Saturday, 09 May 2009

Do you not get angry?

Dear Friends,

Our daily readers probably already appreciate that the past five days has largely been dominated by the visit of Tom McMahon from California. There was other news though including the launch of Dr Ian Elmer's book in Brisbane on Wednesday which, thanks to Daniel Gullotta, we were able to highlight via video footage. There has also been lively on-going discussion in the forum on a myriad of subjects. For today's lead commentary I've taken up a subject that emerged out of my conversations with Tom McMahon — the marshalling of the anger in our lives.
<Read today's commentary>
www.catholica.com.au/gc0/bc2/054_bc_090509.php

No email tomorrow: Please note that I'm going to have have a break for the rest of the weekend in preparation for beginning a couple of large technical redevelopments of Catholica which will start on Monday. These developments including moving Catholica to a new server, upgrading the forum software and the establishment of our online shop permanently. Hopefully there will be minimal disruptions from your perspective as readers or as contributors to Catholica. I hope to have all these developments completed by the end of the month.

Two Video Commentaries! Today we present two video commentaries: One is of a conversation between Brian Coyne and Tom McMahon discussing his series of commentaries on Sacraments in an Age of Technology. The other is a recording Daniel Gullotta made of an address given in Brisbane by Dr Ian Elmer at the launch of his new book Paul, Jerusalem and the Judaisers. <more>

Women – a high priority sacrament? Here's a commentary from Tom McMahon that's sure to attract a huge readership. He's looking at the mystery of the female — the problems they've posed for celibate men — what women mean for the future church. And he's also talking about sex and sport. You couldn't get a better collection of topics that polite people ought not talk about in public. <more>

The Challenges facing the Church in Australia Even the proverbial "blind Freddy" knows today that the Catholic Church, along with most other forms of institutional religion today has its back against the wall with declining attendances and a sense of demoralisation that even extends into the episcopal leadership. In today's commentary Dr Andrew Kania, a Catholic lay leader and teacher with years of experience working with young people in secondary schools and at the tertiary level, shares some thoughts about what ought be done to address the crisis. <more>

14.2: Cyprian and Stephen The attention this week in the extract from Tom Lee's manuscript turns from the conflicts between Novatus and Novatian to a series of conflicts that had far greater implications for the future of Christianity between Bishops Cyprian and Stephen with Stephen asserting a claim to primacy. This is a fascinating section in the early history of the Church. <more>

Most memorable liturgies... For discussion today the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, suggests we might recollect memories of some of the best liturgies we have participated in during our lives. Liturgy often comes in for criticism but surely we all have memorable experiences? <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher