001 :
31 Aug 2008

A victim of clerical sexual abuse lays it on the line Vinnie Nauheimer has written extensively on the subject of clerical abuse. He has written two books on the subject of clergy abuse. One of poetry "Silent Screams" and one comprised of selected letters sent over an eight year period on the subject of clergy abuse called "Epistles on Clergy Abuse". His art, poetry and writing can be found on websites around the world. Though no institution issues a degree in Clerical Abuse, Mr Nauheimer successfully survived advanced classes from the School of Intimidation and Slander sponsored by the NY Archdiocese. Both his and his family's degree of pain were acknowledged by a Grand Jury probing the issue of clergy abuse. He says his goals are the same as those stated by Pope Benedict XVI in Australia on July 19, 2008: "Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice." [more]

043 :
31 Aug 2008

American political spirituality… Over the next few week's it looks as though Tom McMahon is taking us on another excursion away from his Sacraments series. It's a useful excursion though looking at American spirituality amidst the coming Presidential election. Today he looks at the Democratic Convention. [more]

074 :
30 Aug 2008

Were Paul, and the other disciples, uneducated and unsophisticated? Now here's a really interesting commentary from Dr Ian Elmer that looks at the learning and intellectual sophistication of the early Christian leaders and particularly St Paul. Is it a myth that Jesus chose uneducated trades people as the leaders for his movement? Dr Elmer explores some of the evidence... [more]

026 :
29 Aug 2008

Christian theology and Aboriginal spirituality… Daniel Gullotta in today's commentary explores the challenges involved in inculturating, or enculterating, Christian theology into Australian indigenous cultures and spirituality. This essay was originally written as part of his theology studies at ACU. [more]

005 :
28 Aug 2008

Transforming our lives through a breakfast 'eucharist'… With the continuing crisis in vocations, the reality is that the opportunities to participate in the Eucharist are declining. Fr Kevin J Murphy is a priest in a rural Australian diocese which has been in the news in recent days because the shortage of priests is becoming acute. His reflection today wasn't written to address that crisis albeit that in the future we might be forced more and more into finding new ways of "living our faith". It is a gentle reflection that invites us to transform every meal into a small 'e' eucharist — a time of transformation in our lives. [more]

751 :
27 Aug 2008

What sort of Church do we want? Today's Wednesday Forum endeavours to extend the discussion that Dr Andrew Kania triggered yesterday in his lead commentary. Andrew is seeking to have the Latin Church show more respect for the Eastern "lung" of Catholicism but many of us in the West are coming to have a growing disenchantment with the thought police and those who support them in high places in Rome who think they are God also — or they sincerely believe they have been appointed by God as the only authentic interpreters of "the Divine mind". The discussion starter today comes from Paul Kelly, a reader of Catholica in the United States who is also a friend of Robert Blair Kaiser. Paul takes up the arguments of some valuable stuff we in the West can learn from the autochtonous Churches of the East. [more]

089 :
26 Aug 2008

Can the Eastern Churches offer us anything? Today we re-publish what is probably Dr Kania's most provocative commentary ever. "Breathing Deeply, With One Lung", was one of the first pieces that Dr Kania published after he returned to Australia from his studies in Uppsala, Sweden. The article has been published many times in various journals in Australia and overseas, and is probably the piece that Dr Kania is best known for. Recently it formed a major part of the educational material published in Australia for WYD 2008, regarding the structure of the Catholic Church. The article has become the point of reference for much that Dr Kania has written since on the Eastern Catholic Churches. As such it forms good background reading for a piece that Dr Kania has written for the forthcoming edition of The Tablet. [more]

025 :
25 Aug 2008

7.2: Women and Leadership… Concluding Part 7 of Tom Lee's manuscript, today's excerpt examines the role accorded to women in the early Church and how it gradually became subverted at later points in history. It also has some valuable observations on the role played by the early community leaders — the bishops and presidents of the local communities. [more]

042 :
24 Aug 2008

A Family Wedding… Tom and Elaine McMahon's son, Tommy, married Phuong Nugyen on July 8th. His commentary today explores a complex mix of the personal and the communal, the secular and theological. The underlying focus continues to be this exploration of the meaning of Sacrament in the vastly changed, and changing, world we occupy today. [more]

073 :
23 Aug 2008

Is Christianity wasted on the young? Whlle the evidence points to St Paul being a contemporary of Jesus the conversion of St Paul occurred shortly after the death of Jesus. In today's commentary, Dr Ian Elmer examines the chronology in an attempt to establish the age of St Paul. Dr Elmer's wider mission is to examine whether Christianity is a religion that has more relevance to the second half of our lives. Is it a religion that is essentially wasted on the young? [more]

025 :
22 Aug 2008

Trinity as Model for Marriage… In this essay contributed as part of his university studies, Daniel Gullotta examines some of the Christian thinking on the Sacrament of Marriage. While the union of Adam and Eve might serve as the most rudimentary model of marriage, Daniel argues the more theologically complete model is to view the Holy Trinity as the model for marriage. [more]

020 :
21 Aug 2008

Embracing the incertitudes and mystery of life with confidence… Today's editorial is partly sparked by the events currently unfolding in the Archdiocese of Brisbane concerning the parish community at St Mary's South Brisbane. The editorial ends by addressing that particular situation. Before that though the editorial seeks to raise some wider issues concerning the role of our institution and its leaders. Are our churches primarily a means of replacing the intrinsic uncertainties of life with man-made dogmas, certitudes and fundamentalism? Or are they primarily a means of providing comfort and companionship as we, the community at large, negotiate the uncertainties of life? [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]

088 :
19 Aug 2008

The Christian duty to be involved in politics… Dr Kania prompted us to bring this commentary forward a few days ago in the wake of the escalating political tensions between Georgia and Russia but it probably has wider significance than that. His essay is an examination of the imperative, relationship and tension that should exist between our religious outlook and our political outlook. He argues, contrary to the popularly accepted maxim, that it is "impossible to keep religion out of politics". Now that certainly opens up much scope for discussion — and we hope it does. While his arguments are chiefly directed at our civic responsibility to involve ourselves in secular politics it could be equally argued given all the "politics" involved in religion these days that we might also have a greater responsibility to be involved in the governance of our Church as well. Dr Kania calls on some pretty weighty intellects to support his arguments. [more]

024 :
18 Aug 2008

7.1: The Mother Church moves from Jerusalem to Rome… We present Part 7 of Tom Lee's manuscript which explores the shift of the Mother Church from Jerusalem to Rome in two segments. Today's segment looks at the emergence of the early structure and leadership and leads into an exploration of the place of women in the early Church — a subject which Tom expands on in the second segment next week. [more]

041 :
17 Aug 2008

Last rites and today's celebration of life… Tom McMahon's "Polar Express" is a "train of thought" or perhaps a "stream of consciosness". Today he let's rip with a challenging examination of our ideas concerning death and the Sacrament of the Last Rites. What is the meaning of death in our Technological Age? [more]

072 :
16 Aug 2008

Paul's Road before Damascus… Ian Elmer today takes us back before St Paul's conversion on he road to Damascus to explore the nature of his conversion not just from the point of view of scholarly or historical interest. The trasnformation in the outlook of St Paul has sharp lessons for the Church of today. [more]

003 :
15 Aug 2008

Here's something to cheer your catholic spirits this Friday … Ted Schmidt, Editor of Canada's independent Catholic online magazine, new catholic times sensus fidelium suggests we look to artists like Bruce Springsteen for "the Church of the big tent" — the one that welcomes all aboard this train — the one that contrasts with the Church of "the little flock" the fans of Benedict's vision seem so insistent on leading us to. [more]

004 :
14 Aug 2008

The legacy of Dr Peter Tannock The recently retired Vice-Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia, Dr Peter Tannock, leaves behind an enviable legacy in what he has achieved for the Catholic Church in this country in the realms of the infrastructure of primary, secondary and tertiary education. Today's lead commentary by Dr Michael Furtado was triggered by Dr Furtado coming across the interview the editor of Catholica recorded with Dr Tannock, originally for OnLine Catholics, but now also archived on Catholica [LINK]. Dr Furtado has had a long scholarly interest in the deeper questions of policy direction that have perhaps not been as easily raised and discussed when policy direction was almost single mindedly under the control of one man who was able to sway prime ministers to his vision as easily as he could Cardinals and Archbishops — albeit there might have been many others in positions of responsibility on commissions, governing bodies, and even amongst overseeing bishops, but they largely learned to dance to the Tannock baton with a not surprising appreciation of knowing who had the skills to deliver the funding arrangements without which no ideas can sing. Dr Furtado argues that with fewer of the poor having access to Catholic Education in this country today it is time to start asking some questions about policy direction. [more]

737 :
13 Aug 2008

Why is community important to our individual journey? Today's Wednesday Forum seeks to open up a discussion on the part that community plays in our lives. It's been triggered in part by some ideas the editor has been reading in Robert Tilley's book, "Benedict XVI and the Search for Truth" but also by a number of recent threads in our forum. In particular a remark that Francis made yesterday in the forum: "The outline Brian gave us of what he sees for Catholica presents wonderful challenges and I, for one, am willing to take them up. The idea of community, in particular, is great. I note that there must be a multitude of reasons why people would join in either reading or contributing to Catholica. However I suggest that ultimately we seek an assurance that the path we follow is leading to the Truth." Benedict argues that we derive that assurance through the community we belong to. But what sort of "community" are we talking about here? That is the crucial question — and that's the question the editor essentially throws up for discussion today. [more]

087 :
12 Aug 2008

It is better for one man to die for the people (Jn 18:14)! This is a meaty commentary from Dr Andrew Kania valuable at a number of levels. Firstly it is simply a good summary of another of those classics in literature, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. The heart of the commentary though is an exploration of the thinking of an important French philosopher, René Girard, who came up with a new way of understanding Jesus Christ and why he was killed. Dr Kania, through the works of Dostoyevsky and Girard, explores the role played by scapegoats in human behaviour. If Jesus Christ arrived to live in our community tomorrow would we "follow the mob" and treat him as a scapegoat also? [more]

020 :
11 Aug 2008

A 'must read' commentary from Fr Tom Doyle… Today we publish an abridged version of what is probably the hardest-edged commentary we've yet published on Catholica. It is from an address Fr Tom Doyle gave to the annual gathering of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) in Chicago on 13 July 2008. The paper might be of particular interest to readers of Catholica Australia for two reasons: Firstly, it is one of the most comprehensive discussions you're likely to find anywhere on the steps that are necessary to bring the maximum possible healing to victims of abuse. Allied to that what Fr Doyle has to say might provide valuable insights for any person who is dealing with the effects of abuse, either as a victim or a person endeavouring to provide support to victims. Secondly, the necessary discussion on the nature of priesthood and the nature of the Church Tom Doyle engages in provides a wealth a valuable reflections that dovetail in exceedingly well with the on-going discussion we've been having on priesthood. While Fr Doyle largely raises these issues in the negative context of what went wrong, when viewed in a positive light they also shed light on what needs to be done to bring about a more effective priesthood that can better minister to the needs ot people today. The commentary also contains a link to the full version of his paper (approx 11,000 words) [more]

040 :
10 Aug 2008

Jesus as first teacher… Tom McMahon's "Polar Express" is sort of paused-between-stations today. It's really a continuation of his commentary last week on the meaning of marriage today — where did it come from? He's also got some powerful stuff to say about the changing self-perceptions of women and how that played such a vital part in our changing understanding. He puts forward an interesting view of Jesus portrayed as our archetypal mom and dad — our "first teacher". [more]

071 :
09 Aug 2008

Conversion of heart… Is being a Catholic, a Christian, or any sort of religious or spiritual person, something radically different to being an Australian, a European, an American, or Chinese? Is it the same as being born into a particular family? Our religion, like our country of origin or family of origin, helps define us but doesn't it involve something more at some point — a conversion? Dr Ian Elmer's commentary today looks at the conversion of one of the most famous "converts", St Paul, and what his "conversion" might mean for us two millennia later. [more]

004 :
07 Aug 2008

A reflection on the challenges of belonging to Church today… Dr Graham English has been a Catholic teacher for 45 years. Now lecturing RE teachers at the Australian Catholic University he reflects on the challenges that young people face today in having a sense of "belonging" to the Catholic Church. [more]

730 :
06 Aug 2008

A discussion on gender roles… Here's a really big discussion topic. There are many dimensions to it. It's a discussion about the differences between women and men in the ways we look at life. It's a discussion on how our societal attitudes are changing to the stereotypical gender roles. It's a discussion that might link into our ongoing discussion about our changing understanding of the role of priesthood in society, and in the institutional Church. It might even touch on discussion of the changing perceptions of our gender roles within marriage. [more]

086 :
05 Aug 2008

Paradise Found! The contest between good and evil is one of the staples in classic literature. In this commentary Dr Andrew Kania has a look at some of those classic stories in the search for "Paradise Found"… [more]

023 :
04 Aug 2008

6.3: The impact of the destruction of the Temple (cont'd)… The new religion of Christianity faced considerable competition in its formative years. Tom Lee today concludes his examination of the impact of the destruction of the Temple and argues how "Christianity alone developed a system uniting philosophy and theology, sacrament and morality, a church and a private sense of God". [more]

039 :
03 Aug 2008

The meaning of Marriage… Tom McMahon's commentaries continue to attract some of the highest number of page reads of anything we publish on Catholica. Today's commentary might break all records as it touches on a subject will be of interest to a huge number of readers — the meaning of Marriage. [more]

070 :
02 Aug 2008

Constructing the "churchly Paul"… By way of introduction to today's commentary Dr Ian Elmer writes: "In last week's reflection on the Year of Paul, we spoke of how Paul was "put in his place" by friends and foes alike. The impetus for that commentary came from Victor Furnish's 1993 presidential address to the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington D.C. where he spoke of the difficulties of delineating the 'historical Paul' from the 'churchly Paul' (Furnish, 1993). This week, I would like to reflect on the second of these constructs, the 'churchly Paul'." [more]

019 :
01 Aug 2008

What people wrote in their letters to Pope Benedict… In his official visit to Australia for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict saw many people and spoke to many officials and selected young people. He didn't travel widely around our nation and it is doubtful if he even had a chance to have much of a heart-to-heart with bishops outside of Cardinal Pell's immediate circle of influence. Catholics for Ministry organised a small letter-writing endeavour at late notice in an endeavour to provide His Holiness with a slightly wider view of the state of the Catholic Church in Australia. Today we publish extracts from some of those letters which attempt to give an overview of what was said in the broad thrust of all the letters that were submitted. [more]

042 :
31 Jul 2008

The search for a new understanding of Jesus… The Editor, Brian Coyne, received an email yesterday from Mark Makowski in Minneapolis asking for a more detailed explanation of the suggestion Brian has been putting forward in recent times for us to view Jesus as a "model" or "blueprint" for our lives. Mark wrote: "A friend of mine sent me your article entitled Why Evangelize.  I read it. I appreciate all your efforts and your commitment to stay the course in the RC church.  I'd like to hear more about your blueprint ideas concerning JC.  I'd say that some don't know how to read a blueprint.  The bishops keep selling the wrong blueprint. And the pope has a history of deception and I don't think he's changed much since taking on the taller hat.  Nonetheless, I am intrigued by your blueprint idea." Today's commentary is a slightly expanded version of the response Brian Coyne sent to Mark. Essentially it is the story of his personal journey in search of a more believable and accessible image of Jesus than the one he had been brought up with. [more]

723 :
30 Ju1 2008

The meaning of life & death in 10 easy points? Brian Coyne was asked by a nephew last night to help out with a school assignment on Catholic understanding of death. He was inspired by the question to try and tackle and answer for himself. He throws up the result of his thinking for the forum discussion question not so much seeking support for his view but seeking responses that challenge the perspective he puts forward. What is your understanding of death? Where do your views differ from Brian Coyne's? [more]

085 :
29 Jul 2008

A New Age of Iconoclasm! Although the images in the headline at left might not suggest it, no matter what one's political outlook, all might agree that there is an air of scepticism at large in the Western world today about religious imagery and symbols. Dr Andrew Thomas Kania explores the phenomenon and asks if this an area where the West might learn from the East? [more]

022 :
28 Jul 2008

6.2: The impact of the destruction of the Temple… In the next part of the serialisation of Tom Lee's manuscript we take two excerpts from Part 6 in which Tom looks at the impact of the desfruction of the Temple in the year 70. This leads up the conclusion at the end of Part 6.3 that "Christianity alone developed a system uniting philosophy and theology, sacrament and morality, a church and a private sense of God". [more]

038 :
27 Jul 2008

An unscheduled stop… Tom McMahon's imaginery choo-choo train, The Polar Express, which has been whisking us through these series looking at priesthood and the meaning of sacrament today, takes a small unscheduled stop. It's partly triggered by the events in Sydney for World Youth Day but also because Tom is planning a visit here to celebrate his 80th Birthday next year. He's been boning up on a bit of our history. Despite the train stop, the commentary still has things to say about the meaning of sacrament. [more]

069 :
26 Jul 2008

Putting Paul in his place… Pauline scholar, Dr Ian Elmer, is at his cheekest best with this commentary. It's a commentary about ancient historical things but, at the same time, it is also a commentary about very contemporary things. Paul was passionate about his mission. Like all passionate leaders he developed both strong critics and loyal supporters. The challenge we face with all such leaders is navigating between "the spin" and the "put downs". How do we put Paul in his place? [more]

002 :
25 Jul 2008

Challenging the idea of a "smaller, purer" Church… Ted Schmidt, Editor of Canada's independent Catholic online magazine, new catholic times sensus fidelium argues that now that Pope Benedict has left Australia it might be helpful to briefly tease out his oft-quoted ruminations of the "Church of the little flock". [more]

018 :
24 Jul 2008

A participating priest's reflection on WYD… We have much pleasure today in publishing this unsolicited reflection which Fr Paul Roberts sent in to us last night giving his reflections on World Youth Day. The publishers of Catholica have enormous respect for Fr Roberts as a personal friend but much of this personal respect has been forged through his honesty and his self-evident success as a very pastoral priest in the communities he has led. He has recently taken on a significant challenge in rejuvenating a very old parish in the diocese of Parramatta in addition to his diocesan duties as Vocations Director. He had a very active part in encouraging a very multi-cultural group of young pilgrims from his parish to participate in the major events of World Youth Day and he was active at the Vocations Hall at Darling Harbour. As editor of Catholica I have little hestitation is writing that of all the parish priests I have seen at work in my 60 years in diverse parts of Australia Paul Roberts would have to be up there amongst the most successful community builders I have ever seen. I urge readers to pay special attention to his reflections. This priest seems to understand where ordinary Aussies are at in their lives and spiritual journeys more than most. …Brian Coyne [more]

716 :
23 Ju1 2008

Do you find it easy "trusting in God"? A slightly different tack for our Wednesday forum looking at a subject we've perhaps not fully explored before: "How do we go about trusting in God". Brian Coyne shares some of his experiences and difficulties with the subject and invites others to share their experiences. This is part of the "sharing our story" aspect of Catholica where the sharing of our experiences might help others, or their experiences might help us to get a handle on some aspect of life we've been grappling with. [more]

084 :
22 Jul 2008

Models of Leadership! Dr Kania entitled today's commentary "Lillies that Fester" (cf Matthew 6:4). He takes the title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 94: "But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds." It is a thought-provoking discussion starter on the subject of leadership. By way of introduction Andrew informs us that he was born on the 22nd of November, 1966 and shares his birthday with the anniversary of John F Kennedy's assassination. His interest in Kennedy began with each birthday having a documentary, or eulogy, about and to Kennedy. In time this interest developed into an admiration for the man, eventually Kennedy becoming a hero figure for Andrew as a teenager. With the focus also these days on the flaws that are evident in ecclesial leaders, the ideas that Andrew touches upon in this commentary might lead us to ponder: how do we integrate the very human flaws that all of us exhibit into our picture of leadership — do we go back to a system of hypocrisy where, for example the media, carefully camouflage the personal failings and flaws of our leaders, or do we seek out "lilly-white, goody two shoes" who lack the capacity to inspire, or are we seeking some different model? Do the sort of qualities Dr Kania articulates towards the conclusion of this commentary offer the basis for a model of leadership or is it an ideal that is unrealisable in practice without throwing up the sort of insipid leadership that makes people blanch and leads a community into the sort of irrelevant place in human affairs the Christian churches seem to be rapidly heading towards? How do we find the right balance in these matters? What modelling of leadership does Jesus Christ, or Peter or Paul offer to us? [more]

037 :
20 Jul 2008

Wisdom from overseas… We publish this as the final song and images fade from the screen for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. In summary this World Youth Day will more likely be remembered as the birth of a "smaller, purer Church" rather than one endeavouring to reach out to all people. Tom McMahon's commentary today is nostalgic also — calling us back to re-capture the excitement that gripped the world in the promise held out by Vatican II. The focus today in Tom's commentary is the sacrament of ordination. [more]

068 :
19 Jul 2008

A flawed, fallible father of the Church… It is a great pleasure to welcome Dr Ian Elmer back to the lead commentary pages of Catholica. Ian's specialist area of study is St Paul and in his commentary today he would like to draw our attention both the Year of St Paul that is being celebrated for the next twelve months and to the enigmatic even contradictory example that St Paul presents to us as an example of a follower of Jesus Christ. [more]

082 :
18 Jul 2008

Book Review: "Cardinal Mahony – A Novel" Robert Blair Kaiser has recently been on a promotional tour on the East coast promoting his new book "Cardinal Mahony – a Novel". We sent a copy of the book to Peregrinus over on the other side of continent to review it. Today we present his review. Pere concludes: "A novel is a work of the imagination, but imagination is also the foundation for new realities; Kaiser may be encouraging us to look to the real world for the next chapter in the church's story." [more]

003 :
17 Jul 2008

The Church in Australia – far from static… Dr Andrew Kania's overview of Catholicism in Australia published in The Tablet last week has generated much comment in response. There have been other articles in the media, written for audiences in other countries, seeking to give a brief over view of the Church in Australia. Dr Graham English felt that Dr Kania offered too static view of the Church in this country and seeks in this commentary to offer an alternative view to the one presented by Dr Kania. [more]

709 :
16 Ju1 2008

No rest for the wicked! No lead commentary today as the editor is trying to take a slightly easier day. There is though much discussion of the unfolding news from World Youth Day on our forum. As indicated in the forum last night there is a huge story in the offing, in fact literally flying in on a jet plane from London as you read this that could rain all over the WYD parade and set the long term agenda for the success or otherwise of the couple of hundred million dollars spent on WYD. The big question "hanging in the air" is how will the institutional leadership respond. [Read more in today's email]

083 :
15 Jul 2008

DEATH: it's meaning! Andrew Kania explores the meaning of death: "Existential questions are at the heart of all religious faith; yet without these being personally asked and answered, an individual's spirituality cannot progress beyond that of mere religious membership … the existential question clearly requires that we place our lives within the sad context of our own physical mortality in order to complete our soul's joyful journey to immortality." [more]

021 :
14 Jul 2008

5.5: The deaths of the foundation leaders, Peter and Paul… Today's commentary is the final section of Part 5 of Tom Lee's manuscript. Tom examines the events surounding the deaths of the foundation leaders of Christianity. We also see the place in history where the Christians were first delineated as separate to the Jews in the eyes of the Romans. [more]

019 :
13 Jul 2008

Bethel — the responsibility we have to clean up the mess... Every event in life, even the worst tragedies, carry within them the potential for much that is also good. This truism ought be ranked somewhere up near the greatest insights of Christianity. The death of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, from some points of view was one of human civilisation's greatest tragedies and gravest injustices where an innocent person was crucified and had his life taken away from him. Out of the tragedy though we Christians learned about the Resurrection — perhaps the single greatest sign of hope ever given to humankind. Now that a decision has been taken to close the Bethel Community there are two significant issues that remain to be dealt with. In today'e editorial we seek to articulate what those issues are and to draw attention to who might have the responsibilities associated with addressing them. [more]

036 :
13 Jul 2008

The Story Teller… Tom McMahon is the story teller today — telling stories that explore the meaning of the word "sacrament". The word has lost a lot of its power and meaning. Tom builds his arguments for our need to rediscover the meaning of "sacrament" in our present age — the age of technology. [more]

017 :
12 Jul 2008

Does Pope Benedict need to do more than apologise? Melbourne lawyer Angela Sdrinis in an article published in Thursday's Herald-Sun newspaper (10.07.08) accused the Catholic Church of using legal devices to protect itself from the claims of abuse victims. With permission of Angela Sdrinis we republish her article here as our lead commentary on Catholica this Saturday along with two questions: (i) What sort of Church do we want representing us — one that reflects the compassion and understanding of Jesus Christ to victims, or one that endeavours to put victims through the sort of trauma and injustice that Jesus Christ himself was put through? (ii) Is an apology from the Pope enough, or does His Holiness need to suggest his bishops in Australia start exhibiting the compassion of Jesus Christ towards the victims of clerical sexual and other forms of abuse? [more]

041 :
11 Jul 2008

Opening up a discussion… A serendipitous series of events led to Brian Coyne taking an interest in a book by Robert Tilley entitled "Benedict XVI and the Search for Truth". Coyne so far has only read the preface and introduction but he's excited by the book for a couple of reasons. In this commentary he provides an introduction to what the book is about with a view to opening up a discussion on Catholica about some of the issues Robert Tilley, and Pope Benedict, are exploring. [more]

016 :
10 Jul 2008

What message does WYD really give to young people? Marilyn Hatton is a woman who perhaps represents many older women today in the broad mainstream of Catholicism in this country who have "been through the mill" of actually raising a family through to adulthood and learning a lesson or two "from the coalface". She is a mother and grandmother and remains a committed Catholic speaking up and asking for a Church that is more responsive to the real needs of the people it is meant to be serving. She is a passionate advocate for women being given greater input into spiritual leadership and is national convener for Ordination of Catholic Women (OCW). In today's commentary, Marilyn asks some pointed questions about what we are honestly seeking to achieve through World Youth Day. [more]

695 :
09 Ju1 2008

Some "Jesus time"! With all the generally negative news around at the moment I thought it might be a good idea in our Wednesday Forum to focus on some positive stuff — what really needs to be focused on: what Jesus Christ has to offer the world. And who better to lead off the discussion than Bishop Geoff Robinson. [more]

082 :
08 Jul 2008

Holy Heads & Empty Hearts! This is perhaps Dr Andrew Kania's finest commentary. The man is firing on about 24 cylinders in what he writes today. He seeks to address what is perhaps the chief disjunction in Catholicism today. It's a very old problem but Andrew addresses it with a fresh slant. It's all about this unbridgeable divide that seems to have opened up in the Church between the legalists/literalists/fundamentalists and the rest. Dr Kania presents a view of what our faith and spirituality ought to be all about that most readers of Catholica will readily assent to. It might even inspire you. Enjoy! [more]

020 :
07 Jul 2008

5.4: Paul's radical interpretation of the message of Jesus (cont'd)… Do yourself and favour and treat yourself to this fabulous exceprt from Tom Lee's book. Continuing the exploration of the radical new interpretation St Paul gave to the Jesus' story the excerpt today brings out in even sharper relief the sense of excitement Paul had for Jesus and perhaps why this excitement was infectious and made the missionary journeys of Paul as important as they were in giving Jesus appeal in the world of non-Jews. [more]

699 :
06 Ju1 2008

The sort of audience Benedict and the Church need to communicate to… The publishers of Catholica, Brian Coyne and Amanda McKenna attended a wedding at Windsor yesterday just beside the RAAF base Richmond where Pope Benedict will land next week. It is the oldest Catholic Church on the Australian mainland. The congregation that was at that wedding, Brian Coyne argues, is the sort of average Australian population that the Church needs to be communicating to. What Brian writes also dovetails with the lead commentary from Tom McMahon today. See the summary of his commentary below. [more]

035 :
06 Jul 2008

Two Different Worlds… The Church inhabits two different worlds, argues Tom McMahon in this fourth commentary of his series on the meaning of "Sacrament" in an Age of Technology. Within the Church he sees "civil war exists over boundaries". He asks concerning the 86% who have stopped listening to the Church: "have they abandoned Jesus: or have they gone across the spiritual street to that other world that Michael Morwood addresses?" [more]

015 :
05 Jul 2008

The threat posed by religious intolerance… High Court Justice, the Hon Michael Kirby, delivered a thought-provoking address on religious tolerance to an international Conference at the Sidney Myer Asian Centre at Melbourne University last Monday. Our lead commentary today is an edited transcript of the address. He argues that unless society curbs religious fundamentalism "the mixture of religious intolerance and weapons of mass destruction will be a great threat to the world and every one in it". [more]

002 :
04 Jul 2008

"Freedom, ideology and the Catholic Church" Amidst the gathering frenzy by some leaders, and some lay groups, within the Catholic Church to turn back the clock and re-establish a pre-Vatican II mindset on the institution, here is a timely and rigorously argued commentary by Dr Graham English. The issue he puts under the microscope is our changing understanding of the meaning of "religious freedom". He argues that the Second Vatican Council brought about far reaching changes in how we ought to understand and interpret this term. His commentary is effectively a strong argument as to why we need to collectively defend this advance in thinking that the Council introduced. [more]

014 :
03 Jul 2008

Bishop Robinson's impression following his US Tour: "The American church has massive problems before it!" Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in his first comprehensive report since his return from a month-long lecture tour of the United States reflects on the tour, on the attempt by Cardinal Re in the Vatican to try and stop the tour, on the state of the Church in America following the abuse scandals, and on the statement put out under the name of the Australian Bishops... [more]

695 :
02 Ju1 2008

Why not tell us a bit about your story? Sharing our stories is important Kate argued in a commentary we published in October 2006. We revisit what she had to say in today's Wednesday forum and as we have had a lot of new visitors coming to Catholica in recent months we've issued an invitation to both old and new members to tell us a little about your story and reintroduce ourselves. [more]

081 :
01 Jul 2008

The Snows of Yesterday… A very poignant and adult reflection from Dr Kania that seeks to give insight into the kind of relationship God seems to be calling us into. We all carry within us elements of both sinner and saint. How are we meant to navigate our way between these two polar opposites? An adult picture of a God who desires above all to love us. Not a picture of a God forever running around seeking to scold and punish us. [more]