|
Who will lead us out of the spiritual desert?
Dear Friends,
What a brilliant start to 2009 it has been — at least for us here at Catholica? And perhaps with the euphoria created by the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Despite all the doom and gloom of the economy, the discussions on Catholica in the past week have generally been very upbeat and optimistic.
Last Wednesday we began publishing a countdown of the most read commentaries from Catholica during 2008 along with the quite outstanding growth figures in our readership. If you haven't yet caught up with that you will find it on the front page of our website. On our forum there have been superb discussions and sharing of personal stories and insights into what this spiritual quest is all about. This is mature, adult faith discussion at its very best. I'd particulatly urge you to read "Englishwoman", Mary's, moving personal story of her faith journey. There's also a fascinating discussion started by Ian Elmer enquiring into the personality of Jesus. From the accounts we have of him, what sort of bloke was he really? There's also a lengthy discussion started by James — a guy with some legal expertise — looking at the vexed legal and moral issue or terminal sedation and the advisability of drawing up "Living Wills" and discussing with our families what we would like to happen in the event of our losing the competence to advise our doctors how we should be treated. There's also been plenty of discussion on the US election results and the spirit of hope that the election of the first African-American as President has sparked around the world. <Link to the forum>
 Our lead commentary today is an editorial which I've written seeking to offer an overview of the challenge facing Catholicism in the world through the perspective of the particular challenges, and the opportunities, that characterise the Church in our "land down-under", Australia. I would appreciate reading your responses and critiques of the overview I had presented. <Link to today's editorial> |
