007 :
30 Sep 2007

Breaking Bread in the High Sierras… Tom McMahon continues his series of reminiscences from his own personal journey to explore the meaning of eucharist and communion in our lives. In his essay today he kicks around the notion of the archetypal images we have of what the Eucharist means and where some of the came from. He sees his own life-long journey as one of trying to get to the essence of Eucharist — or eucharist. [more]

020 :
30 Sep 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit VII: Fear of the Lord For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the seventh and final gift of Fear of the Lord. [more]

057 :
29 Sep 2007

The Church as Sacrament Ian Elmer continues this interesting exploration of the attitude and balance we are invited to bring to the business of "being Church". In viewing Church as "the Sacrament of Christ" are we called to worship or are we called to serve? [more]

003 :
28 Sep 2007

Do retreat centres have a future? Ted Mason has been helping run the Shalom House of Prayer at Carcoar in the Bathurst Diocese for 24 years. In this article he examines the uncertain future being faced by retreat centres as the influence of the Church declines. Brian Coyne responds by asking if we need to radically re-formulate how we "do Church" and "worship God" if the decline is to be reversed? He suggests one proposal which might help give retreat centres a new future. [more]

060 :
26 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible V… In this fifth commentary in a series Peregrinus examines the origins of the New Testament. [more]

042 :
25 Sep 2007

Getting the balance right… Dr Kania examines the challenge we face in the education of young people, not to mention our own selves, in getting "the balance right" between freedom and discipline, between optimism and pessimism, between being cautious and "going for it". There are no easy answers but finding "the right balance" is the critical ingredient to finding contentment. fulfilment and our ultimate purpose in life. [more]

002 :
24 Sep 2007

Three "very naughty boys"! As part of our on-going series looking at Catholic Education and the responsibilities we as a community have towards our young people we present an extended interview with three young men of approximately 25 years of age, all educated in Catholic primary and secondary schools who no longer have any significant connection with the Church. [more]

006 :
23 Sep 2007

Crazy for Jesus… Tom McMahon continues his series of recollections from his own personal journey to explore the meaning of eucharist and communion. Today he recalls the contasting approaches of a number of clerics he has met over his lifetime who brought contrasting approaches to this sacrament. [more]

019 :
23 Sep 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit VI: Piety For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Piety. [more]

056 :
22 Sep 2007

Why must we go to church? Ian Elmer presents one of the best arguments you're likely to find anywhere about what the Sunday Eucharistic obligation is all about. [more]

002 :
21 Sep 2007

A lay reflection on the Eucharist… Inspired by Tom McMahon's reflection last Sunday on "eucharist-Eucharist", Ted Mason sent in this poignant little reflection on the most memorable Eucharist he ever attended… [more]

012 :
20 Sep 2007

The Woman by the Well… What a beautiful essay this is today from Daniel Gullotta? I am sure many who read it will feel enlightened and uplifted. It is a poignant reflection on the meaning we can take today from that ancient story where Jesus encounters the foreign woman at a well and has a conversation with her… [more]

059 :
19 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible IV… In this fourth commentary in a series Peregrinus concludes his examination of the Old Testament by looking at some of the background to the Books of Wisdom and the Books of the Prophets. [more]

041 :
18 Sep 2007

The scandal of the Latinization of the Universal Church In this lengthy and powerful commentary Dr Kania discusses the scandal of the manner in which the Eastern Churches have been treated by the Latin Church. The commentary will be of significant interest to a lot of readers from different points of view including the present discussion going on in Australia regarding the ordination of married men. It's wider message though concerns relations between the Eastern and Western Lungs of Catholicism. [more]

001 :
17 Sep 2007

How do we reach out to the 85%? It's a pleasure to welcome another writer to the pages of Catholica. Ted Mason hails from the Bathurst Diocese where he helps run Shalom, the Diocesan House of Prayer at Carcoar. He submitted this article in response to the recent commentary by Fr Kevin Murphy ("Why People Drop Out") providing some further interesting observations from one of the rural dioceses in Australia. …Editor [more]

005 :
16 Sep 2007

eucharist or Eucharist? One could argue that a second great benefit of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book, besides its excellent exploration of so many questions of theology, belief and practice, is that it has given an enormous number of people a new-found confidence to speak their minds. Intelligent people are sick to death of this culture that has developed in the Church where everyone is beholden to the "thought police". One wonders what the Vatican would do if the entire population rose up and questioned some of its pet assumptions? Don't answer that question. 85% of the population of the Western world has and you can see what the Vatican has done: it has constantly caved into the insecure elements in the population constantly running around proclaiming the sky is about to fall in if we discuss such as such. Tom McMahon is another man, like Geoffrey Robinson, who is not afraid to called a spade a freakin' shovel. Enjoy this new series Tom begins today where he endeavours to explore the real meaning of eucharist and communion in our lives away without fear of the hand-wringers, thought police and those in despair that the sky is about to fall in if we question a few assumptions. …Editor [more]

018 :
16 Sep 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit V: Knowledge For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Knowledge. [more]

055 :
15 Sep 2007

Do we have to convert everyone to Christianity? Ian Elmer re-visits the contentious question of the role of Jesus in the salvation of humanity. In the wake of 911 and the rise of fundamentalism across all religions he explores the alternative theological perspectives including the rise of the interfaith movement. He argues: we don't have to jump on the "Interfaith" bandwagon by deserting our belief in the uniqueness of the Christian message. [more]

002 :
14 Sep 2007

Why people drop out… Fr Kevin Murphy has been catching up on Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book and shares these reflections of his own as to why people are disenchanted and dropping away from the Church. On the positive side he argues that small faith communities offer hope in addressing the decline. [more]

011 :
13 Sep 2007

Immanuel — God with us… In this essay submitted as part of his theology studies at ACU National, Daniel Gullotta explores the connection between the story in Isaiah about Immanuel and how this came to be linked to the birth of Jesus… [more]

058 :
12 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible III… In this third commentary in a series Peregrinus examines the History Books of the Old Testament as they are understood via tradition and through modern scholarship. [more]

040 :
11 Sep 2007

What's at the core of our spiritual quest? In today's commentary Dr Andrew Thomas Kania is essentially asking the questions: what, at its core objective is the whole spiritual quest about? Are we trying to suck up to God demonstrating how pure and holy we are or are we prepared to get down into the dirt-under-the-fingernails territory that Jesus walked where we have to rub shoulders with the unclean, the sinners and possibly some quite detestable people? Or, to put it another way: are we trying to prove how holy we are OR are we trying to "become like God" — to think and act as God might act? [more]

028 :
10 Sep 2007

Addressing the "boredom" and "irrelevance"… Brian Coyne responds to some of the issues raised by one of the younger participants on our discussion forum in his contention that it is a sense of "boredom" and "irrelevance" that is driving so many young people out of the Church. [more]

017 :
09 Sep 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit IV: Fortitude For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Fortitude. [more]

054 :
08 Sep 2007

Is Jesus just for human beings? Ian's commentary today explores some pretty serious territory albeit that our headline might be a little tongue in cheek. He argues, and asks: "in recent years we have moved away from the atonement model of salvation to a more sacramental one, which views Jesus' life, death and resurrection as the primordial sign of God's encounter with humanity. On this view the question would be, 'Does God invite other beings into the same relationship as that to which humanity is called?' An important facet of this discussion turns on the notion of Christ as universally significant." [more]

013 :
07 Sep 2007

A view from the pew… For those who know her well, a large part of Amanda McKenna's personal story and outlook on life is intimately locked up with two key formative experiences in her life. On the one side she came from a home where the love between her own parents was something very tangible, beautiful and open. They were people of deep faith very much enlivened by the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council. On the dark side, and unbeknown to her parents at the time, Amanda was brutally raped as a 14 year old by a stranger. She suppressed the entire memory, hiding it even from herself, for decades until this demon could be locked up in her life no longer. It eventually erupted in her life, and her family's life, decades later and required almost a decade of medical treatment, both psychiatric and physical, until she recovered. Reading Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's new book has had special poignancy for her. In this review she shares her impressions of the book… [more]

004 :
06 Sep 2007

Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and all that "stuff"! Long time lover of authentic "Catholic" thinking, Tom McMahon, has been busting for ages to have a go at what he sees as the "outmoded views" of the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, on "Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and all that 'stuff'". Well, we've given him a page to "let rip" and we're also pleased to see Tom joining the pages of Catholica on a more regular basis as a commentator. (The editor reserves the right to come back in this ongoing debate about all this eschatological "stuff" and the ultimate meaning, purpose and objective of all this religion and faith business. Stay tuned for a vigorous, on-going discussion and we'd welcome your views on why we bother with all this belief in God and going to Church business.) [more]

057 :
05 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible II… How the bible was constructed is, to some extent "educated guesswork" argues Peregrinus. To illustrate though, how scripture is not only about history, but comes out of history, he looks at just one theory in detail as to how The Torah is thought to have evolved. [more]

039 :
04 Sep 2007

The two faces of Eve… In this provocative commentary written a few weeks ago in Oxford — which takes on new relevance in the wake of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book examining the recent problems of Power and Sex in the Catholic Church — Dr Andrew Thomas Kania, exposes the historical problem of corruption in the institutional Church; the constant problem of the authorities wanting to turn a blind eye to it; and the challenge all of us face in constant vigilance. Perhaps ironically he also quotes some ancient wisdom from St John Chrysostom about the qualities needed by those who are elected as leaders in the Church. The irony being that were the Church to have been more open and democratic perhaps the people might have had some say and that just may have provided some protection against the recent scandals as Professor Leonard Swidler argues with eloquence and at length in his recent book: "Making the Church our Own — How We Can Reform the Catholic Church from the Ground Up". [more]

027 :
03 Sep 2007

You might be interested in… The editor's inbox is overflowing at the moment no doubt caused by the extraordinary growth being experienced by Catholica. Here are three stories that have come in in the past few days that Catholica readers will be interested in: a proposal to set up a Catholic Writers' Group or Guild; a request from an actor/director in the United States for actors/producers to stage a play here next year in conjunction with WYD; an update from Dr Armen Gakavian about his humanitarian efforts on behalf of a family in Armenia. [more]

038 :
02 Sep 2007

A Father's Day Reflection… A new-ish father, Dr Andrew Thomas Kania, reflects on Fatherhood for Father's Day. [more]

016 :
02 Sep 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit III: Counsel For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Counsel. [more]

053 :
01 Sep 2007

The Relationship between the Individual Conscience and Church Teaching II… Ian Elmer's commentary last week on the primacy of the conscience generated some debate in the discussion forum, indicating the significance and importance of this issue. In the interests of furthering the debate, and in the light of recent disputes between Cardinal Pell, Archbishop Hickey and Catholic politicians vis-à-vis stem cell research, Ian thought it might be appropriate to apply the principles outlined last week to this hot topic. [more]

001 :
31 Aug 2007

Providing moral support to the Australian bishops... Dr Paul Collins is one of the prime movers behind the petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops asking them to consider a number of proposals that might help address the shortage of priests in Australia. In this very candid and honest commentary Dr Collins argues that we are very fortunate in Australia in presently having some excellent, pastorally-minded bishops who are concerned at the crisis facing the Church in this country in being able to provide for the sacramental needs of the Australian Catholic community. In fact, he argues, the moderate, pastorally-minded bishops form a broad and decisive majority in the college of Australian bishops. He explains how the petition is seeking to elicit moral support from within the broad lay community in support of the bishops as they endeavour to address the significant challenges facing the Church in being able to provide ready access to the sacramental life of the Church in the future. [more]

025 :
30 Aug 2007

The financial challenges posed by WYD… The folks in the cloister are having an animated conversation today about the financial challenges being posed by World Youth Day. Is there a Plan "B" for Randwick? And word is that it is proving difficult finding corporate sponsors given the competition for corporate sponsorship coming from the Beijing Olympics. Do the organisers have a plan to prevent WYDSYD08 becoming the sort of financial challenge for the Church that the event proved to be for Toronto in 2002? [more]

010 :
30 Aug 2007

The carpenter's son… In this essay submitted as part of his theology studies at ACU National, Daniel Gullotta explores the difficulties involved in trying to build a picture of the historical Jesus… [more]

056 :
29 Aug 2007

The origin of the Bible I… Peregrinus begins an extended series today which is seeking to explore in some detail what the origins of Sacred Scripture are. His commentary today begins by looking at the origins of the Old Testament. Today's email also provides a link to the explosive interview Bishop Geoffrey Robinson has given to Stephen Crittenden on ABC Radio National's " The Religion Report" this morning. Don't miss it! [Peregrinu's Commentary] [Today's email]

037 :
28 Aug 2007

Profiles of Courage… Dr Kania enters this essay by relating his experience walking into an RE class on the morning after 911 in Perth, Western Australia, about as far around the other side of the world from the bombing of the World Trade Centre as you can possibly get while remaining on dry ground. He uses the scene as the setting for a reflection on the Christian virtue of courage. [more]

026 :
27 Aug 2007

What is the real "crisis" the institution faces? The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, explores a number of questions raised by the publication of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book yesterday. Does his book address the real "crisis" facing the institutional Church? How are the institutional leaders likely to respond? [more]

015 :
26 Aug 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit II: Understanding For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Understanding. [more]

052 :
25 Aug 2007

The Relationship between the Individual Conscience and Church Teaching… In this provocative commentary, Ian Elmer explores the difficult and topical issue of Primacy of Conscience but takes the discussion much further seeking to examine, based on Church teaching and thinking, how we, as individuals, go about the process of discerning what our conscience is saying to us in order to arrive at the particular moral truth for any particular moral dilemma we might be facing. [more]

012 :
23 Aug 2007

World Peace Day Video 2007... This video is worth watching just to hear the guy's story and for his style of communication. He also has a message that might motivate you to take some concrete action that will contribute a little to world peace. [more]

055 :
22 Aug 2007

Tour de Force… Today's commentary from Peregrinus is a tour de force ripping through more shibboleths than most of us can poke a stick at. You'll meet new and unfamiliar terms like "Prosperity Theology", "Abundance Theology", "Poverty Theology" and "Stewardship Theology". Don't venture into this commentary if you believe you already have all the right answers. [more]

002 :
21 Aug 2007

Open Letter to Petition Organisers... Bishop Pat Power has written to the organisers of the Petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops supporting the call for consideration of the ordination of married men and also encouraging discussion of the more contentious issue of the women's ordination. [more]

036 :
21 Aug 2007

The Getting of Wisdom… Here's a really thoughtful reflection from Dr Andrew Thomas Kania poignantly looking at many of the dimensions to the acquiring of wisdom in our lives. [more]

025 :
20 Aug 2007

A liturgy composed from the heart — and soul! On the discussion forum this morning Fr Alex Caughey started an interesting conversation about symbol and the ultimate meaning of our faith (See "The heart of the matter"). In his contribution to that discussion Brian Coyne made mention of the recent "liturgy" prepared for the recent funeral of his first grandson. In this commentary Brian endeavours to share some of his experience as a witness. [more]

014 :
19 Aug 2007

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit I: Wisdom For our Sunday reflections on Catholica Australia we are presenting a series of prayers reflecting on The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Today's focus is on the Gift of Wisdom. [more]

051 :
18 Aug 2007

By whose authority? The interest this unprecedented petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops has stirred, and the courageous and very political decision of the President of the Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Phillip Wilson, to scuttle an endeavour designed to derail that petition and position the Conference and the Bishops in a politically neutral position in relation to the petition proceeding without impediment, has inspired Ian Elmer to prepare this commentary for us on the nature of authority within the Church. [more]

001 :
17 Aug 2007

Another lay response to Bishop Manning's interview… Way over on the other side of this continent in the South West of WA, Peter Beeson, has been mulling over what the Bishop of Parramatta, Kevin Manning, had to say in his interview with Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, last week. He provides a summary of what he thinks were the key points in Bishop Manning's argument and he shares his thoughts on a couple of areas where he finds himself in disagreement with the Bishop and indeed with Church teaching as it has been urged on the faithful… [more]

009 :
16 Aug 2007

The politics of Paul and the Roman Empire… In this essay, which was not written as part of his theology studies but just out of personal interest, Daniel Gullotta explores some interesting historical and political links on the titles humankind has given to Jesus… [more]

054 :
15 Aug 2007

A difficult discussion… Catholica Australia evolved out of the CathNews discussion board community not as a competitor but from a sense of frustration in being able to continue to hold conversations in that place. As in the relationship of child to its parent, the original community that formed Catholica has had a difficult relationship with the CathNews discussion board in the year and a quarter of our existence. Peregrinus explores the issues in more depth. [more]

003 :
14 Aug 2007

Bishop Kevin Manning… As the third in this series of in-depth interviews with Catholic lay and religious leaders we have pleasure in presenting this extended conversation between Bishop Kevin Manning, pastoral leader of the Diocese of Parramatta, and Brian Coyne, editor and publisher of Catholica Australia. The conversation encompasses many of the touchstone issues that come up for discussion on the Catholica forum and in the media that are proving significant challenges for the Church today. [more]

035 :
13 Aug 2007

The image of God… What does it really mean when we say we are made "in the image and likeness of God"? Dr Andrew Thomas Kania offers a few reflections. [more]

050 :
11 Aug 2007

Biblical scholarship… Ian Elmer takes a break from his present series on Jesus to offer an alternative view to the one advanced by Cardinal Pell last Sunday concerning the value of biblical scholarship and the value of biblical scholars. [more]

009 :
10 Aug 2007

Does the Latin Mass help reconcile the divisions within the Church… Two of our recent commentators, Frs Daniel Donovan and Kevin Murphy, have written to the editor drawing attention to some comments Sr Joan Chittister has voiced in her regular column in National Catholic Reporter regarding Pope Benedict's decision regarding the Latin Mass. [more]

008 :
09 Aug 2007

The context of the Fourth Gospel… In this essay submitted as part of his theological studies, Daniel Gullotta explores the historical, social and religious background of John's gospel in an endeavour to describe the environment that led to its formation… [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]

053 :
08 Aug 2007

Juxtaposing a vision of Heaven and one of Hell… In contrast to his pictures of Hell last week, today Peregrinus explores that curious juxtaposition we celebrated on Monday — the Feast of the Transfiguration and the Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima. What can we learn? [more]

034 :
07 Aug 2007

Saints ans Spiritual Companions… In this commentary Andrew explores the value of Saints and Spiritual Companions in our lives. [more]

041 :
06 Aug 2007

A Browse through the Irish Echo… Each second Wednesday evening Cliff Baxter says he has an excuse to sneak down to his local Irish pub to have a Guinness. The excuse he gives his wife is that he's going down to pick up a copy of the Irish Echo. Bronwyn's seen through the ruse for years as she actually works at the newspaper as a proofreader and could bring a copy of the paper home for him. She winks at him each time he comes out with the excuse knowing full well what his real reason for nicking down the pub is. Here's what he found in the paper this week… [more]

013 :
05 Aug 2007

Lay communities need to take greater ownership of the liturgy… Fr John McKinnon offers some thoughts on what it means to be a "Eucharistic Community" in the context of the thinking, or spirituality, that was encouraged by the Second Vatican Council and in the context of dwindling priest numbers. He argues lay communities need to take greater ownership of their liturgies. [more]

049 :
04 Aug 2007

Jesus' and the sects… Ian's commentary last week generated much discussion in our forum. This week's discussion is likely to be equally provocative. In it he explores where Jesus on the spectrum of sects that constituted Second-Temple Judaism and draws parallels with the divisions in the Church of today. [more]

013 :
03 Aug 2007

A time for optimism and hope... The Editor argues: "it is time for intelligent Catholic men and women to provide moral support to our religious men and women and to the great majority of our bishops. There are many, many reasons in this country to be optimistic for the future of our Church if only we can break the institution away from the clutches of the emotionally insecure who have placed a premium on the search for certitude in their lives at the expense of the search for "real truth" and the real guidance of the Holy Spirit that this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit so desperately hungers for today." [more]

011 :
01 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]

052 :
01 Aug 2007

Our pictures of Hell… Writing about Hell would have to potentially be one of the most depressing assignments on earth. Yet this commentary is a "must read" for anyone the least bit serious about these subjects of spirituality and religion. Peregrinus explores how human beings came to the range of beliefs we have about the afterlife and, in particular, the idea of Hell. [more]