Getting behind the myths about St Paul…

Dear Friends,

July was another spectacular month for Catholica in which we again set new benchmarks across all the categories by which we evaluate our growth. Thank you all for your continued support of our endeavour. I provided an overview of the statistics in a post on our forum yesterday.

By way of introduction to today's commentary Dr Ian Elmer writes: "In last week's reflection on the Year of Paul, we spoke of how Paul was "put in his place" by friends and foes alike. The impetus for that commentary came from Victor Furnish's 1993 presidential address to the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington D.C. where he spoke of the difficulties of delineating the 'historical Paul' from the 'churchly Paul'. This week, I would like to reflect on the second of these constructs, the 'churchly Paul'." <Read Ian's Commentary>

What people wrote in their letters to Pope Benedict… In his official visit to Australia for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict saw many people and spoke to many officials and selected young people. He didn't travel widely around our nation and it is doubtful if he even had a chance to have much of a heart-to-heart with bishops outside of Cardinal Pell's immediate circle of influence. Catholics for Ministry organised a small letter-writing endeavour at late notice in an endeavour to provide His Holiness with a slightly wider view of the state of the Catholic Church in Australia. Today we publish extracts from some of those letters which attempt to give an overview of what was said in the broad thrust of all the letters that were submitted. <more>

The search for a new understanding of Jesus… The Editor, Brian Coyne, received an email yesterday from Mark Makowski in Minneapolis asking for a more detailed explanation of the suggestion Brian has been putting forward in recent times for us to view Jesus as a "model" or "blueprint" for our lives. Mark wrote: "A friend of mine sent me your article entitled Why Evangelize.  I read it. I appreciate all your efforts and your commitment to stay the course in the RC church.  I'd like to hear more about your blueprint ideas concerning JC.  I'd say that some don't know how to read a blueprint.  The bishops keep selling the wrong blueprint. And the pope has a history of deception and I don't think he's changed much since taking on the taller hat.  Nonetheless, I am intrigued by your blueprint idea." Today's commentary is a slightly expanded version of the response Brian Coyne sent to Mark. Essentially it is the story of his personal journey in search of a more believable and accessible image of Jesus than the one he had been brought up with. <more>

The meaning of life & death in 10 easy points? Brian Coyne was asked by a nephew last night to help out with a school assignment on Catholic understanding of death. He was inspired by the question to try and tackle and answer for himself. He throws up the result of his thinking for the forum discussion question not so much seeking support for his view but seeking responses that challenge the perspective he puts forward. What is your understanding of death? Where do your views differ from Brian Coyne's? <more>

A New Age of Iconoclasm! Although the images in the headline at left might not suggest it, no matter what one's political outlook, all might agree that there is an air of scepticism at large in the Western world today about religious imagery and symbols. Dr Andrew Thomas Kania explores the phenomenon and asks if this an area where the West might learn from the East? <more> You might also value reading the alternative perspective the editor of Catholica poses in today's email: <more>

6.2: The impact of the destruction of the Temple… In the next part of the serialisation of Tom Lee's manuscript we take two excerpts from Part 6 in which Tom looks at the impact of the desfruction of the Temple in the year 70. This leads up the conclusion at the end of Part 6.3 that "Christianity alone developed a system uniting philosophy and theology, sacrament and morality, a church and a private sense of God". <more>

An unscheduled stop… Tom McMahon's imaginery choo-choo train, The Polar Express, which has been whisking us through these series looking at priesthood and the meaning of sacrament today, takes a small unscheduled stop. It's partly triggered by the events in Sydney for World Youth Day but also because Tom is planning a visit here to celebrate his 80th Birthday next year. He's been boning up on a bit of our history. Despite the train stop, the commentary still has things to say about the meaning of sacrament. <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher