasn't yet prepared the next commentary in her series on Primacy so that gives all of us a little bit of a break. Not much mind you as the conversation continues apace in our forum. One of the several conversations I've been involved in is one sparked by a commentary by Fr Michael Kelly SJ in Eureka Street today about the priesthood. He claims it is time to fix it. I'm more of the opinion that Tom McMahon has advanced on Catholica that the Trentan priesthood is beyond being "fixed". You can follow that conversation in our forum. We have a very full week of commentaries coming up and on Friday it will be a real pleasure to welcome a new female commentator to our ranks. ...Brian Coyne, Editor [more]

033 :
20 Feb 2011

The search for a Church we can be proud to belong to again... The editor of Catholica and his wife last night spent some time with a group of young people watching part of the third film in the Zeitgeist trilogy. Today's editorial raises questions as to why the institutional church seems so afraid of positioning itself as a leader in society — an institution the vast majority can have pride in wanting to belong to and to look up to? Young people are attracted to what is being said in films like Zeitgeist but they are not impressed by how the institutional church presents itself to the world. They are not convinced by the arguments the institution presents that it alone is the arbiter of truth and moral truth in the world. We ask why? [more]

031 :
20 Feb 2011

Some thoughts on Sexual Morality, Part 3: John Chuchman's reflection on sexual morality today has a focus on presenting an alternative to the emphasis the Magisterium puts on the meaning and ethics of human sexuality. He argues the Magisterium's one-size-fits-all sexual morality ignores the complexity of history, culture, gender, and all the socio-economic variables that impact human and sexual relationships. [more]

032 :
19 Feb 2011

The "cool" and "hot" of religious communications Part 2 This commentary by Fr Daniel Donovan is great catechesis in its own right. For our weekly and occasional readers you've arrived at Part II of a two-part essay by Fr Donovan exploring what's gone wrong with the institutional church's capacity to keep people enthused and participating through its liturgies. Fr Donovan argues that the present, expensive changes in train for the celebration of the Mass take us in the wrong direction and are likely to drive more away from participation unless the institution returns to the principles of communication explained in this essay. While this essay will probably not appeal to the audience the likes of Cardinal Pell and Pope Benedict appear to be trying to enthuse, it will have strong resonance with the sort of audience we are seeking to reach through Catholica — those who have largely given up listening to what the institutional leaders are trying to tell us. [more]

031 :
18 Feb 2011

The "cool" and "hot" of religious communications Part 1 That great secular apostle, Marshall McLuhan, who gave the world new insights into the mechanisms of modern communication died in 1980. That's now 31 years ago! One wonders what he would make of the vastly different, far more instantaneous world of communications we live in today? In this thought-provoking two-part essay from Fr Daniel Donovan which we present today and tomorrow, Fr Dan recalls some of the insights of Marshall McLuhan in his critique of the mistakes the present hierarchical leadership in their communications. Ritual, catechesis and theology have subtly different functions. There are valuable insights in what Fr Donovan writes as to why so many young people have simply given up listening. It's doubtful the bishops will be listening to anything Fr Donovan has to say, or any of us have to say on Catholica for that matter. They already have the hotline to God himself and do not feel they can learn anything from reading anything in places like this, eh? Just look at the huge crowds the Holy Father draws in St Peter's Square each week. He doesn't need any lessons in communications from a priest or lay people, does he? Read on, the bishops will probably not be interested in any of this but we are sure the readers of Catholica will be. [more]

069 :
17 Feb 2011

Dr Elmer's most read commentaries during 2010: Number 11 Coming in at Number 11 with 1564 reads is Ian's commentary from 28 July 2007 examining the radically different attitude Jesus had towards women. The original commentary was the first in a new series examining the ways in which Jesus differed from other religious leaders and rabbis. In this first part he examined the counter-cultural attitude Jesus took towards women and how this was reversed by later followers in the late-first and early-second centuries. Please see today's email for an explanation of why we are starting at Number 11 and some further interesting information about the popularity of Dr Elmer's commentaries. [more] | [today's email]

163 :
16 Feb 2011

Human Sexuality: A discussion • II • Women will be the ones to save us! Reflecting on the epoch-changing events in Egypt in recent days, and other books and films he's been reflecting on, Tom McMahon today presents the argument that women are the ones who, in the end, will be likely to save Catholicism if it is to be rescued from its decline into societal irrelevance. [more]

165 :
15 Feb 2011

The Impossible Dream: Part 1 We all love watching films and reading novels. Dr Andrew Kania today begins an exploration of one of the most successful stories of all time, Don Quixote. We think of the name Don Quixote in association with the phrase, "the impossible dream". Life for all of us is something of an "impossible dream" as it was for the characters in Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's novel. Andrew suggests we hold in our mind this verse from 1 Corinthians as we read this commentary: "If it was God's wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach". (1:21) [more]

012 :
14 Feb 2011

Questioning the understanding of Papal Primacy Part 3... This series from Vynette Holliday grows more fascinating with each instalment — particularly for those who followed closely the previous explorations of this general territory that Ian Elmer and Tom Lee led us through in their commentaries. Today's essay from Vynette explores in an interesting way the different pictures Peter and Paul had in their minds of both "authority" (who they thought they answered to) and to whom their work or mission was to be directed to. [more]

030 :
13 Feb 2011

Some thoughts on Sexual Morality, Part 2: John Chuchman's reflection on sexual morality cuts to a bottom line insight of Jesus and, indeed, all the major religions as they interpret 'the Golden Rule'. At the bottom line of all of our discussions, all of our thinking about our sexuality, we have to learn to respect ourselves, and to respect others. Everything else flows out of that. [more]

007 :
12 Feb 2011

Is the Eucharist real? Bill Farrelly has a wonderful ability as a writer to pose the questions we've probably all thought about at one time or another but never really answered. To be a bit colloquial though; he's a bugger — because he never answers them either! He provides wonderful reflections though — that probably do cause you, as the reader, to come up with an answer. [more]

057 :
11 Feb 2011

Fixing the problems the Church faces... Angus MacIntyre from Antigonish in Nova Scotia returns today with another reflection on the institutional church's efforts to re-invent itself in the wake of its present and recent crises. He argues for a new approach if the institution is serious about re-establishing itself as an organisation to be taken seriously by wider society. [more]

1649 :
10 Feb 2011

Today's email from the editor... I confess I feel at times like a worker in a deep underground labyrinth occasionally coming up for air. Catholica today is a huge labyrinth of information and opinion. For the last two days I've been buried up to my eyeballs in the Willow Connection part of the Marketplace. Yesterday I made a new index page to make it easier for visitors just to navigate that part of the website. The day before I put in an equally long shift updating the latest offerings in their new Liturgical Music series. I'm constantly aware that for the first time visitor it can be daunting coming to this website and being overwhelmed with what is available. My problem is one of simply finding enough hours to keep it all functioning well and going out to try and find more visitors who can make it all worthwhile. It is all very well building some fabulous resource or site, but if no one is using it there's really not much point. It's the problem any business enterprise, any government or even any church has. For us we continue to grow. I still haven't found the time to do the compilation of most read commentaries from Ian Elmer yet. However, Ian wrote an insightful mini-series back in November 2007 that is worth bringing back to attention in light of our present conversation sparked by Vynette Holliday's exploration of Papal Authority. Ian was exploring the origins of the Church in Rome and this question of the Primacy of Peter. Following below is the introduction to part II of that series and you will probably also be interested in part III so I'll include here it's introduction after that... [Today's email]

065 :
10 Feb 2011

Was Rome really the See of Peter? Continuing on from his commentary last week examining the origins of the Church in Rome, Dr Ian Elmer explores the connections between Rome as the See of Peter, and the notion that the Bishop of Rome can claim to be Peter's successor. Both of these notions are the sort of issues that John Paul II indicated as stumbling blocks in the path towards greater ecumenical co-operation, if not reunification. [more]

066 :
10 Feb 2011

Who then were the founders of the Church in Rome? Over the last two weeks Dr Elmer has explored two possible candidates for the honour of founder of the Church in Rome, Paul and Peter. His exploration of the material from Paul's letter to Rome suggests that neither of these apostles can claim that title — although the later Roman apologists would make that claim for them. This week he looks at further scholarly speculation about who the true founders of the Roman church may have been and when Christianity first came to Rome. [more]

162 :
09 Feb 2011

Human Sexuality: A discussion • Part 1 Tom McMahon opens this discussion on human sexuality today with an observation that wider society has become unbalanced about sexuality — and so is the Church. The reader might ask: which came first — the chicken or the egg? Is it possible for a group of today's senior's to map out some kind of more holistic approach to our attitudes to sexuality? [more]

164 :
08 Feb 2011

Part 2 of a series on leadership: Last night on television across Australia we had two programs which were effectively critiques of the leadership of this country's first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. She is not the first agnostic to lead a nation but her example might provide fodder for a discussion that contrasts with the picture of leadership Dr Andrew Kania explores in today's commentary. Dr Kania argues King Alfred the Great earned his greatness from two explicit qualities: his ability to unify a nation; and his emphasis on the education of his people. Ms Gillard certainly places an emphasis on the importance of education. It's probably still up for debate if she is a unifying force. Andrew also argues another quality in a leader is a sense of humility — a sense of being "a servant to a higher calling and Reality". It's an interesting topic for discussion both regarding political leaders and spiritual leaders. How important do you think it is that no leader think of themself as God? How important do you think it is that every leader have some sense of humility that they are also subject to a reality or power greater than any of us? [more]

011 :
07 Feb 2011

Questioning the understanding of Papal Primacy Part 2... In the second commentary in this series examining the Primacy claims within the Catholic tradition Vynette Holliday lays out a raft of authoritative quotations where the questions of Primacy have been laid out. What are we Catholics actually taught by the authoritative sources and what are the popularly held myths that have grown up around the notions of the Primacy of Peter and the primacy of his successors? [more]

029 :
06 Feb 2011

Some thoughts on Sexual Morality, Part 1: Over the next few weeks we're embarking on an experiment on little more than a whim and a prayer. Tom McMahon, our regular Wednesday commentator suggested we look a little more deeply at human sexuality. As mentioned last Sunday, John Chuchman has long been pondering the subject and had already prepared a series of reflections on sexual morality. What John writes may assist us, and Tom, in forging the direction for our discussion. In this first reflection, John is pondering the question of how we discern the Will of God? It is a question that applies to all the moral decisions we make in life not just ones concerning sexual morality. It is a good general starting point for our exploration. [more]

006 :
05 Feb 2011

On Being Good, but not too Good... You've got to hand it to Bill Farrelly: he poses some fascinating questions — without attempting to impose absolutist answers. Do any of us really want to become perfect, just like we imagine God is? How do we respond when evil and the consequences of the bad behaviour of others come knocking at our door? What is a truly 'God-like' response? This is a thought-provoking commentary without easy answers. [more]

012 :
04 Feb 2011

The Ecumenical Effort in Australia... George Ripon gave us a two-part essay last year [LINK] on the subject of the stalling of the ecumenical initiatives in the Church. In this essay, which he sent in just as we were going on holidays last year, George returns to review a Pastoral Letter prepared by the Australian Bishops last year "The Impulse of God's Grace". It was released to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the modern ecumenical movement in Edinburgh in 1910. In general George gives the bishops a very positive rap for this initiative albeit he thinks much more needs to be done. [more]

1642 :
03 Feb 2011

Severe Turbulence... We've been having a bit of severe air turbulence here in Australia in the last 24 hours. While the actual turbulence is mainly confined to the massive pathway being carved through the northern part of Queensland by Cyclone Yasi, it seems the rest of the population of this island continent are glued to their television sets watching the midnight-to-midnight live coverage that most of the television networks have been providing. Even our own Catholica Forum has gone relatively quiet in the last 12 hours or so. We've had our own problems up here in the Blue Mountains with heat wave temperatures turning our modem to act a little temperamentally. We're back on air but still not sure if the problems have been fully solved and if this is just a temporary reprieve. It has put the editor way behind in the work he intended to do yesterday preparing the new "best of" series from Ian Elmer. We'll now delay the start of that until next week. In the meantime please keep all the people of the world who are experiencing extreme weather events in your thoughts and prayers. We are very fortunate in Australia that the reports so far indicate that no lives have been lost so far in this most extreme cyclone to strike our nation in living memory. The people of poorer countries are far less fortunate than we are in the face of natural disasters. Our sense of all pulling together as one people seems to be strengthened with each disaster we face and our preparations in the face of impending extreme events keeps getting better and better. [more]

161 :
02 Feb 2011

Let us discuss the subject openly and honestly: Not so much a commentary from Tom McMahon today, as a challenge to all of us. Are you up for a really honest discussion on Human Sexuality? Official Roman Church thinking is probably the biggest single thing that drives our children away from listening to anything the Church has to say on any subject. Most of the wiser spiritual leaders long ago ceased speaking about the subject in public. Tom suggests we have a conversation about this, and about human sexuality itself. What would you say to your children? What set of values concerning human sexuality do you think society needs? What legacy of wisdom would you like to see the present generations of elders leaving to posterity? Essentially the question on the table from this commentary is: are you game enough to participate in such a conversation? Let us know your responses, in the forum or via email. [more]

163 :
01 Feb 2011

Part 1 of a series on leadership: Now here's something to think about ... and have a good conversation about: Dr Andrew Kania introduces a two-part series today exploring the nature of leadership. In this commentary the focus is on King Alfred the Great and is more or less background to what he wants to open-up on next week. The last paragraph today is the crucial one: we'd all agree that leadership is important. The question is does good moral leadership necessarily lead to all the nice things Andrew outlines in the last paragraph? So often in history it seems the crooks and bad guys win. Life for many is marked by injustice and unfairness meted out at the hands of tyrants. What are the lessons in all of this? What is the reward for courage and moral integrity? Why do we need public behaviour to be matched with private integrity in our secular or spiritual leaders? Dr Kania provides meat for a good discussion. [more]

056 :
31 Jan 2011

A plea for greater lay involvement in the running of the Church... Angus MacIntyre in Antigonish, Eastern Canada, read Fr Eric Hodgens' recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald and the discussion that has been generating on Catholica [LINK] on Cardinal Pell's proposal to import the "Catholics Come Home" marketing initiative from Chicago. Angus has been agitating for more lay involvement in Church governance in his Diocese of Antigonish, which you will remember has been involved in considerable embarrassment following the arrest of their previous bishop for possession of child porn. The Diocese is also presently involved in a massive sell-off of Church properties to pay legal obligations in a class action brought against it for sexual abuse by clergy. While Mr MacIntyre's article in one sense is directed to lay people in Canada — this and a further article are being published in New Catholic Times — readers elsewhere in the world will find much value in what he writes because this article well illustrates the crisis the Church is facing right across the Western world. Some of the support material available with this article (see the links at the end and further material we've published on the Catholica Forum HERE) are a commentary on how the bishops still seem to be floundering in their attempts to restore a little credibility to the mission of the institution. It reinforces some of what Fr Hodgens and others have been saying but from a perspective around the other side of the world. [more]

028 :
30 Jan 2011

Spirituality-Sexuality... Tom McMahon's commentary last Thursday [LINK] triggered a discussion which is ongoing on the challenges we have in discussing issues of sexuality with candor, honesty and openness. John Chuchman has long been pondering the difficulties and in direct response to Tom's commentary and the discussion on our forum [LINK] sent us a lengthy series of reflections on spirituality, sexuality and sexual morality. This is the first of those commentaries. [more]

005 :
29 Jan 2011

Playing around with the impossible... We've had a fair dose of sex on Catholica this week and it continues this weekend with commentaries from Bill Farrelly and John Chuchman tackling the subject from different perspectives. Bill's commentary today looks at the problem of promiscuity when boredom sets in in our relationships. He suggests it's an increasing problem in society — and obviously there are a lot of unsatisfied people out there judging by the advertisements on late night television and the number of dating sites in cyberspace. While he doesn't think the genie can be stuffed back in the bottle at the societal level, his reflection is more about what we can do in our personal relationships... [more]

1636 :
28 Jan 2011

The challenge in discussing Sexuality Issues: You'll remember just before Christmas the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, endeavoured to censor Fr Eric Hodgens from expressing his opinions in the Church-owned media, CathNews. The decision has ended up backfiring badly and given Fr Eric probably access to the largest readership he's ever had. Today there's another article in the nationally distributed Fairfax Media where Fr Eric is having a go at the Cardinal's proposed initiative to introduce the American advertising program "Catholics Come Home" to Australia. You might want to catch up with Fr Eric's article, and the discussion it's generating on our forum. [more]

160 :
27 Jan 2011

The challenge in discussing Sexuality Issues: Something a little different today: Tom McMahon invites our feedback on the discussion on sexuality and homosexuality. His commentary is part reflection on the series he's just presented and part questioning of whether its possible to even have an intelligent conversation at the moment. He directs a series to question to Brian Coyne, editor of Catholica, and others to you, the readers of Catholica. To kick off the conversation, Brian Coyne provides some of his responses at the end of Tom's commentary. [more]

1634 :
26 Jan 2011

A day of mixed feelings... For our continually growing international readership, today is Australia Day downunder. It's one of the big public holidays in this country created to commemorate the colonisation of this island continent by the British on 26th January 1788. Increasingly in recent decades it has also become a time when the more intelligent and reflective sections of our nation acknowledge the enormous cost paid by the Aboriginal and Islander peoples who had called this place home and built sophisticated communities here over a period of around forty thousand years. Their lands were effectively stolen from them with next to no compensation, their cultures were trashed by our forebear invaders, and for a long, long time they were treated as second class citizens and inferior human beings. Thankfully today efforts are being made to acknowledge our (Eurocentric) sins of trespass and to restore dignity to our Aboriginal and Islander brothers and sisters. While we don't have a specific lead commentary today, could we draw your attention to another of those beautiful "sharing our story" posts that Bill Dowsley placed on the forum earlier yesterday which reflects something of the values in this nation which the Australian people generally hold dear — compassion for the person who has been handed a tough lot in life. [more]

010 :
25 Jan 2011

Questioning the understanding of Papal Primacy Part 1... Many of the articles of faith we Catholics were brought up to believe seem to have been planted in us as deeply as our DNA. Many we have accepted without any questioning whatsoever. They seem as though they were cast in stone and created at the foundation of time. In this new series Vynette Holliday investigates the historical record, the scriptural references, and authoritative teachings to explore where the ideas of Papal Primacy came from. What are Catholics actually taught by the authoritive sources and what are the popularly held myths that have grown up around the notions of the Primacy of Peter and the primacy of his successors? [more]

089 :
24 Jan 2011

How would you re-evangelise the Church? It's highly unlikely that your opinions or mine are going to influence Benedict-Ratzinger. Your opinions might be treated as valuable by a lot of other people — particularly on how to make Catholicism relevant again in the world if you've had a lived experience as a teacher or parent trying to pass on the faith to more recent generations. Fr Dan Donovan's commentary last week on the views of a bishop on this subject have been generating a lot of interest and I've added a new commentary at the top of our forum which now includes a link to the actual address Bishop Anthony Fisher gave to the priests and school principals of his diocese. Personally I think what the bishop had to say is "more of the same we've been hearing for the past 30 years" and is unlikely to turn around the decline in participation. I've given some of my views as to what the bishops need to do if a real effort is going to be made to address the decline to irrelevance and remant status. We'd like to hear from you though: as a parent, or a teacher, or a person in an administrative or management position, or retired from such, if you were serious about making the institution relevant again in society what do you suggest needs to be done? As you no doubt already appreciate, we are happy to receive responses written under pseudonyms but, if for any reason, you need to write under a pseudonym try and at least give readers some indication of the level of expertise or experience you bring to the conversation without giving away your identity. To join any conversation and contribute positively to any community you always need to give something of yourself away. That is fundamental to all constructive communication. This can be done without necessarily giving away your privacy or identity as many contributors to Catholica discussions over the years have demonstrated very, very well. ...Brian Coyne, Editor [more]

004 :
22 Jan 2011

Do not abandon the already born... The abortion and right to life debate in society seems to have been taken over by the extremists and taliban in the Christian churches. It is no longer about saving the unborn but seems to have become some game to prove "we Christians or believers know God's rules and all the rest of you in society are pagans". This hysteria is not reducing the incidence of abortion in the world but closing down the ears of the world to any reasonable discussion about the sanctity we ought accord to human life. In today's commentary Bill Farrelly pleads for us to reduce the emotional hysteria and restore a little sanity and reason to the public debate... [more]

030 :
21 Jan 2011

What were Jesus' views on leadership, authority and ministry? Part 2 In this two-part commentary Fr Donovan questions the model of church (ecclesiology) that seems to have developed in recent times. Yesterday [LINK] he went back to Scripture, more especially the writings of St Luke, in an endeavour to tease out what were the views of Jesus on leadership, authority and ministry. Today he gives some practical examples of where he believes institutionally we're not living up to the direction offered by Jesus. Again this is a commentary from Fr Dan where the footnotes are almost a second commentary in their own right. [more]

029 :
20 Jan 2011

What were Jesus' views on leadership, authority and ministry? In this two-part commentary which we are publishing today and tomorrow, Fr Daniel Donovan questions the model of church (ecclesiology) that seems to have developed in recent times. He goes back to Scripture, more especially the writings of St Luke, in an endeavour to tease out what were the views of Jesus on leadership, authority and ministry. [more]

159 :
19 Jan 2011

Homosexuality-Homophobia-Church Part 2: You can almost sense the soul-searching in the words as they leap off your screen in this second commentary by Tom McMahon examining Homosexuality-Homophobia-Church. As we wrote in the introduction to the first part of this commentary: "it's difficult territory to discuss in public but Tom makes the attempt". This continues an exploration Tom began before Christmas. [more]

028 :
18 Jan 2011

Bishop's Holiday Plans raise eyebrows... The new Bishop in the rural Diocese of Bathurst in New South Wales, +Michael McKenna, has been raising some eyebrows with a letter that was sent out recently to the priests of his diocese notifying them of his plans for an overseas trip and for the importation of more priests from overseas. In today's commentary Fr Daniel Donovan gives voice to some of the concerns. A copy of the bishop's letter is attached to the commentary. [more]

088 :
17 Jan 2011

Book Review: "Windknocker" by Bud Malby reviewed by Brian Coyne... Welcome again to the first of our regular commentaries for a new year. To kick things off, Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, was sent a book by one of the American members of our forum, Bud Clay or Bud Malby, last week. It doesn't have an inspiring cover but both Brian and his wife have found themselves blown away by the story Bud tells. Here is Brian's review of the book... [more]

027 :
09 Jan 2011

Secret Bishops' Business! Fr Dan Donovan sent in this commentary over the holiday period as a response to the attempted censoring of Fr Eric Hodgenss. We have published it in the Catholica Forum. In this hard-hitting commentary Fr Dan effectively explains why the institution has ended up in the diabolical position it is today with nearly 90% of the baptised across the Western world effectively just dropping out of regular participation. ...Editor [more]

162 :
07 Jan 2011

Celebrating the Byzantine Christmas... A special commentary from Dr Andrew Kania today as we wish our readers from the Byzantine Rite — and we have quite a few of you especially from Canada, Australia and Europe largely thanks to Dr Kania the blessings of this special season of the year. In this commentary Andrew relates the sad, but instructive, story behind a Byzantine Carol that has become a great favorite in the West as well. [more]

64005 :
06 Jan 2011

A few perceptive thoughts from Richard Rohr in the Evolutionary Christianity series... Various contributors to the Catholica Forum have been drawing attention to the series of talks being hosted by Michael Dowd on the changing ways many people are approaching their spirituality. In this post Brian Coyne draws attention to some of the ideas put forward by Richard Rohr in his conversation with Michael Dowd on "both-and -vs- either/or" religion and Richard's ideas on the sort of relationship a spiritual pilgrim ought seek with Jesus for spiritual growth. [more]

63921 :
05 Jan 2011

A conversation about life... One of the key things about Catholica is that we're endeavouring to create a community. We see an important part of our raison d'etre as nothing more significant than simple sharing our stories. They need not even be particularly religious stories but simply stories about how we approach life and its challenges and joys. Sometimes the stories get mixed up in the main forum but there is also a dedicated forum for these examples of sharing. The forum contains many examples that are uplifting little tales. The latest addition is by Ian Lawther relating some of the challenges and joys he has experienced in building his house despite his disabilities with his children. There are now a heap of similar stories scattered throughout Catholica by a wide variety of writers. This link will take you to the index page of the "Sharing Our Stories" forum: [more]

63941 :
05 Jan 2011

Attempted censoring of priest by archbishop backfires seriously... The attempting censoring of prominent priest-commentator, Fr Eric Hodgens, by the Archbishop of Melbourne seems to be backfiring badly with Fr Hodgens now generating more attention in both the national and international media than he could have ever dreamed of without the censorship. The controversy has generated plenty of discussion in our forum. Here's just the latest sample: [more]

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04 Jan 2011

Parent-child vs an adult-adult spirituality... Flowing out of a discussion on some wierd views about the Third Secret of Fatima, Liz posted an interesting video on our forum exploring parent-child -vs- adult-adult relationships in religion and spirituality. It has generated considerable discussion in our forum. [more]

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03 Jan 2011

The search for spiritual and personal integrity... In a review of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book, Infidel, Brian Coyne raises questions relevant to all of us in our search for spiritual and personal integrity. [more]