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Saving us from slithering snakes, slithy toads ... and the devil! One of our lead commentators rang me yesterday to alert me to a story in the UK Telegraph where the Vatican's chief exorcist is claiming the Devil is in the Vatican. That has generated a really interesting conversation in our forum about what is happening in the Vatican and the whole future of religion in society. Well worth reading in its own right. I'm just about to chuck another grenade into that discussion because while I was writing today's email someone rang me to point out that part of the criticism being made by the chief exorcist is not actually directed at so-called "liberals" in the Church. It is directed at those who come from both conservative and liberal camps who are disparagingly labelled as "professional Catholics". They don't believe in anything other than protecting their paypackets and superannuation but, by golly, they know how to say things as though they do believe in something! You might know priests who "go through the motions" but have actually ceased to believe and there's plenty to be found in that vast secular employment bureau the Church has become in a country like Australia. Is the chief exorcist saying they dwell in the highest realms of the institution as well? Why is it that these people seem to have a heightened ability to slither to the top without being detected? Standby, here's another really interesting discussion about to fire up. What my correspondent was suggesting is that in some ways these very self-interested individuals pose as great a threat to Catholicism as the neaderthal element who are petrified of modernity and who have their heads completely buried in the sand and in dead languages and the rituals of a bygone era of history. God save us all from the extremists on both sides, and slithering snakes and slimey toads! [more]
What is God's name? Dr Ian Elmer returns today to a discussion that resurfaces from time to time on Catholica — the truly puzzling matter of the names we give to God. His treatment is in part triggered by the recent decision of Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments urging that we drop the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton in liturgical celebrations in song or prayer. [more]
The Human Desire for Peace II... The new revelations in the news today of violence inflicted by high profile members of the Church — the disgraced head of the Legionaries of Christ [LINK] and the pope's own brother [LINK] — lends a particular poignancy to today's commentary from Tom McMahon. Where does this human propensity for violence come from? All of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have to deal with this trait seemingly embedded deep in human nature. We have to own up and deal with it institutionally as well as individually. [more]
The Prodigal Son... The reflection reading this week is already generating considerable discussion. The Bishops generally argue it is one of the great lessons in Scripture. Our own lead commentary Dr Paul Collins argues that forgiveness without restoration is a sham. In our forum there is discussion on this tension between the forgiveness offered by God and our need to restore equity, or equilibrium. Do we have to do anything to earn the love, and forgiveness of God? If so, what? [more]
The nature of Epiphany II... Today Dr Andrew Kania concludes his two-part reflection on the nature of Epiphany. We speak of God giving light to the world and Jesus giving true light to every person (as in John 1:9) but what does this all mean in practical terms? This reflection contains some thought provoking ideas from the likes of Marco Polo, Thomas Merton, Yves Congar as well as Andrew himself. [more]
So much food for thought and discussion... There is simply so much fruitful discussion going on in our forum at the moment, and elsewhere in the media, that we thought we'd give you a rest today from yet another new lead commentary. The animated banner below just gives a small flavour of some of the stories in the news at the moment that are generating much thoughtful reflection. Please feel free to join the conversation. Last week we far exceeded our previous number of visits and, while March is always a good month in readership growth, I expect we'll break through the 50,000 number this month. Few Cathedrals could boast that number of 'visits' a month let alone suburban parishes. We're now 'up there' in the realm of websites that have been around a lot longer than us or which have the massive resources of the institution behind them. We still survive on the proverbial smell of an oily rag but to our core community of writers and those contributing to the conversations on our forum all this is enormously gratifying. [Today's e-Bulletin] | [See the conversations on our forum]
The Saga of Munglanup A change of pace today — well, sort of, in that it's poetry and in the tradition of this nation's best balladeers. In other respects though it is no change of pace in that it echoes the disquiet of many of the faithful in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Sit back and enjoy "The Saga of Munglanup" by Brian Clery. This might make up for our not being able to bring you poetry on Friday from Father Hartigan. [more]
Our institutional mission... Last night, at his installation as Third Bishop in the Diocese of Parramatta, Dr Anthony Fisher OP delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking homily outlining some of the challenges he sees as pastor to the Western suburbs of Sydney. In short, it was his mission statement. Here at Catholica we suggest his homily has wider application than this Diocese and to draw attention to it, and to some of the challenges we'd also like to draw to the attention of His Lordship and other bishops, we submit for thoughtful consideration this editorial... [more]
Go West young man! Unfortunately, due to a public relations' oversight, neither Catholica nor Fr Donal Hartigan got a formal invitation to the big party in Parramatta last night. However, being the intrepid members of the fourth estate that we are, we got Fr Donal, and the sisters from our cloister, to do a bit of poking around to find out what all the fuss was about at St Bunnings Cathedral in the Diocese of Parramatta in Western Sydney... [more]
The Mission of Christ, the Mission of the Church, the Mission of a Diocese Dominican bishop, Anthony Fisher, was installed as the Third Bishop of the Western diocese of urban Sydney, the Parramatta Diocese, on 4 March 2010. His homily delivered at the Installation Mass outlined his broad sweep of the Mission of Jesus Christ, the Mission of the Church, and what he sees as his personal Mission which he was seeking to invite the people of the Western suburbs of Sydney to embrace. Here at Catholica we think the homily offers rich food for reflection and discussion at a number of levels: firstly the evident thought put into the address, secondly in that the Western suburbs of Sydney in many respects are typical of the social challenges encountered in almost any major city of the Western world, and also because of questions that intersect with many of the discussions the community at Catholica engages in of the problems facing the Church today. Because of YouTube limitations the video is in three parts of 9m 54s, 5m 59s, 6m 12s (22m 5s total). [Catholica Editorial where we first drew attention to this homily] | [WATCH THE VIDEO]
Reports 013: 07 Mar 2010
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