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]