Abortion and The Law ~ Part II This week Peregrinus begins a beautifully thought-through and argued commentary seeking to establish with more precision what the authentic Catholic view is in regard to State legislation regarding abortion. <more>

Living the Spiritual Life in a Secular Setting... Last week Andrew Kania ended his commentary with a brief reference to the former secretary to the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld. What Andrew didn't tell you is that he has a particular affinity with Mr Hammarskjöld. At present, Andrew is packing up all his possessions in Perth and moving with his wife and young son to live in Oxford for a year where he has been invited to write a book on Dag Hammarskjöld. Today he shares a little of what brought fame to this famous Secretary-General of the United Nations following his death in a plane crash in 1961. Today's commentary sits very comfortably with the observations I was writing about yesterday in Brian's Take concerning the spirituality of Opus Dei which endeavours to view spirituality as part and parcel of our secular lives. <more>

Union Response... Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Services Union welcomes guarantee from Vinnies CEO and clarifies reporting of the issue. <more>

What can we learn from Josemaria Escriva, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens... Brian Coyne expands what was initially going to be simply a review of John L Allen's book on Opus Dei into a related but wider discussion of the issues raised by militant atheists, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, in two major media events over the weekend. <more>

The Spirituality of Thomas Merton III... Fr Patrick Collins tackles two principal issues in this third excerpt from his essay on the Spirituality of Thomas Merton. In the first part he's exploring how Merton saw spirituality in relation to science, particularly psychology, and in relation to the other great religious traditions in the world. In the second part he explores how Merton responded to the counterculturalism of the 1960s and particularly the endeavours by some to induce mystical experiences via drugs and hallucinations. <more>