Jesus the Jew... Vynette Holliday today opens her substantive argument: "If the Church wishes to redeem itself and be included in the people of God, it must rebuild itself on the foundation of the Jewish apostles and the Jewish prophets, with the Jewish Jesus as the chief cornerstone." Does her argument hold weight that Christians down through history have lifted Jesus too far out of his Jewish context? [more]

We are a Church in search of a re-vitalised leadership! Catholicism today is fast becoming just one amongst the thirty thousand or so churches that make a claim to be led by Jesus Christ. It is fast-losing any claim to primacy amongst the Christian churches. Catholica Editor, Brian Coyne, today explores what has gone wrong and what needs to be done if the institutional Catholic Church is to legitimately reclaim some sense of primacy amongst the Christian churches. [more]

Exploring the Abuse Scandal through the eyes of a Convert Dawn Bowie is an Attorney in Washington and a convert to Catholicism (as well as a long time member of the Catholica community). She sent this commentary in some months ago and the editor apologises that it slipped under the radar. As it's a reflection that might also lead readers off into an exploration of a lot of interesting YouTube clips it will be a useful commentary to leave up on Catholica for a few days while the editor takes a break. (Exploring the YouTube clips could keep you occupied for about 2 weeks in fact!) [more]

Confusing aspects in the story of the conversion of the first Gentile to Christianity... As in virtually all of his fascinating trawls through the earlier scriptural record of Christianity Dr Ian Elmer very often ends his commentary by seeking to connect the history to our present situation. As you find today there are some puzzling aspects to Luke's original telling of the story of the conversion of the first Gentile, the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. Why the confusion? Why couldn't the story be told as straight history? What was the point Luke, and the early writers, were trying to make? Dr Elmer draws on the insights of a range of scholars to provide insight into what may have been in the minds of the early chroniclers of the Jesus and Christian story. [more]

Vatican II's empowerment of the Laity... Tom McMahon today begins to "cut into the meat" in this fourth part of his series on the The Documents of Vatican II. A large focus today is on the impact Yves Congar had on the Council and the empowerment given to the laity. [more]