Easter Saturday, 11 April 2009

What will the Church of the future look like?

Dear Friends,

For our weekly readers could I point out the series of reflections we started last Sunday that have been meditations on the Stations of the Cross. You'll find them in our forum. Also yesterday, for Good Friday, we featured on our front page a series of audio-visual reflections from YouTube on Good Friday. You'll find links to these commentaries and more in the index below.

In today's lead commentary I conclude the series I've been writing trying to discern what the future character of the Church is likely to look like.
<Read today's lead commentary>
www.catholica.com.au/gc0/bc2/052_bc_110409.php

Reflections for Good Friday 2009... On this, the most solemn day in the Christian liturgical calendar, we invite you to pause a while and reflect on the meaning we are invited to take from the injustice connected with the arrest, trial, humiliation, punishment and crucifixion inflicted on the One we worship as the Son and Emissary of of the Trinitarian God. To assist in your reflection we have chosen a number of audio visual reflections from YouTube or we invite you to contribute to the active reflection we have been building on the Catholica Forum in recent days. The audio-visual reflections we have found on YouTube can be found HERE and you will find the reflection members of the Catholica Community have been building on our forum HERE. <more>

St Paul as model for following Christ... Easter bears down on us. For many it is looked forward to as a break — a time for rest and recreation, a time to enjoy "the good life" our work has secured for us. Dr Ian Elmer's commentary today on St Paul is in part triggered by the recent discussion in the forum on the good life, the pleasant life, and the meaningful life. What are we here to live? We have a choice. In choosing to follow Christ though we often have to put up with much. It can be a life in chains. Do we choose to follow Christ in order to become mannacled or in order to secure a freedom that breaks all the chains that bind us? Perhaps that might be our collective reflection this Easter and use Dr Elmer's reflection on St Paul as the starting point... <more>

The Middle Ages (cont'd)… Is there anybody in society who would not argue that the long-term stability of marriages is not a cornerstone of wider societal stability? Do any people seriously enter into a relationship with a hope that it will be temporary and short term? These are the bigger questions that lie behind this exploration of marriage that Tom McMahon is exploring in this series of commentaries. The reality is that throughout history the relationship between the sexes has posed challenges both at the societal level and the personal level. In today's commentary, Tom continues his exploration of attitudes to marriage in the MIddle Ages — as he puts it: "we tip toe through the wilted tulips of the Middle Ages". <more>

Lenten Reflection 5: Today's commentary by Dr Andrew Kania is poignant and moving. It may lead you to coming to fresh insights into the meaning of the stories of Peter, and Jesus. It's a reflection on the questioning Jesus subjected Peter to. Are we subjected to similar questions in our lives? In today's email I have also recommended you invest the time to spend with this reflection and with the equally confronting issues I have raised from an entirely different direction in today's email. <more>

13.4: The Pagan Mystery Religions that challenged Christianity For Australian readers of Catholica who happened to watch the documentary on the religious affairs program Compass last night Tom Lee's commentary today might be particularly valuable. He's exploring the Pagan Mystery Religions that posed a threat to Christianity and in particular Mythraism which has many similarities to Christianity in rituals, beliefs and the mythic and other stories that formed the basis of the belief system. <more>

An active, contemporary reflection for Holy Week 2009... For our Sunday Forum this week I thought we might do something a little different. Yesterday (Sat, 4 April) on the forum Fr Andrew Gentry FCSF, offered a reflection on the Stations of the Cross based on contemporary social themes. I have taken the liberty of lifting his post to the Prayer and Spirituality Forum and what I propose is that we use it as a reflection through this coming Holy Week. What I envisage is that as members of the Catholica community as we reflect on a station or two each day we search out news stories and particularly an illustration that I might add to the reflection so that by the end of the week it is fully illustrated. <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher