The value of our history…

Dear Friends,

I took the day off yesterday. It's probably the first real "day off" I've had since we started Catholica a couple of years ago. Yes, I've taken "days off" before, even month-long holidays, but all of them have been filled with the pressure of things to do. I did end up going sightseeing and decided to have a look at two old bridges, Knapsack Bridge and the Lennox Bridge, which played an important part for a long time in opening up the Blue Mountains and Western New South Wales.

Lennox Bridge — click image for more info

Knapsack Bridge — click for more info

They are both stone bridges. Lennox Bridge is still in use in a minor way but has a claim to fame as the oldest bridge on mainland Australia. It was built in 1833. Knapsack Bridge is far more impressive in scale but it is only used for pedestrian traffic today forming part of a walking track. (I ended up undertaking a pretty rugged walk of over 5 kms.) I spent much time thinking about the people who built that impressive piece of engineering. Who were they? Most of their names would be forgotten today. Did they appreciate what a vital part their work would have played in opening up the continent of Australia? What an important piece of infrastructure it was for so long. Then last night we watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony and marvelled at the impressive history of China which, in so many ways, is so much more ancient than ours.

Today's commentary from Ian Elmer is about history also. It takes us a little further into understanding that "bridge" between Christ and ourselves — St Paul — perhaps the most famous "convert" to Christianity ever. What does he have to teach us today? The focus of Ian's commentary today is on the notion of conversion. Even if we don't have any choice in the matter and are born Christians, at some point or other we are called to conversion or metanoia. What does that mean? <Read Ian's commentary>

ON ANOTHER NOTE: Thanks for the responses to Silvio Del Vecchio's appeal for sponsors in the ad at the bottom of today's email. In an email yesterday, Silvio indicated that $15,000 has been pledged so far by private sponsors and with corporate donations matching that he hopes to have raised in excess of $30,000. He's running tomorrow and it isn't too late to add further contributions to his endeavour.

A reflection on the challenges of belonging to Church today… Dr Graham English has been a Catholic teacher for 45 years. Now lecturing RE teachers at the Australian Catholic University he reflects on the challenges that young people face today in having a sense of "belonging" to the Catholic Church. <more>

A discussion on gender roles… Here's a really big discussion topic. There are many dimensions to it. It's a discussion about the differences between women and men in the ways we look at life. It's a discussion on how our societal attitudes are changing to the stereotypical gender roles. It's a discussion that might link into our ongoing discussion about our changing understanding of the role of priesthood in society, and in the institutional Church. It might even touch on discussion of the changing perceptions of our gender roles within marriage. <more>

Paradise Found The contest between good and evil is one of the staples in classic literature. In this commentary Dr Andrew Kania has a look at some of those classic stories in the search for "Paradise Found"… <more>

6.3: The impact of the destruction of the Temple (cont'd)… The new religion of Christianity faced considerable competition in its formative years. Tom Lee today concludes his examination of the impact of the destruction of the Temple and argues how "Christianity alone developed a system uniting philosophy and theology, sacrament and morality, a church and a private sense of God". <more>

The meaning of marriage… Tom McMahon's commentaries continue to attract some of the highest number of page reads of anything we publish on Catholica. Today's commentary might break all records as it touches on a subject will be of interest to a huge number of readers — the meaning of Marriage. <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher