The sad, sad result achieved by the Reform of the Reform... March on the Reform of the Reform and the turning of the once incredibly influential Roman Catholic Church into a remnant for the insecure and an irrelevant museum for the vast masses of ordinary people once enormously proud of their Catholic heritage and active participants in the sacramental life of the Church. Today's lead commentary by John Hushon, one of the co-convenors of the forthcoming American Catholic Council was recently published under the title "Recent History of the Diocese of Venice in Florida—or How To Destroy a Diocese" on the Voice from the Desert Blog. John has given us permission to re-publish the essay on Catholica and in fact this is an updated version to the one published earlier. Educated at Brown and Harvard Law, John Hushon was a successful international lawyer and CEO of a multinational energy company before retirement. Since 'retiring' John has obtained a graduate degree in theology, served as chair of a social justice group, taught in the RCIA program, sponsored a well-attended theology series with outside speakers, taught an adult religious education program with a syllabus pre-filed with the pastor, and served as a trustee and volunteer at many charities, organizations, and institutions of higher learning. Read this and weep. Do these people so enthusiastic for the Reform of the Reform ever sit down and "do the math": their activities might impress the likes of the late JPII and Benedict XVI, neither of whom seem to have a good grasp of math, but do they ever ask themselves if the Almighty is impressed at the persistent effort to turn the vast majority of the baptised out of the pews and turn the assets of the institution over to a tiny, totally unrepresentative minority of Pharisees? <more>

A lesson in how to reverse a law and yet still remain true to God's word... A fascinating commentary from Dr Ian Elmer today. It explores how St Paul justified his embrace of the Gentiles. Yes, it's a commentary about circumcision again but these are far more important issues that our learned friend is discussing with us here than the cutting of genitalia to prove our membership of God's people. Ian draws from a number of sources to discuss the radically different approach to Law that Paul proposed based on his understanding of the message being offered by Jesus himself. This is one of those sort of commentaries where you might feel your faith and belief axis shift a degree or two around its polar axis as you read it. Be warned: reading this might produce an "ah-ha moment"! <more>

The Human Desire for Peace III... In the midst of the current meltdown the institution seems to be going through, Tom McMahon, argues that there is life outside the institution. The institution and priesthood as we've known it for so long might be crumbling but Jesus is still with us. When we near the home run of our lives we begin to appreciate what is really important. <more>

The Woman Caught in Adultery... One of our regular contributors to our forum, CathyT , has prepared the lead commentary this week in our series following the Australian Bishops' Lenten Reflections. Cathy sees this passage from Scripture as a commentary on the purpose of law: that "purpose is to bring us into relationship with God, to help us blossom into the person each of us can be if we live a God-centred life." <more>

A short Epistle on Love... It's a coincidence that we're giving two passages from the Gospel of John a workout today. The Bishops' Lenten reflection this week [LINK] is from John 8:1-11, and Daniel Gullotta sent in this poignant and succinct reflection on the meaning to be taken from John 12:1-8. It's a reflection on love. <more>

28.1: Hormisdas finds a formula to reunite Constantinople and Rome... In the penultimate chapter to Tom Lee's exploration of the first 500 years of Christianity, before we reach Tom's conclusions, we move a little way into the sixth century. Some unity is restored between Rome and Constantinople and Tom explores the legacy of the Christian philosopher, Boethius. <more>

What Is Wrong with the Catholic Church? To lead off our Sunday Forum conversation today we publish Tom McMahon's response to Stephen Crittenden's program on ABC Radio National's Background Briefing program last Sunday exploring "What Is Wrong with the Catholic Church?" <more>

Wishing you a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life and in our world.

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher

Catholica
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