The Seven Deadlies: special series all next week!
Saturday, 30th September 2006

Dear friends,

Catholica will be moving into a new phase of our development in the coming week. We'll be running a series of linked reflections over the seven days. We'll be introducing a number of new writers and this first special series will be looking at the Seven Deadly Sins. They are written by lay people with a view to being provocative thought starters for further reflections from our readers who feel confident enough to share their stories, and questions, on what are seven of the most challenging aspects we have to deal with at some point or other in our lives.

The series will be promoted via a banner advertisement similar to the one below on the CathNews website throughout the week. We are planning further special series like this in the coming months that focus on one particular issue or aspect of spirituality, morality or life.

As preview to the series I will be publishing the introduction in tomorrow's email. The introduction will provide an overview also of how this series fits into the overall mission of Catholica.

SURVEY: Later this week you may receive a personal email from Cate Nash who is assisting us by conducting a survey of our subscribers and members. It will take you four or five minutes to complete the survey and we would appreciate the feedback you are able to provide to us both regarding the content of our website and technical aspects. We will value your contribution to this survey highly as it will provide the first significant measured response of how effective our endeavours have been and how effective they are likely to be as we continue to spread out wings and reach out to our targeted end audience of the sectors of the Church who have become disenchanted with the institution. At this stage most of our subscribers and members are still from within the institutional Church. I encourage you to respond to the survey which Cate will email later this week.

TODAY'S COMMENTARIES: In the meantime the quality of the reflections today, and tomorrow, is outstanding. In particular I'd draw attention to Cindy's contribution today. In a way I find the way Cindy writes is "beguilingly innocent". The reflection today might be described in that way more particularly. She's discussing liturgy and comparing Church liturgy, and congregational participation, to the sort of experience that we find at theatrical events — in this case a night she had at the Ballet. It has often intrigued me in recent years how people in general think nothing these days of spending a hundred dollars and more to be entertained for a couple of hours at some theatrical or sporting event — and those events are expensive to stage hence a lot of the cost of the tickets is consumed by the staging of the events — and yet our Church liturgies today just pale in comparison. In general we are far more reluctant to spend up big on the care of our spirits than we are on the care of our emotions

A few centuries ago the local parish Church was the drawcard as that is where people found quality music, art, and that sense of "theatrical space" that uplifts the soul. Their homes were drab, there was no radio, television or surround sound home theatre systems, in most cases not even any artwork on the walls. People went to Church on Sunday because the environment and liturgy was an "uplifting" experience out of the drabness of their lives. The Church has to compete with much more today. Has she kept up with these major cultural developments that have gone on in society and maintained her place as the "premiere" provider of "spiritual uplift" for our souls? Think about those things as you read Cindy's excellent reflection.

And don't forget Ian's continuing wonderful exploration of the question as to who Jesus really thought he was.

Searching for the historical Jesus...

Who did Jesus think he was? (Cont'd) Continuing his exploration of the historical Jesus, today Ian Elmer is focusing in on two questions: "What did Jesus teach?" and "What did Jesus do?" [more]

Cindy goes to the ballet... This week Cindy attended an end of year exhibition by the final year students of the Australian Ballet School. It was a spiritual experience for Cindy. She is musing why people's spirits seem lifted at the theatre in ways that do not occur in our liturgies. [more]

001 :
29 Sep 2006

A Time for Reform Today we have pleasure in presenting an article that Bishop Pat Power sent in to us. It was actually written as on op-ed piece for the Melbourne Age in 2002 but is particularly relevant at this time as Bishop Power will be one of the keynote speakers at the forthcoming Australian Reforming Catholics Annual Conference on 13-14 October. In this article he articulates some of the areas in which he believes reform is necessary and he seeks to outline some of the characteristics he sees the institutional Church needing to embrace if it is to surmount the challenges it is presently facing. [more]

004 :
28 Sep 2006

Celebrating the personalities who make us who we are... Each of us draws our identity from our families, our community, our nation and our Church. Rosemary mounts some cojent arguments as to why we should celebrate the personalities who make us who we are. [more]

017 :
27 Sep 2006



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027 :
26 Sep 2006

Hypothetical... Tom explores today some fundamental questions about values that underpin the stability and coherence of human civilisation. [more]

025 :
25 Sep 2006

The cost of the "War on Terror" In his offering today Cliff points out that a terrible landmark has been passed in the so-called 'war on terror'. He finds it terrifying. How long, he asks, before we listen to the Pope of Peace? [more]

011 :
24 Sep 2006

Discernment – Knowing what to hold onto and what to let go... Today Kate is looking at that difficult task we all face of discernment with a particular emphasis on our religious values. [more]

008 :
29 Sep 2006

On which professions populate Hell... A little light relief for the end of another working week. Well it is for some. I wonder if the population of Hell ever get time off. Thanks also to "Country Cousin" for sending this joke in. [more]

026 :
28 Sep 2006

On the two contrasting views of women in today's CathNews... Ruth is fascinated by the constrasting views of women presented by Cardinal Pell and Dr Christine Whelan reported in this morning's CathNews. [more]

025 :
27 Sep 2006

On sorting out our personal priorities Ruth is again endeavouring to sum up this whole complex business of religion and spirituality in a pithy, one-line prayer. [more]

005 :
26 Sep 2006

Clerical Blackness... Father Farzenheim attracted criticism for what some saw as a tasteless display in his Crikey Crocodile demonstration last week. Unrepentant, he returns with a discourse on clerical blackness and a tirade against what he terms psycho-babble. [more]

011 :
25 Sep 2006

On reasons for optimism about the state of Catholicism in Australia... The cloistered faithful think there are actually many reasons to be very optimistic for the state of Catholicism in Australia. They discuss some of the reasons. [more]

024 :
24 Sep 2006

On the reported near record size of the Ozone Hole... Ruth's been wondering because of a news report that the Ozone Hole over the Antarctic is now at a near record size. [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