Saturday, 21 March 2009

Sickie...

Dear Friends,

I don't often take a sickie but am doing so today — well a bit of a one anyway. I don't have the stamina to prepare the lead commentary so thie email will have to do. I seem to have a picked up a bad dose of the flu — probably on my train trip down to the city on Wednesday.

Could I also apologies to our weekly readers for the email you received yesterday. That was a mistake on my part — I simply pressed the wrong button when sending out yesterday's email. Below you will find the summary of the commentaries we've published in the last week.

Marriage at the time of Abrahama and the Bronze Age: As Tom McMahon suggested last week — and I think today's commentary reflects that. Our Tom is a brave man though — brave enough to ask some of the questions that are on everybody's lips but which are largely unvoiced because of various kinds of social or religious taboos. Today he's endeavouring to not so much answer questions but raise questions in the mind of the reader. What were the attitudes to marriage — and to women — six thousand years ago, long before anyone had heard the name Jesus Christ? What do we know of what women themselves thought in those earlier epochs of history? <more>

Who will be saved? The editor of Catholica headlined today's email "Treasure This...": Today Dr Ian Elmer seeks to cut to the heart of St Paul's theology — what's this "I believe in Jesus" game ultimately really all about? Ian enttled the essay "Who will be saved?" but he's really delving deeper than that in an endeavour to give insight into Paul's thinking as to how we (collectively and individually) will be "saved". As Ian says: "resurrection and salvation are linked in Paul's writings, and one cannot consider one without the other". But what does "resurrection" and "salvation" actually mean when we strip away the ecclesial cliches that have come to bury the real meaning? <more>

Lenten Reflection 2: In the second of his Reflections for Lent Dr Andrew Kania explores that difficult terrain most of us face in our lives at one stage or another — the feelings we have when we have been betrayed … and also how we feel when we have been guilty of betrayal. All of us can empathise with Peter — and with Jesus. Through meditation on these iconic stories we better prepare ourselves when we find ourselves cast in the position of a Peter, or a Jesus. <more>

Issues regarding the Education of Eastern Catholics in Latin Catholic Schools… Catholica is in receipt of an important news story that has been forwarded to us with the authority of the Eastern Catholic Bishops resident in Australia. Last Friday, 13 March, the Bishops and leaders representing the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in Australia held a joint meeting in Sydney. They have endorsed a paper they had commissioned and have voiced a very strong complaint to the other Latin Church Australian Bishops and, through them, to the National Catholic Education Commission and the Catholic Education Offices and Catholic teachers of Australia concerning the religious education and treatment of Eastern Rite Catholic children in Australian Catholic schools. Catholica has been informed that Bishop Peter Stasiuk on behalf of the Eastern Catholic Bishops has been in touch with Archbishop Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, who, according to Bishop Peter, has accepted there is solid foundation to the complaint and undertaken to have the matter placed on the agenda of the full meeting of the ACBC in May and Archbishop Philip has also undertaken to have the matter forwarded to the National Catholic Education Commission. This is a news story loaded with significant political implications not only for the Catholic Church in Australia but at the international level and, we submit, in realms entirely removed from the issues being addressed that are the focus of immediate complaint. We publish in full the background paper here which has been passed to Archbishop Philip Wilson. It makes for very, very interesting reading in light of some of the recent conversations we have been having on Catholica. <more>

13.1: Controversy over the Trinity… We've now reached about the half-way point of Tom Lee's manuscript looking at the origins of Christianity. The story enters the third century and opens with a controversy over the meaning of the Trinitarian understanding of God. <more>

Re-evangelising the Church — how would you do it? Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, seeks to kick off an extended conversation today on the issues of evangelisation and re-evangelisation. The bishops and the pope have been talking about it for decades — and spending billions attempting to do it — the result is that more and more people keep leaving. If you had access to their power, and the money they have at their disposal, what would you do differently to actually achieve something positive? <more>

A focus on women Today is The Welfare of Former Nuns.... In a landmark research study and discussion paper released a few days ago by the Victorian Women's Trust the treatment of former nuns has been described as "often inadequate, poor, and unjust, resulting in great hardship". To draw attention to the report we publish as our lead commentary today the Executive Summary to the research and discussion paper prepared by Susan Powell and Mary Crooks for the Women's Trust. <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher