020 :
11 Aug 2008

A 'must read' commentary from Fr Tom Doyle… Today we publish an abridged version of what is probably the hardest-edged commentary we've yet published on Catholica. It is from an address Fr Tom Doyle gave to the annual gathering of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) in Chicago on 13 July 2008. The paper might be of particular interest to readers of Catholica Australia for two reasons: Firstly, it is one of the most comprehensive discussions you're likely to find anywhere on the steps that are necessary to bring the maximum possible healing to victims of abuse. Allied to that what Fr Doyle has to say might provide valuable insights for any person who is dealing with the effects of abuse, either as a victim or a person endeavouring to provide support to victims. Secondly, the necessary discussion on the nature of priesthood and the nature of the Church Tom Doyle engages in provides a wealth a valuable reflections that dovetail in exceedingly well with the on-going discussion we've been having on priesthood. While Fr Doyle largely raises these issues in the negative context of what went wrong, when viewed in a positive light they also shed light on what needs to be done to bring about a more effective priesthood that can better minister to the needs ot people today. The commentary also contains a link to the full version of his paper (approx 11,000 words) [more]

019 :
01 Aug 2008

What people wrote in their letters to Pope Benedict… In his official visit to Australia for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict saw many people and spoke to many officials and selected young people. He didn't travel widely around our nation and it is doubtful if he even had a chance to have much of a heart-to-heart with bishops outside of Cardinal Pell's immediate circle of influence. Catholics for Ministry organised a small letter-writing endeavour at late notice in an endeavour to provide His Holiness with a slightly wider view of the state of the Catholic Church in Australia. Today we publish extracts from some of those letters which attempt to give an overview of what was said in the broad thrust of all the letters that were submitted. [more]

018 :
24 July 2008

A participating priest's reflection on WYD… We have much pleasure today in publishing this unsolicited reflection which Fr Paul Roberts sent in to us last night giving his reflections on World Youth Day. The publishers of Catholica have enormous respect for Fr Roberts as a personal friend but much of this personal respect has been forged through his honesty and his self-evident success as a very pastoral priest in the communities he has led. He has recently taken on a significant challenge in rejuvenating a very old parish in the diocese of Parramatta in addition to his diocesan duties as Vocations Director. He had a very active part in encouraging a very multi-cultural group of young pilgrims from his parish to participate in the major events of World Youth Day and he was active at the Vocations Hall at Darling Harbour. As editor of Catholica I have little hestitation is writing that of all the parish priests I have seen at work in my 60 years in diverse parts of Australia Paul Roberts would have to be up there amongst the most successful community builders I have ever seen. I urge readers to pay special attention to his reflections. This priest seems to understand where ordinary Aussies are at in their lives and spiritual journeys more than most. …Brian Coyne [more]

017 :
12 July 2008

Does Pope Benedict need to do more than apologise? Melbourne lawyer Angela Sdrinis in an article published in Thursday's Herald-Sun newspaper (10.07.08) accused the Catholic Church of using legal devices to protect itself from the claims of abuse victims. With permission of Angela Sdrinis we republish her article here as our lead commentary on Catholica this Saturday along with two questions: (i) What sort of Church do we want representing us — one that reflects the compassion and understanding of Jesus Christ to victims, or one that endeavours to put victims through the sort of trauma and injustice that Jesus Christ himself was put through? (ii) Is an apology from the Pope enough, or does His Holiness need to suggest his bishops in Australia start exhibiting the compassion of Jesus Christ towards the victims of clerical sexual and other forms of abuse? [more]

016 :
10 July 2008

What message does WYD really give to young people? Marilyn Hatton is a woman who perhaps represents many older women today in the broad mainstream of Catholicism in this country who have "been through the mill" of actually raising a family through to adulthood and learning a lesson or two "from the coalface". She is a mother and grandmother and remains a committed Catholic speaking up and asking for a Church that is more responsive to the real needs of the people it is meant to be serving. She is a passionate advocate for women being given greater input into spiritual leadership and is national convener for Ordination of Catholic Women (OCW). In today's commentary, Marilyn asks some pointed questions about what we are honestly seeking to achieve through World Youth Day. [more]

015 :
05 July 2008

The threat posed by religious intolerance… High Court Justice, the Hon Michael Kirby, delivered a thought-provoking address on religious tolerance to an international Conference at the Sidney Myer Asian Centre at Melbourne University last Monday. Following is an edited transcript of the address. He argues that unless society curbs religious fundamentalism "the mixture of religious intolerance and weapons of mass destruction will be a great threat to the world and every one in it". [more]

014 :
03 July 2008

Bishop Robinson's impression following his US Tour: "The American church has massive problems before it!" Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in his first comprehensive report since his return from a month-long lecture tour of the United States reflects on the tour, on the attempt by Cardinal Re in the Vatican to try and stop the tour, on the state of the Church in America following the abuse scandals, and on the statement put out under the name of the Australian Bishops... [more]

013 :
21 Jun 2008

Richard Sipe's overview report of Bishop Robinson in America Renowned campaigner against sexual abuse, Richard Sipe, has sent us this special overview report for Australian readers of how Bishop Geoffrey Robinson was received by the audiences who attended his lectures in America... [more]

012 :
06 Jun 2008

What sort of Church do we want? A short commentary today from one of our rapidly expanding community of subscribers and readers in the United States, Richard L Walters. Seemingly inspired partly by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's book and partly by Tom Lee's commentaries, Richard poses some questions about the sort of Church we ought be trying to create, or get back to... [more]

011 :
15 Mar 2008

The Pope's comment on the relationship between civil law and moral values… The visit of Pope Benedict to the United States and the United Nations is proving to be unexpectedly interesting from a range of different perspectives. His comments on the differences between the secular cultures of Europe and the United States in particular have generated considerable interest amongst those who have been following the lengthy discussion in recent years of the threat to religious values posed by secular culture. One of the most interesting observations was made by Sandro Magister yesterday with the brief comment and a more lengthy comment from Pope Benedict which Magister has taken from a book Benedict wrote in 2004 when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger and which we present as our lead commentry today. [more]

001 :
08 Mar 2008

Steps towards Ministry… We are all called to evangelise. In this article, originally published in the New Evangelisation newsletter, New Zealand (www.newevangelisation .wellington.net.nz), Sydney-based lay activist, Harvey Smith, outlines some thoughts for stirring us out of our complacency. [more]

001 :
07 Dec 2007

A plea from the heart… On a regular basis now we receive unsolicited commentaries and reflections from readers and, where possible, we endeavour to slot them into our publishing schedule. Today's contribution comes from Kerry Gonzales whom I do not know other than what you will read in this essay. What she writes struck me as a "from the heart" plea and I feel many will be attracted to the frankness and honesty of what she expresses. …Brian Coyne, Editor [more]

001 :
04 Nov 2007

What would you do? This commentary is an account of a complex case involving allegations of abuse sent into Catholica by one of our readers. The case is situated in another country, not Australia. Our correspondent has brought it to our attention as it involves complex moral issues. They suggest virtually all of the players in this case have become "losers" and asks "which one was the victim?" By way of introduction our correspondent writes: "This is a case involving an infatuated woman, a naive priest, a misguided crusader and a weak bishop and how a confluence of circumstances combined into a tragic loss for the diocese and almost a suicide." All the names have been changed, and other details that might make identification of the particular individuals involved or the location difficult. The principal reason we publish the story is that in a way it is an excellent hypothetical. Except perhaps for the children involved, whom one can excuse on the grounds of childhood innocence, all of the other players in the drama have self-evident moral flaws of one description or another. We end the report with two questions that might form the basis for discussion in our forum. [more]

001 :
04 Oct 2007

Who will celebrate the Sacraments in ten years time? In light of the present petition to the Australian Catholic Bishops, readers of Catholica Australia will be interested in this discussion paper prepared by the Pastoral Council at the Parish of the Immaculate Conception, Rosebank, Johannesburg late last year which discusses the similar looming crisis in Ministry and the availability of Sacraments facing the Catholic Church in Australia. [more]

001 :
17 Aug 2007

Another lay response to Bishop Manning's interview… Way over on the other side of this continent in the South West of WA, Peter Beeson, has been mulling over what the Bishop of Parramatta, Kevin Manning, had to say in his interview with Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, last week. He provides a summary of what he thinks were the key points in Bishop Manning's argument and he shares his thoughts on a couple of areas where he finds himself in disagreement with the Bishop and indeed with Church teaching as it has been urged on the faithful… [more]

002 :
01 Jul 2007

Can you assist Dr Gakavian in his work? Last year Cliff Baxter introduced readers of Catholica to Dr Armen Gakavian, a still youngish graduate based here in Sydney, who has made it his life's work to assist the people of Armenia. He writes, researches and undertakes practical social justice endeavours in support of the long struggle the people of Armenia have been involved in to carve a better place for themselves and their nation in the world. One of the practical endeavours which Cliff and Armen brought to our attention was the situation of one particular family in Armenia, the Nersisyan's, whom Armen has made it his business to assist financially. Today Dr Gakavian puts before you a further request for financial assistance for the Nersisyan family. [more]

001 :
04 Jun 2007

Catholic Religious Education in Australia — why and how it has changed... Catholic Education in Australia faced a major crisis in the 1960s to the point where the bishops of the time seriously considered having to close the entire system down because they simply did not have the resources to sustain it any longer. The new system that was established in the 1970s, thanks largely to government funding, is fundamentally different to the system of religious education that had existed in the past. In today's commentary, Dr Graham English, Senior Lecturer in Religious Education at ACU National, explores some of the other social and cultural factors that make Catholic Religious Education today so much different to what it was in the past. [more]

001 :
18 May 2007

Draft Pastoral Plan needs serious re-write suggests Academic... The Archdiocese of Sydney recently circulated a Draft Pastoral Plan for public discussion. A pdf copy of the draft document is available on the Archdiocesan website. The feedback being picked up by independent religious journalists and commentators around Sydney is that at the parish level there is disquiet about the draft plan. Fr Daniel Donovan, a lecturer at the School of Religious Education at ACU National was approached by a number of parishes to provide a critique of the Draft Plan. His conclusion is that the draft is seriously flawed and needs to be taken back to the drawing board for a major re-write. He argues the document is theologically flawed and needs to pay far greater heed to official Vatican documents and the accepted teaching of the Catholic Church. In his critique, Fr Donovan cites a number of significant Vatican level documents which would urge a different approach to be taken to what has been proposed in the Draft Pastoral Plan for Sydney. We publish here the critique Fr Donovan has provided to the parishes that requested it. [more]

018 :
23 Dec 2006

"Our political leaders must listen to the voice of the oppressed in this Holy Land" Patriarch Michel Sabbah's Christmas message underlines the enormous contradiction that Bethlehem presents to our world today. [more]

013 :
01 Dec 2006

Renewal within Catholicism Michael J Bayly argues: "As Benedict XVI breathed the air and walked the ancient streets of Istanbul, my hope is that he was similarly moved and inspired to usher in a "renaissance" within the Catholic Church — a new era marked by creativity, tolerance, and the inclusion of the experiences and insights, hopes and aspirations of all. Just as Mehmed II revitalized Istanbul, may Benedict XVI facilitate a renewal within Catholicism. This "renewal" could be initiated by the Pope's convening of a truly ecumenical council — perhaps in Istanbul!" [more]