Series Introduction

What this is about...

Catholica is a new lay-led initiative which will be eventually seeking to reach out to the educated sectors of society who have dropped out of contact with the institutional Church. When fully operational it will be using innovative techniques utilising tools provided by search engine companies to intersect with that particular sector of society. At present Catholica is building up a database of information that will become the principal tool that is used for making contact with the audience we seek to serve.

This special series of commentaries on the Seven Deadly Sins is part of the process of filling our databanks before the real work can begin.

What you are going to find here is basically a series of reflections written by a fairly diverse group of lay people each of whom has volunteered to contribute their thoughts on the subject they have chosen to reflect on and study over a period of a few weeks. They should be read not as authoritative doctrinal edicts on these matters but as reflections of mature adults who have been thinking carefully about these matters over a long period of time but with more focused attention over the last couple of weeks when we decided to run this series.

We will welcome alternative points of view being expressed as responses in our forum provided they are not what we deem part of the problem that has been driving people away from Catholicism. That is not a judgment that is decided on political grounds but basically if the person is endeavouring to force particular points of view on others or whether they are willing to enter into vigorous discussion and themselves be open to challenge on any arguments they might put forward. We do welcome orthodox and conservative points of view provided they are expressed as persuasive argument not as some weapon which is wielded to belt other people into submission.

Many of the issues raised by this series can be expected to be issues on which many people might be searching for answers at some point in their lives. The whole point of Catholica is that it seeks to create a community of educated lay people who have themselves been through many of the ordeals that life throws up. The principal writers are people who have at various points been distanced from the Church, or questioning of the official answers. In this endeavour we are seeking to have a conversation about our lives, our beliefs, and our spiritual outlook in language that we believe is more likely to intersect with that now vast population who are fairly remote from anything the institutional Church has to say.

The series itself...

Here is a brief introduction to the Seven Deadly Sins which is sourced from Wikipedia...

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, are a classification of vices used in early Christian teachings to educate and protect followers from (immoral) basic human instincts. The Church divided sin into two types: venial (forgiven through any sacramental) and capital or mortal (meaning they can kill the life of grace and risk eternal damnation unless absolved in the sacrament of confession). Beginning in the early 14th century, the popularity of the seven deadly sins with artists of the time engrained them in human culture around the world. The generally accepted deadly sins are superbia (hubris/pride), avaritia (avarice/greed), luxuria (extravagance, later lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath), and acedia (sloth). Each deadly sin is opposed by one of the corresponding Seven Holy Virtues.

Our writers will provide more detailed explanation as the series unfolds. Over time there have been different orders of precedence in which the seven sins have been classified. We have chosen to cover them in the same order as they are treated in Wikipedia which broadly follows the contemporary order of precedence. Here is a brief overview of the series and our writers...

For your entertainment Cliff Baxter will also be taking some of the members of his menagerie on a more satirical or humorous exploration of the Seven Deadlies. Cliff is a journalist of long standing experience in the secular media for the ABC, Fairfax, News Limited and as a freelancer in Fleet Street. After his conversion to Catholicism he spent ten years as the lead journalist for The Catholic Weekly in Sydney.

We trust you enjoy this series. We have a number of other series in development over the next few months which will be promoted in religious media while we continue to raise funds for our larger mission which will eventually be taking place largely "behind the scenes" and through promotional channels that are more likely to be intersecting with our target audience than the channels the institution uses to communicate to its still practising members.

Brian Coyne
Editor & Publisher
Catholica

Photo Credits:
Animations by Brian Coyne. Greed icon is taken from a wonderful website put together by Simon Knott which shows the history of Norfolk churches in the UK. The image is of bench end in the Church of St Peter and St Paul at Watlington. The website shows photos and has explanation about a number of these bench ends depicting the Seven Deadlies. This image is of Avarice – a man counting his money. www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.

[Index of Seven Deadlies Series]