EDITOR'S ROUND-UP

Saturday, 20 September 2008

Three steam engines…

Dear Friends,

My wife constantly teases me for being a train spotter at heart. She has little interest in technological things constantly exclaiming to anyone who will listen "I write songs" when anyone asks about the economy, about technology, about football. (She is interested in theology though — and endeavouring to "get it right" in what goes into her songs.)

Back to "train spotting" … once a month, sometimes more often, on a Saturday morning when I'm doing the layout for Ian Elmer's commentary I hear the sound of a steam engine in the distance chugging up the Blue Mountains. It's become such a regular occurrence these days that I hardly look up from my work. For some reason this morning something made me race outside, jump into the car and race up to the railway bridge which is about 400 metres from where I sit. (I had to take the car otherwise I would have missed it.) Well there was a crowd of real "train spotters" up there — armed with their expensive high definition video cameras all waiting for this train. A far bigger "congregation" than I have ever struck before. I asked one of the afficionados — this army of people actually chase the train up the mountain in their cars, stopping to film at every railbridge and viaduct the train has to cross — "what's the special occasion?" The "special occasion" today is that we had three steam locomotives doing the honours of pulling the tourist train. This is apparently an exceedingly rare event these days. I have to say it was impressive though — the smoke, the soot, the smell, the sound … and all the heads stuck out the windows of the carriages below us. At our bridge at Linden the train is labouring on an upgrade and these three engines were working at their hardest. I'm sorry I didn't take my camera to take a picture either of the trains or of the army of "train spotters" with all their technologies. I'm sure they'll be posting their images on the web tonight so I'll try and get you some pics and post them in the forum.

In the meantime, back in my studio, I can still smell "the smell of steam" as it lingers and drifts across the small valley that separates us from the railway line.

Dr Elmer's commentary today is nostalgic also. I also think its a fabulous exploration of stuff worth meditating on at length. What are the similarities between Jesus and Paul? How much are our theologies and faith understandings shaped by Jesus and how much by Paul? There ARE sharp differences between Jesus and Paul and some of them persist in different approaches that different people, and different communities take today. What Ian's commentary causes for me is a constant wonderment at the seeming serendipity of our God. Our God didn't sit down and provide us with "all the answers" neatly set out with flawless logic in something equivalent to the blueprint that a group of engineers might use to re-constract a steam engine. He gave us "the story" written out of flawed, aching and searching hearts and minds like our own. We are constantly having to sort through the egos, the pains and "the politics" that helped frame the imprecise record that has been passed down to us from Jesus, and Paul, and all the other earlier followers of Jesus. Aren't you glad we don't live in "the perfect world" of those who believe they "have all the answers"? <Link to this great commentary by Ian Elmer>

Who will pay for this latest financial disaster? Cliff Baxter spent yesterday afternoon with Claudette Werleigh, Secretary-General of Pax-Christi, who is presently visiting Australia. Today's commentary explores Claudette's perspectives on the financial crisis that appears looming for our world. <more>

How official Church attitudes to suicide have changed, and why… Last Sunday night our occasional lead commentator, Fr Daniel Donovan, was one of the featured guests on John Cleary's program on the ABC discussing the vexed subject of suicide. For our commentary on Catholica today we republish a short segment from the hour-long broadcast in which Fr Donovan discusses the ways in which the Church has modified its approach to dealing with the moral considerations surrounding suicide and also its pastoral response to the grieving families and friends of suicide victims. <more>

What defines our "catholicism" — creed or a commitment? Kerry Gonzales and Brian Coyne attended the Australian Reforming Catholics Conference last Saturday which effectively turned out to be an invigorating all-day discussion centred on the question of Creed. What defines our faith today? Do most ordinary Catholics subscribe to all the phrases in the Creed as literal statements of belief? Is Creed what defines our membership of "the Body of Christ"? To get the discussion started Dr John N Collins delivered a keynote address* exploring the historical development of the Creed, and Creeds, which we use in the Christian churches. In today's commentary Kerry Gonzales and Brian Coyne share some of their impressions of the Conference and seek to generate wider discussion on the issues raised. <more>

Searching for models to inspire young people… Today's commentary by Dr Andrew Kania is another essay originally written principally for a youthful audience seeking to inspire them about the Catholic and Jesus' message. In a discussion with Dr Kania last night, the editor of Catholica suggested the essay might also be read as an attempt to search for more effective ways in which the institution might try to enthuse or inspire young people. We both hope this commentary might lead to a vigorous discussion, particularly amongst those with experience, such as teachers and parents, with extensive experience with young people in exploring how the institution might develop better communication channels with young people — one of the demographic sectors showing the greatest disenchantment with the institution. <more>

8.2: How did they decide which stories were authentic? Who were "they"? This is possibly the most informative and provocative of all the extracts we have yet published from Tom Lee's manuscript searching for the origins of Christianity and the Papacy. Today he begins to get into the real nitty-gritty as to how the many stories circulating about Jesus and the first Apostles and followers in the early Church gradually came to be sorted into categories of authentic and non-authentic. <more>

The relevance of Baptism in an age of technology… Tom McMahon today guides his Polar Express "thought train" to the station stop marked "Baptism". In his usual fearless way he ventures into the territory that causes heart palpitations in some sectors of the Church and questions the established orthodoxies and practices. For the parents of adult children reading this: if you had your time over again what things would you do differently in the religious and spiritual formation of your children? <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher