Sr Joan Chittister's provocative public lecture last night…

Dear friends,

You're in for a shorter e-Bulletin today as I've been up all night putting together a report on the provocative public lecture that Sr Joan Chittister delivered in Sydney last night. There are two public lectures that I will remember until the day I die. One was given about 35 years ago in the Blackwood Hall at Monash University by the American Jesuit, Fr John Powell. The other was last night's lecture delivered in Sydney by Sr Joan Chittister. 900 people attended and the tickets were sold out seven weeks before the lecture was held last night. People flew in from all around Australia to be present at this lecture. The organisers claim the demand for tickets was so great that they could have filled the hall at Mount St Benedict College where the lecture was held many times over.

One can understand why. This women is something else. If the Church was able to consistently present a public face to the world like this it simply would not be in any kind of crisis. The full lecture will be published in a few days time on the website of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan but this morning I'm able to bring you a few snippets that will whet your appetite to listen to the entire lecture which ran for over an hour and ended with Sr Joan being given a standing ovation. <Click HERE to read the news report>

Peregrinus series on Divorce – Part II…

And don't forget, today being Friday we're re-publishing the second part of Peregrinus' series on Divorce.

Unfortunately at this stage I still do not have any further update how my son and his wife are getting on following the tragic loss of their newly-born son on Thursday night. Ben's mother has flown overnight from Perth to be with them and will arrive in Lismore later this morning. I expect some further report after that. Please keep Ben and Angel in your prayers. They are both beautiful young people and courageous individuals. My own prayer is that they will be strengthened through this tragedy. I'll provide any further updates through our forum.

I'm publishing early today as the news report on Sr Joan's lecture may also be of interest to readers of CathNews.

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher