More news than you can poke a stick at…

Dear Friends,

We have more news than you can poke a stick at. Late yesterday we published two News Stories on Catholica. The first was of a sensational email circulating amongst Sydney priests concerning the case of Dennis Dubro who has allegedly been given the raw end of the stick by Opus Dei in Sydney. Later we received news of the response from Paul Collins and Frank Purcell to a letter from the President of the Australian Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Phillip Wilson, regarding the Petition.

On a brighter note than all of that we have also received news that Michael Morwood's recent book, "From Sand to Solid Ground" has received a gong — third place in the Education category for the Catholic Press of America Awards. Congratulations Michael.

On Catholica today we begin a new series of aural conversations. Initially this might seem like an interview simply because the editor of Catholica is the usual interviewer in the other audio segments we have introduced to readers. In time we hope to introduce a diversity of "conversations" between different individuals. We want to keep the tone as natural as possible — just like the conversations any of us might have around the kitchen table talking about our faith, our beliefs, our perceptions of the Church, and life. This first conversation is between the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, and his friend, Adel Ghali. Both Brian and Adel have had a long involvement in lay endeavours and apostolates in the Church over many decades. We have split this conversation into three segments of about 12 minutes duration and will publish them progressively over the next few days. <More>

Petitioners respond to letter from President of the ACBC… Dr Paul Collins and Frank Purcell, the organisers of a petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops last year, have responded publicly to a letter sent to them on behalf of the Bishops by the President of the ACBC, Archbishop Phillip Wilson. Effectively their message back to Archbishop Wilson amounts to an almighty "Not Good Enough! Mr President". They have sent out letters and emails to the nearly 17,000 signatories to the petition expressing their disappointment at the response and are in the process of preparing a more formal response to Archbishop Wilson and the Australian Bishops. The letters we are publishing here were sent out late on Friday afternoon to petition signatories and that has already begun to generate responses on the Catholica Forum which can be found HERE. <More>

Disturbing email… The editor of Catholica has been aware for several days of a fairly sensational email that has been circulated to Sydney priests by a former Sydney-based Opus Dei accountant, Dennis Dubro, at Warrane College. We have now confirmed the authenticity of the email and are able to provide the following details, including the text of the email... <More>

What sort of Church do we want? A short commentary today from one in our rapidly expanding community of subscribers and readers in the United States, Richard L Walters. Seemingly inspired partly by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book and partly by Tom Lee's commentaries, Richard poses some questions about the sort of Church we ought be trying to create, or get back to... <more>

Listening to Catholic teachers… The latest issue of Mission and Spirituality News which was published yesterday contains a copy of Br Luke Saker's 2000 and 2006 study of the attitudes of Catholic University students towards their faith. This is not a new report, it received quite a bit of coverage in both the diocesan and secular press when it was published in 2006. It is worth re-visiting though. Today's email commentary provides a summary and links to the report plus commentary on the ways in which these disturbing statistics might be interpreted. <more>

Where do we find the real truth? Today's Wednesday forum is triggered by a question posed by James in the forum: "Well one might ask: what is the point?" It ends asking you, the reader, "what do you honestly believe today? What is this spiritual quest ultimately all about?" <Link to Forum Discussion Thread>

A diplomatic warning to the Latin Church… The Eastern lung of the Catholic Church has long carried some sense of being treated as unequal partners in the Universal Church. Recent developments have re-opened some old wounds. In this commentary Dr Andrew Kania, who occupies a place of esteem amongst Ukrainian Catholics internationally, addresses one issue: the treatment of married Eastern Rite priests, both by bishops who have been out of step with Vatican policy, and uninformed members of the lay Church in a number of countries who have treated married Eastern rite priests and their spouses in totally unChristian ways. Possibly sparked by the increasing number of Eastern-rite Catholics now resident in Western countries, Dr Kania has informed the editor of Catholica of instances in English-speaking countries of the wives of Ukrainian Catholic Church priests receiving quite vicious hate-mail from more conservative sectors in the Latin Church. This commentary looks at some of the history of this issue and the official position of the Vatican as espoused by a long succession of Popes. <more>

4.0: Sorting the facts from the pious myths… We're skipping ahead a bit now. Part 3 of Tom Lee's manuscript and the opening of Part 4 explores some of the politics going on in the Roman Empire that played a part in the development of Christianity. In our excerpts for Catholica we pick up the story a little way into Part 4 where he looks at how the new religion got its name. This essay also helps set the scene for the Missionary Journeys which he explores in detail in Part 5 and which we will also look at in this series on Catholica… <more>

Asking some touch questions… Last week the two single most important media officers in the Catholic Church delivered separate addresses at a conference from Catholic media professionals in Toronto. Archbishop Claudio Celli is President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and Fr Frederico Lombardi SJ heads up the Vatican Press Office. Brian Coyne, editor and published of Catholica, suggests there are some serious questions that media professionals in the Church need to be asking themselves and there are serious questions all of us need to be asking ourselves. Is the Catholic Church here just to serve some self-elect minority who believe they are the only ones who possess "the truth" or is it here to serve all people? <more>

Who is perceived as the most effective Catholic Bishop in Australia? Today we launch the first Catholica Poll. We're trying to find out who is the most effective Catholic bishop in Australia. Our poll is a bit dodgy — we admit that — but we hope it might stimulate much discussion that does lead to a more effective and pastorally responsive Catholic Church in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. All votes are anonymous but only one vote per ISP address. Tell your friends and encourage them to vote also. This survey is open to anyone, not just subscribers to Catholica or members of the Catholica forum. <VOTE NOW>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher