001 :
24 Sep
2007

Three "very naughty boys"! As part of our on-going series looking at Catholic Education and the responsibilities we as a community have towards our young people we present an extended interview with three young men of approximately 25 years of age, all educated in Catholic primary and secondary schools who no longer have any significant connection with the Church. [more]

001 :
01 Jun 2007

The Problem of Evil Apart from the university lecturers amongst us whose job it is to be regularly marking student assignments, I expect this essay from one of Ian Elmer's theology students at ACU National, Daniel Gullotta, will be of interest to other readers of Catholica from two principal points of view. Firstly it enables us to see how a young person tackles one of the big questions for the first time. Daniel certainly has tackled a huge canvas for his first essay for Catholica and I think his condensation of the arguments into less than 1400 words is commendable. Secondly, and this is one of our main aims in encouraging the submission of these commentaries from younger writers, is it provides some insight into the broader perspectives of young people _Ed. [more]

000 :
26 Dec 2006

Introduction to the series... The editor of Catholica, Brian Coyne, provides an overview of this series of perspectives written by young people in their mid-20s to early 30s. The introduction includes a copy of the briefing note that was sent to the young people. [more]

001 :
26 Dec 2006

Ben Coyne... Ben is the eldest son of the editor, Brian Coyne. He is 28 years old, an arts graduate from Murdoch University, has this year successfully completed a post-graduate course in counselling in Perth, and has been accepted to study law at Southern Cross University in NSW. He has been a leader in many activist endeavours in the realm of human rights, social justice, sustainability and ecology in all the States of Australia. He has also travelled extensively overseas and all his travels and studies have largely been self-financed through part-time work and by himself living in a very sustainable and economical way that gives very practical voice to his beliefs. His extensive commentary gives an excellent overview of his spiritual outlook and his attitudes towards institutionalised religion and religiosity. [more]

002 :
29 Dec 2006

Phoebe Coyne... Phoebe is the eldest child of the editor, Brian Coyne. She is 30 years old, and is currently completing an arts degree at Murdoch University. If Alex Caughey was concerned about new age ideas and spirituality in his response to Ben's essay he has even more to contend with in what Phoebe writes. The reality is that many young people today are disenchanted with the Catholic way of exploring and explaining spirituality and they are exploring alternative pathways. Phoebe's essay might help explain at least some of the disenchantment one young person feels. [more]

003 :
01 Jan 2007

Armen Gakavian... Dr Armen Gakavian summarises his spiritual journey in this way: "I have had an Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) upbringing, Catholic religious education at school, encounter with Jesus through a fundamentalist Baptist Church, involvement with various campus Christian groups, and encounters with radical Christian communities. At the 'end' (there is really no end) of this process, I am now what I would call 'evangelical'." His essay is illuminating not only of his own personal journey but seeks to provide commentary on why so many of his contemporaries are today distanced from the Church. [more]