A discussion on pain and suffering...

Dear Friends,

Strong winds up here in the Blue Mountains this morning and they took out our power for a couple of hours which has put me behind a little today. When the power went out I was in the middle of contributing a post to the interesting discussion on the forum that has opened up on the meaning of pain and suffering. It's a discussion we seem to re-visit often on Catholica but each time there area always interesting new perspectives. You might like to check it out at: www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=34332. And talking of pain, Cardinal Mahony is facing a bit of it when the verdict is handed down in today's extract from Robert Blair Kaiser's novel...
<Link to today's excerpt from Kaiser's novel, "Cardinal Mahony">
<www.catholica.com.au/gc3/rbk/006_rbk_260909.php

The Psychology of Priesthood #12 Tom McMahon's commentary today you'll find sits very comfortably with the theme Ian Elmer was exploring yesterday about the style employed by Jesus. Did Jesus comes to bring peace via the sword? Or does Jesus offer another route: peace by justice? <more>

Did Jesus ever get angry? Now here's a commentary that might test your Sunday school beliefs — amd one that might even trigger a sustained debate amongst Biblical scholars. There are really two questions up for consideration: Did Jesus get angry (fullstop)? And, did he get angry as depicted in the cleansing of the Temple scene described by Mark? The focus of Dr Ian Elmer's, commentary today is on the second question rather than the first but if his arguments carry weight perhaps the first question becomes the more important one and throws open to debate the big moral questions of "righteous anger" and "just war" theory. <more>

A History of the Knights of the Southern Cross… At the beginning of this month the Knights of the Southern Cross in Australia celebrated their 90th birthday. Cliff Baxter was commissioned to write the history of the Order in New South Wales to mark the milestone. Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, who has a number of associations with the Knights, reviews the book... <more>

22.1: One Throne — One Church! Plenty to learn in Tom Lee's study of the Origins of Christianity today: did you know the origins of Just War Theory lay with Augustine? We learn about the beginnings of the Feudal system; that more women were attracted to the desert as Holy Hermits than men; and the Council of Constantinople in 381 was the place where the system of Trinitarian theology was virtually completed. <more>

A lifetime spiritual journey #13… With Francis story we now enter a longer chapter where he writes of his more recent explorations of spiritual meaning. In this first section of Chapter 10 he writes of the release from fear... <more>

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

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher