012 :
31 Oct 2008

Pray for the Remnant! "War is Peace! Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength!" — The slogans of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel "1984". Orwell must laugh that his insights from his 1948 novel, might be applied with delicious irony to the Holy Roman Catholic Church in 2008. Ripping the heart out of Vatican II while pretending that you love Vatican II and want to see it's reforms rejuvenating the Catholic Church. The latest casuality in this game of casuistry it seems are the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children. Fr Daniel Donovan reviews the thinking that led to the introduction of this reform and voices his protest at the game which seems to be underway at the hands of the Vandals and Visigoths (or is it the old lace and incense queens?) who seem to have invaded the citadel of early third millennium Catholicism. And we all thought the Catholic Church was the last great bulwark against totalitarianism! [more]

005 :
30 Oct 2008

A Review of Fr Eric Hodgens' essay… Kerry Gonzales presents today a review of Eric Hodgens' extended essay, "New Evangelisation in the 21st Century". She praises Fr Hodgens for his writing style and clarity of thought but this dame is no slouch either when it comes to writing style and clarity of thought. This is an inspiring commentary. [more]

098 :
29 Oct 2008

The Great Escape… The passage from the old testament which Dr Andrew Kania's bases his commentary on today is subtitled "The encounter with God" in the Jerusalem Bible. Dr Kania entitled his essay "The Great Escape (cf 1 Kings 19:9-14)". Is the "encounter with God" a "great escape"? Sadly, it probably can be. The sense in which Dr Kania intends it is that the encounter is a "great escape" from the din of life. There is much valuable food for thought in what this commentary contains. Ultimately it's a reflection on "the importance of quiet". [more]

002 :
28 Oct 2008

Catholica Editorial followed by an analysis of the Vatican Questionnaire used for the selection of Australian Bishops... A leaked secret Vatican Questionnaire used in the process of selection of new Bishops raises deeply disturbing questions about the future of Catholicism. In an editorial written by the editor of Catholica and a separate analysis of the Vatican Document by Dr Paul Collins we examine what this document reveals. [more]

024 :
27 Oct 2008

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

033 :
27 Oct 2008

9.1: The Gospels as Liturgy… An introductory commentary from Tom Lee today from a short but fascinating chapter from his manuscript that introduces us to a new mindset from which to view the Gospels — reading them as liturgical documents rather than as historical documents. In fact it is not really a "new" mindset, it is a very ancient one. It comes from our Jewish brothers and sisters — the people who provided the crucible for Christian insight. [more]

045 :
26 Oct 2008

Something to meditate on… I was a bit confused what to call this. It started out meaning to be a parable, it turned into a family story but the parable idea had not gone away, so it ended up being a family story ending in a parable. Whatever I might call it I trust you might enjoy it and it might also leave you with some rich ideas for meditation. Cheers, Brian Coyne [more]

082 :
25 Oct 2008

Policing the boundaries… Ah, the politics and games that we human beings play! Dr Ian Elmer's commentary today well illustrates the fact that we have been playing these games since the birth of the Church. "My rules are better than your rules" and some arbiter has to be sent in to settle the differences. At times it was so vicious that some literally got killed. When we think of the terrorists who still think it is OK to bomb innocents in pursuit of their religious objectives we might wonder has human civilisation really advanced that far in 2000 years? [more]

004 :
25 Oct 2008

The global economic crisis… Ted Schmidt sent us his latest editorial from new catholic times—sensus fidelium. He argues that Catholic social teaching might have something useful to say regarding the global economic crisis and what we need to do to get out of it and to prevent it happening again. [more]

051 :
24 Oct 2008

Should same-sex relationships be approved or not? The issue of same-sex relationships has become the latest hot-button issue around the world where various legislatures have approved or are considering the approval of legislation that confers legitimacy on same-sex relationships. Today, Tom McMahon provides us with his perspective on the debate presently going on in California on the so-called "Proposition #8" which has been promoted by conservative Christian groups in an endeavour to stem the tide against this trend in society. [more]

807 :
22 Oct 2008

Video Commentary #02 Editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents a second experimental video commentary. This commentary draws attention to discussion in the Catholica Forum on the Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome and the challenge facing the Catholic Church in making itself relevant again in the lives of the many who have ceased listening much to what the institution has to say. [more]

097 :
21 Oct 2008

Ecce Homo! Dr Andrew Kania's commentary today is confronting. If Jesus Christ were alive today would we even recognise him, let alone treat him any differently? Andrew entitled his essay "Ecce Homo"* from those words in John's Gospel where the scourged Christ is presented to the mob. Dr Kania invites us to meditate on the words from Matthew's Gospel in 23: 29-32. [more]

032 :
20 Oct 2008

8.7: The Fourth Gospel… This week Tom Lee explores the Fourth Gospel which is so different in style to the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John dates from the last decade of the first century or even the first decade of the second, and was probably written at Ephesus. It is a mystical interpretation of the life of Jesus, written for the third or fourth generation of Christians. It is less of an historical account than a theological commentary on the significance of Jesus. [more]

050 :
19 Oct 2008

A Middle Age Church in the Modern World… The Polar Express takes what Tom McMahon desribes as a "bypass switch" today. He's beginning to examine in more detail the relevance of a Trentan priesthood to today's milieu. Who is qualified to be a priest in this Age of Technology? [more]

081 :
18 Oct 2008

Hebrews and Hellenists… This is a fascinating commentary from Dr Ian Elmer. It contains many references to events two millennia ago that still resonate today as issues we struggle with in trying to understand what Jesus (and Paul) were ultimately driving at. What Ian attempts to do today is "break apart" the social and theological differences between two very different groups that had emerged in the early Church — the Hebrews and the Hellenists. Does this help us better understand the divisions within Christianity today, or the divisions within, say, just the Catholic Church? [more]

023 :
17 Oct 2008

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

025 :
17 Oct 2008

Four effective ways to collapse the Church in Australia in one generation… Frank Purcell has been doing a lit of lateral thinking. It's called "negative brainstorming". He's come up with four good ways for the bishops to fast track the collapse of the Church into a remnant within one more generation. That seems to be the preferred policy direction of recent decades so why not finish the job off quickly and cleanly? [more]

024 :
16 Oct 2008

A Parable… Take yourself back … back to before you were born … back to imagine yourself as the first child to have heard a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale … or one of the first to have heard Jesus "speak in parables". How would you discern the meaning of a parable hearing it for the first time? Today we have a complete change of pace for a lead commentary on Catholica. Francis Brown presents us with a modern Australian parable. You, Dear Reader, are presented with the challenge of discerning its meaning. Enjoy… [more]

023 :
15 Oct 2008

House Churches and their Ministers… The recent commentaries by Francis Brown and Dr Charles Kelliher on the "house churches" of early Christianity have generated significant discussion. Today, another scholar who has an enduring interest in the subject, Dr John N Collins, contributes some further background information. Dr Collins raises, without answering, the interesting question of what sort of formation the ministers to "house churches" might need? He argues that small communities need leaders and the chief responsibility of the leader is "to proclaim in the name of the Body of Christ the central mystery of faith: his death and resurrection". [more]

096 :
14 Oct 2008

The River of No Return… Is life a river of no return? In the sense that it flows inexorably from birth to death and not the other way about it can be compared to the river that flows from the highlands to the lowlands and not the other way about. This essay by Andrew Kania explores the meaning of the life journey through the lens writers like Mark Twain and Hermann Hesse sought to investigate it. [more]

031 :
13 Oct 2008

8.6: The writings attributed to Luke… This week we have a shorter commentary from Tom Lee. In it he explores the Gospel of Luke, and also the Acts of the Apostles whose authorship is attributed to the authors of Luke. It might be short but one can expect plenty of vigorous discussion from the biblical experts and early Church history scholars in our Catholica community as Tom "brings to focus" some of the more contentious issues raising by the Lukean accounts that have peppered academic biblical studies in the last century. [more]

049 :
12 Oct 2008

The funeral of a seminary colleague… TOM'S FOREWORD: The Polar Express, our train of thought on sacraments pauses on side track as we tip our berettas to one of this writer's seminary classmates; the following are two pieces sent to the living members of our ordination class, the Menlo Men of '54. Allow this to be a preface as we move next week into exploring a Priesthood for the Age of Technology. [more]

080 :
11 Oct 2008

Barnabas and Paul… In today's commentary Dr Ian Elmer shifts the focus from Paul to his lesser-known colleague, Barnabas. There are anomolies in the Scriptural accounts that Dr Elmer explores in this continuing endeavour we are engaged in of seeking to both better understand the nature of the early Church and the nature of Jesus' ongoing mission. [more]

022 :
10 Oct 2008

House Churches: what are they? Dr Charles Kelliher, one of our readers in the United States was taken with Francis Brown's commentary last week and sent in this short essay he's recently written regarding the House Churches. Given the challenge posed by dwindling vocations around the world, Dr Kelliher, suggests we might move back to a model like this. Like a growing number of people who are seriously considering the challenges facing the Church today he also suggests the idea has merit from other points of view… [more]

011 :
09 Oct 2008

Lessons from St Francis... Last Saturday our occasional lead commentator, Fr Dan Donovan, was to be found blessing the animals at the festival held in the plaza outside St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney for World Animal Day. He sent this commentary in yesterday as a post-event reflection. [more]

022 :
08 Oct 2008

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

095 :
07 Oct 2008

The Abyss… This is a great essay from Dr Kania, perhaps too short as there is much more to be explored under this topic. He originally entitled his essay "The Abyss". What he's exploring are the complexities of having the courage to ask difficult questions or support unpopular causes and how we discern when to stand up for our beliefs and principles. Being Christian is not simply about trying to demonstrate how "different" we are to everyone else in society. The "mark" of Christ is not our unpopularity. It is our capacity to discern the moral good in the complex dilemmas of life and, when necessary, to stand up for that good not because it brings approbrium on ourselves but because that good is worth standing up for sometimes at great cost. This is a highly relevant issue today in, for example, the ways in which we discern to stand up for various principles in public life such as ethical issues like abortion, or capital punishment, or social justice issues. [more]

030 :
06 Oct 2008

8.5: The incarnation and birth narratives… Lock up your daughters, manacle your sons, and keep this episode of Tom Lee's commentary well out of their sight. Today Tom explores the foundational stories concerning the incarnation and birth of Jesus. Are these stories literally true? Or were they borrowed and adapted from similar foundational stories that had been used in other religions before Christianity? Where does the real truth in these matters reside? [more]

048 :
05 Oct 2008

Confirmation — Part II In this second part of his commentary on Confirmation Tom McMahon relates a series of personal experiences from his time in parish ministry that led to disillusion. We invite readers with experience preparing young people for confirmation today, and parents and grandparents, to share your perspectives on the continuing relevance of this Sacrament today. Do you agree with Tom or do you have a different perspective to offer? [more]

079 :
04 Oct 2008

Paul's relationship with Peter… In our lead commentary today Dr Ian Elmer is looking at the nature of St Paul's legacy. In recent days, Benedict was seeking to play down the controversial side of Paul's leadership. That has prompted Dr Elmer to examine in closer detail the relationship between Paul and Peter and the issue of where Paul stood in relation to the authority or primacy of Peter. [more]

021 :
03 Oct 2008

Francis Brown shares the story of his spiritual journey… The lengthy discussion thread in our forum last week "Why so cognitive?" started by Nicholas (See post#17017), set Francis Brown off on his own spiritual reflection. He wasn't sure how it might fit with the flow of the thread and emailed it to the editor for a second opinion. It's a pretty frank confession of his own spiritual journey and fits so well with our desire here at Catholica to encourage the "sharing of our stories" that we asked Francis if he minded if we ran it as a lead commentary… [more]

010 :
01 Oct 2008

Teaching the Faith or Memorising the Catechism? There is a putsch on coming from some political sectors, and others searching for certitude and simplistic answers within the Catholic Church to take religious education back to methodologies that might have been successful in earlier epochs in history where the broad body of the faithful had far more limited education, and where different social conditions prevailed. Fr Daniel Donovan has been searching around in the archives also. In this commentary he brings to our attention a pioneer from the early 20th Century, Canon Francis H. Drinkwater, still lauded in professional education circles for his insights into the problems facing religious educators, parishes and parents today in the challenge of "passing on the faith". [more]

094 :
30 Sep 2008

O Captain, my Captain! (cf. Proverbs 17: 6) As our world reels under unfolding financial uncertainty that may have its origins in flawed political leadership, it is entirely coincidental, but greatly prescient, that Dr Andrew Kania had submitted this commentary on leadership and fatherhood. It looks at the example of the father and son team of the Theodore Roosevelts, Sr and Jr, which has perhaps some echo to the George Bush, Sr and Jr, duo whose reign is coming to an end in some ignominy. This commentary is thought-provoking towards a discussion on what sort of models of leadership and fatherhood might be most appropriate for the world we inhabit today. [more]

029 :
29 Sep 2008

8.4: The Gospel of Matthew… When anyone writes a book today we have the advantage of listening to interviews with the author on radio or television — or reading interviews in magazines — which give us some insight into the person who wrote what they wrote and why. We don't have that advantage with many of the authors of our Sacred texts. In many cases the real authors are completely anonymous to us. Today we publish the continuation of Tom Lee's mammoth personal endeavour where he set out to try and understand what he believes and why by examining the origins of Christianity. His focus today is on the writers of the Gospel of St Matthew. [more]

047 :
28 Sep 2008

Station stop "Confirmation" In his own introduction to today's commentary Tom McMahon writes: "Our train of thought now approaches territory CONFIRMATION … guard your spiritual wallets … there is no way that we can envision newness without ploughing through the debris of the old … the salt has lost its flavour; the territory is marked with ermine red." [more]

078 :
27 Sep 2008

The search for Certitude -vs- The search for Truth… The tensions and conflicts within the Church seem to be ageless. In today's commentary Dr Ian Elmer examines the tension between the search for truth and the search for certitude — which Bishop Geoffrey Robinson has pointed to as one of the key lines of conflict in our contemporary Church — through the perspective of similar tensions that existed between St Paul and his followers and Peter and James and their followers. [more]

028 :
26 Sep 2008

Why I'm a Jesus Freak… Music and the emotions have long been seen as "entry points" into the spiritual journey. In this beautiful, grungy essay Daniel Gullotta shares with us some of his passion for music and for the spiritual. Is contemporary music a-spiritual, or even satanic and destructive of the human spirit, or does it offer something of spiritual value? [more]

011 :
25 Sep 2008

Providing the Eucharist when there are no priests left to do so... Vince Exley lives in a beautiful but remoter part of this continent where the threat of not having enough priests to celebrate the Eucharist regularly is a very real prospect in the not-too-distant future. He argues passionately for an alternative to closing parishes or offering priestless "communion services"... [more]

093 :
23 Sep 2008

Veritas Vincit! Andrew Kania entitled this reflection "Veritas Vincit". In English it translates as "Truth Conquers". Most honest people would proclaim a hope that they would die to defend other members of their families. Most of us would proclaim a hope that we would even stand up for some truths in the face of a threat of death. Today's reflection examines a number of important ideas — for example, what "truths" would we honestly put our lives on the line to defend … terrorists proclaim they are seeking martyrdom to defend some truth but do we approve of their actions and hail them as heroes? Dr Kania poses the question rather than answers it: what truths are worth dying for? The real nub of his reflection though is that, in the final analysis, martyrdom is not about dying at all — nor is it even about suffering. He posits that its about being unwilling to stuff around with "truth" in our ordinary, everyday lives! What do you think? [more]

028 :
22 Sep 2008

8.3: Looking in more detail at the writing attributed to Paul and Mark… Over the next week or so Tom Lee is examining in more detail the origins and background to the New Testament writings that did become proclaimed as divinely inspired. Today the emphasis is on the writing of Paul and Mark. Next week he looks at Matthew. [more]

046 :
21 Sep 2008

Why people have become disillusioned with the institution… The headline says "A Confession" but this commentary from Tom McMahon is not the one about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. His thought-train is still stuck at the Baptism Station. This commentary is a further personal confession of his journey from one form of ministry to another. Many who have become disenchanted with the institution will empathise with what he writes. Also included today is an audio commentary from another priest — or should that be 'pastor'? — who has made a similar journey, Michael Morwood. After you've read Tom's commentary you might like to reflect further on Michael Morwood's words which speaks to the heart of those who have lost faith in the institution but who have not lost faith in Jesus. [more]

077 :
20 Sep 2008

Jesus and Paul – contrasts and similarities… Who was the real "founder" of Christianity, Paul or Jesus? In this thought-provoking commentary today Dr Ian Elmer explores the similarities, and the contrasts, in the approaches taken by Jesus and by Paul. We owe so much to each of these "towering figures" at the birth of Christianity but even today there remains plenty for confusement — or for productive meditation! [more]

043 :
19 Sep 2008

Who will pay for this latest financial disaster? Cliff Baxter spent yesterday afternoon with Claudette Werleigh, Secretary-General of Pax-Christi, who is presently visiting Australia. Today's commentary explores Claudette's perspectives on the financial crisis that appears looming for our world. [more]

009 :
18 Sep 2008

How official Church attitudes to suicide have changed, and why… Last Sunday night our occasional lead commentator, Fr Daniel Donovan, was one of the featured guests on John Cleary's program on the ABC discussing the vexed subject of suicide. For our commentary on Catholica today we republish a short segment from the hour-long broadcast in which Fr Donovan discusses the ways in which the Church has modified its approach to dealing with the moral considerations surrounding suicide and also its pastoral response to the grieving families and friends of suicide victims. [more]

005 :
17 Sep 2008

What defines our "catholicism" — creed or a commitment? Kerry Gonzales and Brian Coyne attended the Australian Reforming Catholics Conference last Saturday which effectively turned out to be an invigorating all-day discussion centred on the question of Creed. What defines our faith today? Do most ordinary Catholics subscribe to all the phrases in the Creed as literal statements of belief? Is Creed what defines our membership of "the Body of Christ"? To get the discussion started Dr John N Collins delivered a keynote address* exploring the historical development of the Creed, and Creeds, which we use in the Christian churches. In this commentary Kerry Gonzales and Brian Coyne share some of their impressions of the Conference and seek to generate wider discussion on the issues raised. [more]

092 :
16 Sep 2008

Searching for models to inspire young people… Today's commentary by Dr Andrew Kania is another essay originally written principally for a youthful audience seeking to inspire them about the Catholic and Jesus' message. In a discussion with Dr Kania l