023 :
20 Apr 2014

An Easter Reflection... Vic O'Callaghan offered us a series of reflections for Holy Week from the book he published in 2011 with Loreto sister, Susan Daily. I had already committed to the series of Reflections by Joy Ryan-Bloore but today, Easter Sunday, I'd like to offer just one of the reflections offered by Vic. I had hoped to offer it as a full-blown audio visual experience but time has gotten away from me so only the introduction is in av form. Vic and Susan have another similar book of Advent Reflections so I might see if they are amenable to us offering them in audio visual form at the end of the year. The reflections in this present book, Days of Passion, were inspired by a pilgrimage Vic made to the Holy Land in 2010 and take the form of a series of extended reflections where Vic endeavours to place himself in the shoes and minds of some of the people who, 2000 years ago, actually witnessed the Passion of Jesus. [more]

022 :
07 Feb 2013

Should this priest be censured by the CDF? Irish Redemptorist, Fr Tony Flannery, has been much in the news in recent weeks for the censure imposed on him by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this frank interview broadcast on Radio-Canada last Sunday, Fr Flannery, echoes many thoughts which would be familiar to regular readers of Catholica. Have a listen and share your reactions with our readers. Does this priest deserve censure or is he a voice for the many who have become very disillusioned with where the Church's ecclesial leaders have been taking us? [more]

021:
14 Sep 2010

What is the future for religion? Today's commentary is a little bit different. In overview it contains two short videos interspersed with a bit of commentary from the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, and it concludes with a lengthy paper delivered to the British Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) in March of this year by Mr Jeremy Rifkin. As a suggestion you might like to skim read through Brian Coyne's comments to get a quick overview of what this commentary is discussing before starting at the top again and re-reading it in the context of the videos. [more]

020 :
17 July 2009

Do we need a new Creed? Catholica commentator, Kerry Gonzales, and myself, Brian Coyne, editor, were the two invited to stir up a good discussion at the Sutherland Shire Spirituality in the Pub meeting on Wednesday night. Our addresses certainly seemed to fire up a vigorous discussion on the relevance, or factual truth, of various parts of the Creed today and on wider related issues of how the institution seems incapable of responding to the questions many educated people have today on fundamental questions to do with our beliefs as Christians and Catholics. We reproduce here the discussion-starter addresses each of us gave which stirred up the very interesting and positive discussion. [more]

019 :
08 May 2009

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]

018 :
07 May 2008

New liturgical music for Australia… A conversation with one of Australia's leading liturgical music publishers, Monica O'Brien, managing director of Willow Publishing, and two fellow musicians and composers, Gina Ogilvie and Amanda McKenna. The 20-minute conversation covered much territory from how liturgical music has changed over the last 20 years, the attitude of the institution to contemporary Christian music, the new song book being produced by Willow and an invitation to musicians to submit their compositions for consideration. [more]

017 :
03 Dec 2007

A thank you… A post on the CathNews Discussion Board by a Dominican Sister on Saturday, 1st December 2007, prompted this response in tribute to all the religious women and men who helped lift Catholic Australians into the social mainstream. [more]

016 :
23 Aug 2007

World Peace Day Video 2007... This video is worth watching just to hear the guy's story and for his style of communication. He also has a message that might motivate you to take some concrete action that will contribute a little to world peace. [more]

015 :
30 Jun 2007

Making Jesus relevant... This 10-minute video, originally produced to promote the Great Jubilee celebrations in the Perth Archdiocese in 2000, features Archbishop Barry Hickey seeking to explain why Jesus Christ continues to be relevant in an affluent, educated country half a world away from Galilee and two Millennia removed in time. [more]

014 :
25 Jun 2007

World Youth Day Theme Song... View the World Youth Day theme song sung by Guy Sebastian and Paulini. [more]

013 :
22 Jun 2007

Video and Photo report of Vinnies Winter Sleep-Out at Eastern Creek... We provide video footage of Bishop Kevin Manning's comments on the homeless plus video and photos to give some impression of the general atmosphere at the Vinnies' Winter Sleep-Out for teachers, students and parents from Catholic and Christian schools in the Parramatta Diocese. [more]

012 :
23 Mar 2007

The Christian Brothers announce their leadership team for the new Oceania Province... The Christian Brothers today announced the new leadership team which will head the new Oceania Province of their Congregation from 1st October 2007. We have prepared a small tribute to the Brothers and their work. [more]

011 :
18 Feb 2007

“Special Plans” – a new reading of the Annunciation... Catholica is proud to preview a new song by Mick Bezzina and Amanda McKenna which seeks to explore the Annunciation story of Mary, the Mother of God, in more contemporary imagery and musical style. The recording was presented to Dr Bezzina at a farewell dinner held at Rosehill to acknowledge his work as a former director of the Parramatta Catholic Education Office. Michael Bezzina is now working as Adjunct Professor at ACU National in the School of Educational Leadership. [more]

010 :
01 Feb 2007

Catching up with Jesus... To recommence our publishing schedule for 2007 we have pleasure in presenting an extended conversation with Fr Diarmuid O'Murchu recorded during his recent visit to Australia. Fr O'Murchu is in conversation with the publisher of Catholica, Brian Coyne, and Brian's business and creative partner and fiance, Amanda McKenna. [more]

009 :
04 Dec 2006

Putting things in perspective... Coincidentally with Tony Robertson's commentary yesterday seeking to put Christmas into perspective we received one of those slide presentations by email talking about similar stuff. We've rendered it into a slide presentation. [more]

008 :
29 Oct 2006

Finding the God of love through Jesus Christ... Today we present a moving homily by the late Fr Paddy Meagher SJ which seems particularly relevant at the moment to the conversations going on in Catholica concerning the particular relevance of Jesus in our lives. Do yourself a favour and find the 20 minutes you need to listen to Fr Paddy. You will not regret the investment of time you make. [more]

007 :
05 Sep 2006

We have pleasure today in presenting a very special multi-media reflection on the challenge we face as individuals, institutionally, collectively and as a civilisation. Note: This reflection contains heavy multi-media content [20Mb total downloads] and is only suitable for users with high speed broadband connections. To view the multi-media version click HERE or the headline image above. To view a text only version suitable for dial-up connections click HERE.

006 :
24 Aug 2006

When it's too hard to cry... This audio-visual reflection that has been jointly put together by Amanda McKenna, Cliff Baxter and Brian Coyne. This is not entertainment but a resource we are placing on the web that we hope may assist people from time to time who are suffering pain or deep trauma in their lives. [more]

005 :
07 Aug 2006

A Passionate Plea for Peace... Cliff Baxter has won many awards during the course of his long career in journalism – possibly more than any other Catholic journalist in Australia. The column he has written for us today might give you an insight why. It is an extraordinarily powerful and passionate plea for peace yet, despite it's passion, it carries a sense of objectivity and fairness to the peoples caught up on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East. I have attached multi-media content in the form of another Prayer for Our Time to Cliff's Take. If that distracts from the reading of his column I suggest you scroll down and put it on pause until you reach the end of his column. Let us not just "pray for peace" but "work for peace" amongst all the peoples of our world. [more]

004 :
30 Jul 2006

Remembering – a prayer for our time A few week's ago we brought you the entry submitted by Jo Shears to the Prayer for Our Time initiative conducted on the CathNews discussion forum in 2002. This Sunday, given the on-going conflict in the Middle East, but also cognizant of the spirit of hope that seems to characterise our own initiative as we prepare for our public launch this coming Thursday, it seems entirely appropriate to bring you the entry submitted by KateD and her bashful husband who masquerades around a lot of the time like Alice in Wonderland. In a post on our discussion forum last week, Kate explained how her multi-media prayer ended up being used in parishes and a diverse variety of other places. [more]

003 :
18 Jul 2006

A Prayer for our time... Jo Shears was the winner of a competition we ran on the CathNews discussion board in 2002 in the aftermath of the terrorist bombing in New York. The competition invited readers to submit "A Prayer for Our Time". Jo Shears produced a multi-media reflection that won the competition. We republished the prayer here on 18th July 2006 along with an editorial explaining the significance of this prayer for us today. [THE PRAYER]

002 :
06 Jul 2006

An audio visual reflection on the three faces of God... From the feedback we've received the reflection from Theologos yesterday was a tough read. Today we have something that extends some of the ideas he was exploring but in a way that hopefully is also pleasant on the ear. It is a short audio visual reflection based on a beautiful set of words I came across on another discussion board yesterday. Enjoy! [more]

001 :
04 Jul 2006

Give us this day, our daily bread! Here is commentary at its very best. Veteran journalist, Cliff Baxter uses his pen like a sabre cutting through the tragedy and hypocrisy of the War in Iraq. Amanda McKenna on reading the piece was inspired to take up her guitar and sing the words of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards that Cliff used to introduce his column. You have the benefit of hearing Amanda's rendition recorded early this morning while you read one of the most cutting commentaries you're likely to find in any media. Happy 4th July everybody! [more]