002 :
15 Feb 2009

A conversation with Ted Mason… It is our pleasure today to bring you a mini-video documentary on the Shalom House of Prayer at Carcoar in rural New South Wales and an extended audio interview with Ted Mason who has recently retired as manager of Shalom and leader of the lay prayer community located there. As editor I see two particular values in the documentary and interview. Firstly, the Shalom House of Prayer in itself is a fascinating lay initiative that's been going for 34 years now — and it pays its way. Secondly, Ted Mason is simply an interesting person. He calls himself "an ordinary bloke" and, in some ways, I think he fits that description from the point of view that I think he thinks a lot of the thoughts that I come across today in people who've seen a bit of life and who have been "mugged by reality" when it comes to many aspects of the spirituality and religiosity we were brought up on. At another level he's far from ordinary. There are few lay people around this nation who would have put in the 25 year full-time commitment that Ted and his wife, Ada, have put in furthering a valuable initiative in adult faith development like this. Enjoy — the video lasts about 5 minutes and I've broken the 50 minute audio interview into segments of about ten minutes duration. We're publishing the first three segments of the interview today and the two concluding segments tomorrow. Brian Coyne, Editor and Publisher [more]

001 :
07 Jun 2008
08 Jun 2008

Brian Coyne & Adel Ghali… We begin a new series of aural conversations on Catholica today. Initially this might seem like an interview simply because the editor of Catholica is the usual interviewer in the other audio segments we have introduced to readers. In time we hope to introduce a diversity of "conversations" between different individuals. We want to keep the tone as natural as possible — just like the conversations any of us might have around the kitchen table talking about our faith, our beliefs, our perceptions of the Church, and life. This first conversation is between the editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, and his friend, Adel Ghali. Both Brian and Adel have had a long involvement in lay endeavours and apostolates in the Church over many decades. The conversation is being published in three segments. Here is a summary of the segments:
Segment 1 (13m01s): Introduction – explaining what this series is about and providing background to the participants in this first conversation. Adel shares some of his observations from working at both parish and diocesan level…
Segment 2 (13m04s): Broadly this segment is an extended exchange of views on our different perceptions as to why the Church has lost traction in attracting people. Adel puts forward a more conservative view than Brian…
Segment 3 (14m18s): In the concluding segment the focus is on what might be done to re-vitalise the Church and perceptions of what is happening in Catholic education with the education of young people… [Go to the audio files]