A week marked by beginnings and endings. A convent closed near Newcastle, a new school opened in Ballarat, a new bishop began in Melbourne and so did a priest in Goulburn (pictured). Call to church action on reconciliation
An agenda full of dispute and conflict. Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin lamented Ireland's loss of faith, Syrian Jesuits called for dialogue amid violent protests, American monks sued over their right to build caskets, and doctors rejected an
Garret FitzGerald, who has died aged 85, served twice as Irish prime minister. He helped set the stage for peace in Northern Ireland and shifted the tone of Ireland's relations with the UK. Former president Mary Robinson struck the national mood when she
Caravaggio's restless, uneasy mind
11-Jun-2011
Andrew Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A life sacred and profane, PenguinMichael Fried, The Moment of Carravaggio, PrincetonMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was thought by many to be deeply flawed in character, in studio technique, and, indeed, in
Blessed are the frugal
11-Jun-2011
I once thought I might have to join, or start, a Penny Pinchers Anonymous group. Frugality seemed old-fashioned, something left over from having parents who remembered the Great Depression. It seemed almost like a psychological problem or perhaps a bad habit
The myths about asylum seekers
11-Jun-2011
Phil Glendenning, head of the Edmund Rice Centre, spoke recently about the myths surrounding asylum seekers. His speech was recorded on Youtube.
CathNews will not be published on the Queen's Birthday holiday. We will return on Tuesday, June 14.
The Vatican's watchdog on faith
04-Jun-2011
Cardinal Jospeh Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith --- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith keeps an eye on almost everything coming out of the Vatican, reports the Catholic News Service, in an article republished in
The true meaning of obedience
04-Jun-2011
At the time of the recent wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the media commented that Kate was not including ‘obedience to William’ in her vow formula, but rather publicly, she stated “I vow to love, honour, comfort and
Church embraces social media
04-Jun-2011
To coincide with World Communications Day, the US Today program made a special broadcast from the Vatican, including this feature about how the church is embracing digital and social media to engage with the faithful.
Morale falters in Australian church
04-Jun-2011
The energies of Catholic Australians in recent years have been absorbed by contradictory approaches to being faithful. The first is the church’s institutional integrity (requirements of obedience, orthodoxy and conformity); the second is its moral
Penola still a hot spot, virus hits students
04-Jun-2011
A week marked by deaths and sickness. Two retired priests, in Brisbane and Sydney, passed away, a viral epidemic laid low a quarter of the students at an Adelaide Catholic school, and police tried to stop the euthanasia of a 100-year-old man. On a
A diverse menu: Malta legalised divorce, the Vatican is studying the impact of outsourcing labor, and spoke out against piracy, while the Pope reiterated the importance of Gregorian chant. In Holland, a modern version of Noah's Ark has been
Bookseller's Marxist Catholic heritage
04-Jun-2011
Founder of the anti-Vietnam War movement in Australia. Lifelong member of the Labor Party and Trotskyist. Bookseller. Bibliophile. Historian. Union agitator. Anti-censorship battler. Bohemian. Irish Catholic. Polemicist. Even Charles Dickens would have had
Explaining Ireland's blessed mess
04-Jun-2011
Gerry O'Hanlon SJ, A New Vision of the Catholic Church: A View from Ireland (Columba Press, 2011) Irish theologian Gerry O’Hanlon SJ analyses the current crisis afflicting the Church in Ireland and identifies the frustrations felt by Irish Catholics who
TV soap selling assisted suicide
04-Jun-2011
The problem with TV dramas is that they make rare events appear common and so distort public opinion on key issues. One serious distortion of the truth involves assisted suicide and the implication that a hugely disproportionate number of people with serious
Aussie WYD pilgrims taste the chorizo
28-May-2011
Students from Australian Catholic University are peppering up the chorizo, clicking the castanets, charging up the mechanical bulls and living with “Alegria”, all before they even arrive in Madrid, reports Beth Doherty on the WYD
If you love me, you will keep my commandments
28-May-2011
John 14:15-21 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
The past, the present and our true identity
28-May-2011
On the 160th anniversary of my great-grandfather's birth, I stood on the ruined foundation of the small Irish house and mill in which he had been born in Donegal, writes Joan Chittister in NCR. A piece of granite from that foundation now sits on my desk - a
Greetings from Bethlehem university
28-May-2011
Until two years ago, De La Salle Brother Peter Bray's career consisted of teaching and education administration in Australia and New Zealand, doctoral studies in the United States, and some lecturing at university level in a number of countries around the
From Parish of Our Lady of The Way, North Sydney & Lavender Bay. The first Mass of the day on YouTube. 
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