The Week's Round-up and looking ahead...
Saturday, 12th August 2006

Thank you all for the wonderful response to the launch of Catholica Australia. It has been exciting to have been part of something that has created so much interest out in the wider Church community. We hope that in the coming weeks and months we can adequately fulfil the expectations we have raised.

I am sure we can offer excellent fare over the next few days at least. Today Ian Elmer has a wonderful essay which is basically exploring the different ways in which different people approach their faith. It is well-worth thinking about.

Tomorrow, Sunday, it seems I am going to be able to follow up that extraordinary "double" that occurred on Thursday with the articles from Jo Shears and Dawn Bowie that generated so much positive feedback. When I was editing those I had a gut feeling that they would cause an extremely positive reaction from our readership and they certainly have judging by the feedback I've received both personally and in messages posted on the forum. Women do bring a whole different dimension to all these spiritual things to what us blokes bring. Our lives are greatly enriched, I believe, through the ways in which women are so much more encouraged to express their hopes, aspirations, challenges and disappointments these days.

Tomorrow Kate has a more scholarly piece than her earlier articles that gets stuck into that great area of love in her life, liturgy. Alongside her piece though I've just received in a fabulous article from Andrea, a journalistic colleague of mine from when I worked at the Catholic Education Office in Perth. Andrea is a new Mum — well relatively "new" ... her eldest is now 14 months old. Andrea now lives in Switzerland so it is a double bonus of not only having another excellent professional writer from the female pov but also another voice that is providing a perspective from the European heartland of Christianity — not that it seems to be much of a "heartland" anymore given the disenchantment with institutionalised religion in Europe today.

We'll be running Cliff's excellent piece on Monday discussing "secondary gain". It is an article not only useful for discussion of the problems besetting the Church at the moment through the influence of fundamentalism but hopefully it might also give readers new perspectives into understanding why our entire world at the moment is suddenly facing this threat from what would otherwise be rather innocuous, insecure "nobodies" who suddenly want to martyr themselves and blow up aeroplanes over large cities in order to impose their religious ideologies on the whole of humanity.

In the meantime, we'd appreciate reader feedback over the weekend on the questions raised yesterday on the nature of the priesthood we are looking to serve us today. Perhaps most people have never thought that they might have a choice in what priests and pastoral ministers they might like to see serving their, and their family's and community's needs. You'll find the discussion has already begun on the forum and we'd appreciate perspectives you might care to bring to the table.

Are we called to be mystics?

Not only expanding on his essay from last week exploring the conversion experience of St Paul, this essay by Ian Elmer slots in almost perfectly with the discussion on "vocation" we carried in Catholica yesterday. Here Ian is exploring whether we are all called to have mystical religious experiences or are there other equally valid, and valuable, forms of spiritual expression or experience?

004 :
11 Aug 2006

The Priesthood today. Nathanael Theologos reflects on the qualities of three priests who have inspired his sense of vocation. As a contribution to Vocations' Week which is celebrated this week, Catholica Editor, Brian Coyne, challenges readers to write in our forum about what qualities we are seeking from our priests. [more]

016 :
11 Aug 2006

Could you spare a small donation for this family in Armenia? Cliff Baxter has received a heartfelt appeal for assistance for a family in Armenia. He visited the country in 2001 to write a book on the country and its history and developed a great love for this most ancient of Christian nations. Read the full story and if you can add to our appeal total it would be deeply appreciated. [more]

005 :
10 Aug 2006

Two takes on the challenges in family relationships Our lives are about relationships. Today we present two articulate women exploring different aspects of family relationships. Jo Shears is looking at the challenges of the teenage years. Dawn Bowie makes her debut in Catholica exploring challenges in relationships at a much more advanced stage in life. [more]

005 :
09 Aug 2006

Being able to see God in the ordinary and mundane... Peregrinus has been challenged by Cindy's memoirs of the controversy in her Sacristy with the Parish Priest over the disposal of the surplus Holy Oils. He writes: "All the fussy rules, protocols and precepts about these things are at best ludicrous, and at worst a distraction from the gospel. But, as with a lot of things that look ridiculous, there's a valuable point buried under all this nonsense, if we're willing to see it. The point is the Incarnation." [more]

022 :
08 Aug 2006

The conundrums of my new-found friendship with Cliffy Baxter... Following on from his last take, Tom Scott, explores a little further the conundrums and paradoxes in his new found friendship with Cliff Baxter. What are the things that attract us to people who might have opposite views to the one's we hold? Where do you sit along the line on these issues which Tom and Cliff have differences about? [more]

015 :
07 Aug 2006

A Passionate Plea for Peace... Cliff Baxter has won many awards during the course of his long career in journalism – possibly more than any other Catholic journalist in Australia. The column he has written for us today might give you an insight why. It is an extraordinarily powerful and passionate plea for peace yet, despite it's passion, it carries a sense of objectivity and fairness to the peoples caught up on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East. I have attached multi-media content in the form of another "Prayer for Our Time" to Cliff's Take. If that distracts from the reading of his column I suggest you scroll down and put it on pause until you reach the end of his column. Let us not just "pray for peace" but "work for peace" amongst all the peoples of our world. [more]

005 :
06 Aug 2006

This little light of mine and the Transfiguration Don't let the title put you off. This reflection by Kate is in the "must read" category. Grab yourself a cup of tea, a beer, or whatever helps you relax and steal the half hour or more that you need if you want to be really uplifted this Sunday as we remember the Transfiguration of Jesus. [more]

004 :
05 Aug 2006

Can we learn from Paul's descriptions of his "Damascus Road conversion" insights as to how God reveals himself in our lives? In this article Ian Elmer brings into focus some scriptural-based observations on a number of questions that we've been discussing as a community over recent months. One on-going question a number of people have been addressing is the one of how God speaks to us? Following on from his own essay on 3rd August on the present wisdom as to how we understand God revealed himself to the writers of Sacred Scripture, today Ian picks apart Scripture itself with the aid of a number of other scholars to see what we might learn from the ways in which Paul claims the Gospel or Divine insights were revealed to him. Was Paul being "economical with the truth" in suggesting the revelation all came in some flash of light on the road to Damascus or was it a slower, evolutionary process that was also tempered by other events that Paul had to deal with and surmount in his own life? [more]

016 :
11 Aug 2006

Could you spare a small donation for this family in Armenia? Cliff Baxter has received a heartfelt appeal for assistance for a family in Armenia. He visited the country in 2001 to write a book on the country and its history and developed a great love for this most ancient of Christian nations. Read the full story and if you can add to our appeal total it would be deeply appreciated. [more]

001 :
10 Aug 2006

Dental Code not Da Vinci Code has all the answers ... Theologian Dr A. Theopullous, Dental Scientist, Veterinarian and Theologian, has been examining whether there is a hidden Dental Code in the Bible. Catholica Australia is pleased to be able to bring you these exclusive extracts from his lecture at a recent symposium 'Dental Health, Jesus and the Apostles'. [more]

005 :
09 Aug 2006

On the proposed establishment of another fundamentalist Catholic school in Wagga... Today our cloistered commentators express a few thoughts about the continuing threat posed by fundamentalism in the Church this time illustrated by the establishment of a more fundamentalist Catholic school in the diocese of Wagga to that which is provided by the institution through the Catholic Education Office.
[more]

001 :
08 Aug 2006

Inaugural Catholica Festival of Faith brings mixed blessings... Our intrepid reporter, Dispassionate Observer, provides a comprehensive report on the inaugural Catholica Festival of Faith which was held last Sunday to officially launch the Catholica Australia website. Read what all your favourite characters got up to.

011 :
07 Aug 2006

Dear God, why....? Multi-media content that cannot be transmitted via email. Please visit the Ruth's View Archive on our website.

001 :
06 Aug 2006

Beefing up the testosterone levels among the boys... At a time when testosterone levels in sports people are in the news, Biffin O'Toole, Coach of the Catholica Saints U18 Footy Team believes his efforts to make Men from Boys are not receiving sufficient recognition. [more]

Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world,

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia