EDITOR'S ROUND-UP

Saturday, 25 October 2008

The importance of trust…

Dear Friends,

There was an interesting discussion on Radio National this morning about the root cause of the present global economic crisis being a "drying up of trust". The reality is that our financial systems today, whether national or international, are fundamentally built on trust rather than underlying asset values as they were prior to the 1970s when the system was based on a gold standard. As one of the commentators said, "the system works because we trust that when someone pays us a dollar for something we have 'trust' that we can exchange that dollar with some other person in return for some thing else of equivalent value." Money has little intrinsic value in its own right. The coin, or piece of paper, or cheque, even a plastic card, derives its value from the "trust" we all invest in those things.

The discussion led me to thinking that our faith is also built on trust to a large extent. We "trust" in God, or we "trust" that our spiritual leaders really do know what they are taling about, or we "trust" that they have God's ear. Could we perhaps suggest that one of the reasons for the huge disenchantment of so many today is that we have lost trust in our spiritual leaders? Are we searching for some new individuals, or a new structure, whom we do feel we can trust? We have two commentaries for you today which both link into the foregoing idea...

Ian Elmer's commentary continues his exploration of St Paul. It's about the conflicts in the early Christian community and Ian links that to events that we see unfolding even here in Australia today. How does any community set boundaries? How do leaders inspire, or cultivate, trust between the various individuals and factions that make up a community? <Link to Ian's commentary>

The second commentary is from Ted Schmidt, editor of New Catholic Times, Canada. Ted is looking at the global economic crisis and he suggests that Catholic social teaching might have something to teach the world as our leaders search for solutions to the situation that has emerged. With further bad economic news from Great Britain overnight, it is now absolute that this is the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s and leaders are now talking in terms of needing another Bretton Woods type agreement to restore trust and confidence in the system. <Link to Ted's commentary>

Should same-sex relationships be approved or not? The issue of same-sex relationships has become the latest hot-button issue around the world where various legislatures have approved or are considering the approval of legislation that confers legitimacy on same-sex relationships. Today, Tom McMahon provides us with his perspective on the debate presently going on in California on the so-called "Proposition #8" which has been promoted by conservative Christian groups in an endeavour to stem the tide against this trend in society. <more>

Video Commentary #02 Editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, presents a second experimental video commentary. This commentary draws attention to discussion in the Catholica Forum on the Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome and the challenge facing the Catholic Church in making itself relevant again in the lives of the many who have ceased listening much to what the institution has to say. <more>

Ecce Homo! Dr Andrew Kania's commentary today is confronting. If Jesus Christ were alive today would we even recognise him, let alone treat him any differently? Andrew entitled his essay "Ecce Homo"* from those words in John's Gospel where the scourged Christ is presented to the mob. Dr Kania invites us to meditate on the words from Matthew's Gospel in 23: 29-32. <more>

8.7: The Fourth Gospel… This week Tom Lee explores the Fourth Gospel which is so different in style to the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John dates from the last decade of the first century or even the first decade of the second, and was probably written at Ephesus. It is a mystical interpretation of the life of Jesus, written for the third or fourth generation of Christians. It is less of an historical account than a theological commentary on the significance of Jesus. <more>

A Middle Age Church in the Modern World… The Polar Express takes what Tom McMahon desribes as a "bypass switch" today. He's beginning to examine in more detail the relevance of a Trentan priesthood to today's milieu. Who is qualified to be a priest in this Age of Technology? <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher