The sweeping new report on the clergy sex abuse scandal compares the Roman Catholic Church to police departments, with similar hierarchies, oral authority and isolated working environments, reports NCR. And because the church, like the police, has
A modest week, led by warm educational response to the Budget, a stand against the anti-chaplaincy push and a new young artist in Sydney's west. Push for form of sharia law in Australia (Australian) Warrnambool schools to defy anti-chaplaincy push
Big themes dominated the agenda. The Swiss voted to not to lift euthanasia restrictions, UK bishops considered reinstating holy days, a Scottish bishop condemned an attack on Catholic schools, and the Pope met the new Arab league secretary. Swiss say no to
Scot sacrificed priesthood for politics
21-May-2011
David Cairns, who has died aged 44 from acute pancreatitis, was a Scottish Labour MP who was sacked from his ministerial job in 2008 after declining to express confidence in Gordon Brown's leadership. According to The Guardian's obituary, this was widely
Truth missing from the Grayling's Bible
21-May-2011
The Good Book: a secular Bible, A.C. Grayling, Bloomsbury, $49.99A year or two ago some supporters of prominent atheist Richard Dawkins arranged for London buses to carry the slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." This
Blogger Bill Tammeus looks at the clergy sex abuse scandals in light of the recent US public TV series on forgiveness and its associated book Forgiveness: A Time to Love, a Time to Hate.Tammeus is a retired reporter and editorial page columnist for The Kansas
Cancer survivor Kathleen Evans at the chapel in Kensington erected by Mary MacKillop and opened in 1876. Photo: Stephen Gray --- In a 1997 Commodore station-wagon, towing a 33-year-old caravan, sit Kathleen and Barry Evans travelling south from New South
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd
14-May-2011
John 10:1-10 ‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him,
Belated recognition for the sacrifice of mothers
14-May-2011
For many years, I've had a bias against Mothers' Day. I'm not against the concept, it's a private grudge. My own mother died 40 years ago and my ignoring of the celebration has been payback to the universe for that perceived injustice. But time heals and
How social justice connects with the environment
14-May-2011
Jesuit Father Patxi Álvarez de los Mozos, secretary of social justice and ecology for the Society of Jesus, explains the intertwined nature of working for social justice with a connection to ecological issues during this video interview he recently
What the Catholic Church has given the world
14-May-2011
Fr Georges Lemaitre, originator of the Big Bang theory, pictured with Albert Einstein --- At a recent debate, broadcast worldwide by the BBC, over 87 per cent of the audience rejected the notion that the Catholic Church is a force for good in the
The agenda has been dominated by education news: a push to take NAPLAN tests national, the teacher bonus plan and Qld gives money to kindergartens. In the Northern Territory, a stroke victim has had a miracle survival. Push to take national tests
Bishops Vs governments, Madonna samples Opus Dei
14-May-2011
A week full of conflict: Filipino bishops clashed with the President over contraception, An Egyptian bishop called for quicker police response to violence, in Mexico a Catholic poet has held the government to account over the drug war bloodshed. In
Art critic with insight into Christ's sexuality
14-May-2011
Leo Steinberg, one of the most brilliant and original art historians of his generation, has died aged 90. His best-known work was about the sexuality of Christ in Renaissance art, and he also wrote a book about da Vinci's Last
GK Chesterton, wrestler with the universe
14-May-2011
G.K. Chesterton: a biography, Ian Ker, Oxford University Press, $A56.16Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) is well-known as an English writer whose prolific output ranged from detective fiction to Christian apologetics. Ian Ker's biography confirms him as a
No government funds, please: we're Christians
14-May-2011
Christianity in Australia ought to be distinguished by a certain vulnerability, because it relies on the health and charity of local communities of disciples and not the largesse of the state, writes the ABC's Scott Stephens."There is no surer way of bringing
The future of parish life
07-May-2011
Today many Catholics wonder about the future of the parish. In many parishes the congregation has become smaller and more elderly. Whereas once parishes were served by two or more priests, now a single priest often serves two or more parishes, writes Andrew
Luke 24:13-35 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near
Henri Nouwen's special gift
07-May-2011
Henri Nouwen was perhaps the most popular spiritual writer of the late 20th century and his popularity endures today. More than seven million of his books have been sold world-wide and they have been translated into 30 languages. Fifteen years after his
Carl Bernstein on John Paul II's great victory
07-May-2011
American journalist Carl Bernstein speaks about his book His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of our Time, which deals with why the Soviets saw Pope John Paul II as a serious threat to their survival. This interview on Youtube was first broadcast
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