082 :
18 Jul 2008

Do we need to re-discover some of the insights of Aquinas? Robert Blair Kaiser has recently been on a promotional tour on the East coast promoting his new book "Cardinal Mahony – a Novel". We sent a copy of the book to Peregrinus over on the other side of continent to review it. Today we present his review. Pere concludes: "A novel is a work of the imagination, but imagination is also the foundation for new realities; Kaiser may be encouraging us to look to the real world for the next chapter in the church's story." [more]

081 :
09 Apr 2008

Do we need to re-discover some of the insights of Aquinas? Today's commentary is almost guaranteed to drive any self-respecting fundamentalist into a state of apoplexy. Peregrinus explores how the views of Thomas Aquinas on morality became superceded by the views of the Franciscan, William of Ockham, and that has helped fashion our moral understanding right down to the present day. He advances arguments why a more intelligent understanding of morality suggests we might begin paying more attention to the arguments of Thomas Aquinas. His core argument is for a new synthesis between the valuable viewpoints put forward by both Aquinas and Ockham. [more]

080 :
02 Apr 2008

Obedience or Conscience? To quote Peregrinus: "Y'know, surfing the Catholic blogosphere, you tend to get the impression that there are two distinct Christian moralities out there, which don't have a lot to do with each other." This week and next week he will be examining the conflict between these two viewpoints that have little to do with another. [more]

079 :
26 Mar 2008

A discussion on how much personal morality should intrude into public policy… Catholics, led by Augustine and Aquinas, have traditionally been more liberal than the Protestants, regarding public social policy. One could argue that arch-conservative Catholics want to change that today. Peregrinus re-visits some important principles considered in depth by Augustine and Aquinas as to how personal morality should impact on public social policy. It is always a vexed area of discussion as the current situation concerning a public park in Amsterdam illustrates very well. [more]

078 :
19 Mar 2008

The Cursing of the Barren Fig Tree… What is the meaning we are meant to derive from this difficult-to-understand story told by Jesus Christ? Peregrinus goes in search of some answers. [more]

077 :
12 Mar 2008

A new way of unifying society?This coming Sunday brings us the long Gospel reading of the Passion. Today, Peregrinus explores the penchant in society for scapegoats and discord and how Jesus offers a new way towards social communion and unity. (Due pressures of work, Pere apologises that he hasn't been able to write a fresh commentary for today. This Lenten Reflection is taken from the series he wrote last year where the focus was on the Gospel account of Luke. Next Sunday the Gospel Passion narrative will be from Matthew's Gospel.) [more]

076 :
05 Mar 2008

The Raising of Lazarus… Continuing this interesting series of reflections on Lenten Mass readings, in this essay, Peregrinus turns his attention to the story of the Raising of Lazarus. He argues: "The point is that God's response to our grief and anger and pain and loss is real". [more]

075 :
27 Feb 2008

Learning lessons from a blind man… We promote ourselves as people looking at faith and spirituality in an "excitingly different way". Peregrinus helps us live up to that hope in his Lenten reflection looking at a story most of us will have heard dozens of times before. [more]

074 :
20 Feb 2008

No wonder they crucified him! Today's Lenten reflection from Peregrinus looks at the paradox and contradiction of Jesus as illustrated in the story of the Woman at the Well. Jesus wasn't just contrary for the sake of "sticking it up the authorities", or because he believed that "being different" — some sort of nerd or geek or goody-two-shoes was what set one apart and worthy of "the kingdom". This is an entirely different understanding of "radical". One that pursues justice and truth as the ultimate values for defining life, and "the kingdom", in their own right. [more]

073 :
13 Feb 2008

Isn't this really the guts of the entire religious quest: if the heart of the religious quest is to become like God — in other words to become holy, or perfect as God is perfect — isn't the greatest obstacle to that one of overcoming our own fears and insecurities? Peregrinus brings us a poignant reflection looking at these ideas in the context of the Gospel readings for the Transfiguration next Sunday. [more]

072 :
06 Feb 2008

A reminder of how we must live! This is another of those "must read" commentaries from Peregrinus. You might have thought you've heard every commentary and homily there is to be heard about the meaning of Ash Wednesday but do yourself a favour and read this one! [more]

071 :
26 Dec 2007

Celebrating Christmas... Today we republish Peregrinus' commentary from 2006. It bears re-visiting becauce, in his usual style, he really does present a different twist to the usual sort of reflections and homilies we can expect at this time of the year. [more]

070 :
12 Dec 2007

Science & Religion Part III: Objections to Intelligent Design In his conclusion to the Science -vs- Religion debate Peregrinus looks at some objections that have been raised against the Theory of Intelligent Design which some put forward as a way of bridging the gulf between the unscientific ideas of Creationism and the Scientific Method. [more]

069 :
05 Dec 2007

Science & Religion Part II: Intelligent Design Peregrinus continues his exploration of the Science -vs- Religion debate, in this commentary his ultimate focus is the contemporary debate on Intelligent Design but he ends up frankly admitting he doesn't have the answers from a scientific perspective. What he discloses however is important groundwork for a discussion on the philosophical objections which he will tackle in the third part of this series next week. [more]

068 :
29 Nov 2007

Science & Religion: Is there a conflict? Peregrinus turns his attention to the rivalry between Religion and Science. In this multi-part commentary he seeks to provide some rational analysis as to what the basis of the conflict is and how it might be resolved. [more]

067 :
21 Nov 2007

Catholics and Voting… Here is a commentary that many Catholics perhaps might wish was being issued with the authority of the Magisterium. It does quote some magisterial documents to further its arguments but one suspects it will not satisfy those elements in the population who would like to introduce a Catholiv version of Sharia Law in society. Peregrinus has a look at the authentic Catholic Church attitude towards elections, politics and voting. [more]

066 :
07 Nov 2007

Reviewing the evidence… Peregrinus reviews some of the evidence from the "Zeitgeist" movie website and basically concludes it's all a load of codswallop. Will the codswallop make any difference to it being widely viewed and believed? [more]

065 :
31 Oct 2007

Analysing the petition results… Peregrinus applies his mind — and ours — to looking at a variety of ways in which the Petition to the Australian Bishops can be analysed. He concludes: "You can bet your bottom dollar that if a politician received a petition with 10,000 signatures, they would take that very, very seriously as an indicator of a major concern about which people felt strongly, and which needed to be addressed". [more]

064 :
24 Oct 2007

Religion and Art Part III… Do your remember the recent controversy over the Blake Prize for Religious Art where Queensland artist, Priscilla Bracks, submitted an image of Jesus that morphed into Osama bin Laden? Or do you remember the even bigger controversy in 1997 when Andres Sorano's provocative work Piss Christ was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria and George Pell unsuccessfully applied for a Court injunction to try and prevent it being exhibited? We won't give Peregrinus's arguments away but urge you, whatever side you might have been on in these controversies to read the very different perspective that he brings to the consideration of these matters. No one is going to be disappointed with this Catholica commentary. [more]

063 :
17 Oct 2007

Religion and Art Part II… In this commentary Peregrinus examines some of the tensions down through the ages between religion and art. He suggests this is a necessary preliminary to what he'll be discussing next week regarding the continuing tension in our own times between art and religion. [more]

062 :
10 Oct 2007

Religion and Art Part I… Peregrinus begins a new series of commentaries examining the sometimes tense relationship between religion and art. [more]

061 :
03 Oct 2007

The origin of the Bible VI… Peregrinus concludes his series looking at the origins of the Bible. Today he brings the whole discussion together to address these questions: Who decided that these books are "the Bible"? When did they decide this? How did they decide it? And, most importantly, why? [more]

060 :
26 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible V… In this fifth commentary in a series Peregrinus examines the origins of the New Testament. [more]

059 :
19 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible IV… In this fourth commentary in a series Peregrinus concludes his examination of the Old Testament by looking at some of the background to the Books of Wisdom and the Books of the Prophets. [more]

058 :
12 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible III… In this third commentary in a series Peregrinus examines the History Books of the Old Testament as they are understood via tradition and through modern scholarship. [more]

057 :
05 Sep 2007

The origin of the Bible II… How the bible was constructed is, to some extent "educated guesswork" argues Peregrinus. To illustrate though, how scripture is not only about history, but comes out of history, he looks at just one theory in detail as to how The Torah is thought to have evolved. [more]

056 :
29 Aug 2007

The origin of the Bible I… Peregrinus begins an extended series today which is seeking to explore in some detail what the origins of Sacred Scripture are. His commentary today begins by looking at the origins of the Old Testament. [more]