The Religion and Politics of Tony Abbott… Cliff Baxter takes his pen up in critical analysis of the political and religious world view of prominent Catholic politician, Tony Abbott… <more>

More reflections from Eckhart Tolle… Back on Remembrance Day you may remember Vince Exley gave us a reflection on Eckhart Tolle which did generate a goodly number of page views on our website. He returns today with extracts he's selected for us from the introduction to Eckhart Tolle's book "A New Earth". In his convering note Vince explains that Tolle "doesn't believe the earth will survive this century without radical change in the world's collective consciousness". To introduce the subject matter of reflection Vince has also included some preliminary thoughts from Fr. Richard Rohr. <more>

Science & Religion: Is there a conflict? Peregrinus turns his attention to the rivalry between Religion and Science. In this multi-part commentary he seeks to provide some rational analysis as to what the basis of the conflict is and how it might be resolved. <more>

Petition to be discussed by Bishops… The big news today is that the Petition on Ministry has been accepted for discussion on the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference agenda. As a result of these developments we've not been able to prepare Peregrinus' commentary today and will hold it over until tomorrow. He is beginning a two or three part investigation of the relationship between Science and Religion which will be most interesting. In the meantime I would direct you to the reflections and comments that a number of people have written on both the Catholica Forum and the CathNews Discussion Board. In particular I recommend Ian Elmer's lengthy commentary which he has posted on the CNDB. <more>

The Theatre of Life! In another of these delightful reflections originally composed for sophisticated and educated young men in an elite Catholic secondary school, Dr Kania wields his pen masterfully, drawing on famous characters in history that his students might relate to, to explore the ultimate meaning and purpose to our lives. You might value the reflection yourself as well as perhaps using it as dinner table conversation with young people you are seeking to establish some rapport with at this deeper level of the discussion of the spiritual meaning in our lives. <more>

The five "Copernican turns" of Vatican II… Today we begin exploring the implications of Vatican II in Chapter Three of Professor Swidler's series of talks on the need for democratic governance in the Catholic Church. He argues that the Second Vatican Council introduced five "Copernican turns" that we need to re-discover. As this Chapter is packed with information and insight we will split it into three sections and run it over the coming three weeks. This week we look at the first three "Copernican turns". <more>

Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus VIII… Bishop Robinson now turns in his book to look at the different approaches we need to take to matters of morality (what we should do) and matters of belief (what we should believe). In the meditation today he presents a useful hierarchy listing six levels of moral living. We present this series of meditations in cooperation with Bishop Robinson and his publisher, John Garratt Publishing. <Read Bishop Robinson's reflection>