018 :
14 Mar 2010

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]

017 :
28 Feb 2010

The question or problem of Authority Today's Sunday Forum is an attempt to extend the now lengthy discussion originally begun by Vynette and Ian Elmer [LINK] on a series of questions about how we interpret scripture, how we differentiate the historical Jesus from the real, authentic or risen Jesus and questions to do with authority — how we know if we have the right interpretations about these matters. It has been written by the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, and is the promised third part in his exploration of the question of authority. [more]

016 :
21 Feb 2010

A meditation with John Henry Newman... Frankly, folks I feel a bit exhausted this Sunday morn. It has been a fabulous week on Catholica though with very strong growth in our readership and some fabulous discussions on all sorts of topics. I need a bit of a breather as editor so could I just leave you today with a meditation from John Henry Newman which I have long cherished and derived much inspiration from. I still have a couple of queries where I wonder what he really meant — Newman is one guy who I wish was still alive today to interview and gain his perspectives on where the world, and the church, is heading today. ...Editor [more]

015 :
14 Feb 2010

Sharing a well-kept secret with the world... Lent starts this Wednesday and this year we invite you to join with us in an initiative developed by the more pastoral of the Australian bishops. It's a Lectio Divina sequence of reflections in the Scriptures leading through Lent and into Easter. In our Sunday Forum today we introduce and outline how the series will be presented and invite your active participation over the next six weeks. [more]

014 :
07 Feb 2010

Building sustainable communities... So often in our journey through life we see examples of communities, families or even whole societies breaking down. It might be argued that in Western society the Church is breaking down as less and less people are attracted to regular participation in a Church community. Each of us need a sense of community though as desperately as we need food and shelter for our survival. Our Sunday Forum today seeks to start an extended conversation on how we build better and more sustainable communities. We invite readers to share their experiences — both the positive ones, and the 'lessons learned' ones — that help us build better communities. [more]

013 :
28 Jun 2009

What's it all about, Alfie? (Mk 1057) A paragraph from a book by a married priest, a commentary from a Christian Brother, and a letter from a Marist Brother have provided the triggers for this Sunday Forum. In slightly different ways all three sources are reflections on this big question of "what's IT all about?" The 'IT' meaning 'my life' or 'our lives'. [more]

012 :
21 Jun 2009

A follow up to the Melbourne conversation... Today's Sunday Forum is a follow-up to a discussion paper circulated during the week to participants in the conversation held in Melbourne Satuday week ago convened by Catholics for Ministry. There is a hunger in society for forms of spirituality more responsive to people's real needs. The institution seems incapable of delivering it. What's the alternative? [more]

011 :
14 Jun 2009

How will our generation be remembered? Today's Sunday Forum is partly triggered by what emerged from a meeting Brian and Amanda attended in Melbourne yesterday and partly by an essay from Charles Handy that Stephen (Oh Yet We Trust) posted on our forum: "What will be on your 'white stone' at the end of your days?". [more]

010 :
24 May 2009

Eucharist is a verb, not a noun! It was difficult choosing what to make our Sunday Forum topic for today. In one sense I feel we should be "taking the day off" and allowing everyone to read the Report of the Irish Commission into Child Abuse and discussing what our responses should be to that. In a sense though I think that is happening of its own momentum — and out in the wider media world as well. The other possiboility is that I wanted to highlight for our wider readership who receives the email a post PeterR wrote four days ago and which deserves highlighting. Effectively it is an exploration of this topic of the meaning of the Eucharist (and the meaning of the Mass — our central liturgical and communal celebration within Catholicism). [more]

009 :
17 May 2009

Dealing with pain spiritually... The editor is crook with the pain of a bad back today. That pain led him to hi-jacking this long discussion started by Stephen (Oh Yet We Trust) on the forum which, in a very real way, might be described as a reflection on different ways of dealing with pain spiritually. Thanks for the discussion starter, Stephen. There is much worth spending time with in what you write. [more]

008 :
03 May 2009

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]

007 :
26 Apr 2009

The pursuit of Truth... A series of power failures caused by high winds up here in the Blue Mountains have prevented preparation of a lead commentary today. Today's late email draws attention to an ongoing discussion in the forum triggered by yesterday's commentary on truth and the mission of religion. [more]

006 :
19 Apr 2009

Does God need, or answer, our prayers? Via our email list today we are drawing wider attention to a discussion that has been underway on the Catholica forum for three days already. James started it by posting a column by Klaus Ziegler in El Espectador, the Colombian daily. James concludes: "I am not sure if Newberg and Waldman have got to the stage of comparing the dendrite growth rates in believers and non-believers … in any event, it seems from what they say, that prayer, whether of the contemplative type, or just straight out toadying and groveling is good for us. And so is putting a Zeigler on it all." What are your thoughts on prayer: do you have a sense that God needs your prayers – or answers your prayers? [more]

006 :
05 Apr 2009

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]

005 :
22 Mar 2009

How do we provide moral support to our bishops? An interesting, invigorating discussion has emerged on the forum in the last day or so on the meaning of priesthood and ministry. Late last night, after a day in bed feeling as sick as a dog for a long period, I emerged fired up having been reading some of Paul Collins' thoughts on the same subject. I posted some of them in that discussion string. They were from the second last chapter of his book. I had already decided that a good Sunday Forum series, leading on from the discussion last week, might be to look at the questions Paul raises in the last chapter of his book "Does Australian Catholicism have a future?" They are questions that very much intersect with the discussions we've been having. To kick this discussion off — or a little further along — I reproduce here a small section from the last Chapter where Paul is querying the manner in which our ecclesial and spiritual leaders are appointed... [more]

004 :
15 Mar 2009

Re-evangelising the Church — how would you do it? Catholica editor, Brian Coyne, seeks to kick off an extended conversation today on the issues of evangelisation and re-evangelisation. The bishops and the pope have been talking about it for decades — and spending billions attempting to do it — the result is that more and more people keep leaving. If you had access to their power, and the money they have at their disposal, what would you do differently to actually achieve something positive? [more]

003 :
08 Mar 2009

A focus on women Today is International Women's Day.  To focus attention on the long, and continuing, struggle women have had to fight for equality I sought permission from Ray Otto, and other members of the Catholica Forum, to move a post Ray wrote a few days ago on the members' forum into the more public Sunday Forum. Ray originally placed the post there to draw attention to the World Day of Prayer, which was celebrated on Friday. What he writes about though is a moving tribute to the work his wife, Monica, is engaged in seeking to improve the plight of women in her home country of Papua New Guinea. As a reflection today, I particularly draw your attention to the pdf document in Ray's post on his parish website. It is the address he gave at his parish last month on the plight of women in Papua New Guinea. [more]

002 :
08 Feb 2009

A critique of Church Communications In today's Sunday Forum, Kerry Gonzales, critiques a recent brochure put out by the Life, Marriage & Family Centre of the Archdiocese of Sydney to drum up support for Humanae Vitae. She argues that surely there are far more important, and relevant, issues the institution ought be addressing today if it is to remain a relevant force in society. [more]

001 :
01 Feb 2009

A Review of Clive Hamilton's book "The Freedom Paradox" For our first Sunday Forum James, a retired lawyer and regular contributor to the Catholica Forum, has been reading Clive Hamilton's book, "The Freedom Paradox — towards a post-secular ethics". James provides a thought-provoking introduction to what is almost certain to be a sustained discussion on morality. [more]