139 :
30 Jul 2010

The Document on the Laity... Tom McMahon turns his attention to how the Second Vatican Council considered the laity in his series looking back on the Documents of Vatican II. He's going to have more to say in a subsequent commentary but he ends today by suggesting the document on the laity was "grossly inadequate and limp". Perhaps it is easier to pass a judgment like that today. At the time of the Council the document might have been viewed as a big leap forward from the clericalism that had been building up for centuries? That seemed to be the message Tom was conveying last week. [more]

002 :
29 Jul 2010

The Jewish World of Jesus – Part II A lengthy commentary today from Dr Brian Gleeson as he explores the Jewish world in which the historical Jesus lived. If you think the politics of the world in which we live is complicated spare a thought for Jesus and the politics of the world in which he found himself operating. This commentary sits with the parallel series of commentaries we are running by Vynette Holliday and should also be considered within the context of the interesting discussions opening up on our forum exploring the Jewishness of Jesus and the implications for our thinking today. The commentaries, and the forum discussions, might help open up to the intelligent lay reader a more nuanced way of interpreting what we read or hear in the Scriptural accounts of the life of Jesus. [more]

003 :
28 Jul 2010

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]

073 :
27 Jul 2010

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]

007 :
23 Jul 2010

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]

149 :
22 Jul 2010

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]

138 :
21 Jul 2010

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]

001 :
20 Jul 2010

The Jewish World of Jesus – Part I We welcome to the pages of Catholica today Dr Brian Gleeson with the first of a series of commentaries looking at the Jewish world in which the historical Jesus lived. Dr Gleeson submitted this series not so much as a direct rebutal of the ideas Vynette Holliday presented in her lead commentary yesterday but as a set of ideas to be considered in parallel with the very similar territory Vynette has indicated she is intending to explore in her series. [more]

002 :
19 Jul 2010

The Spirit of Truth... Here's a commentary to scare the pants off both Benedict's "simple people" and the delators as well as some of our foremost biblical scholars and theologians. She'd probably be burned at the stake 400 years ago for even asking questions like this, more so in that she is a woman. They are questions that many readers of Catholica might find fascinating and intriguing though. Like our commentator, many would appreciate responses from scholars in the field she is addressing. The essential question Vynette Holliday addresses today concerns the frame of mind the early leaders of the Church were operating out of. What was the frame of mind in which the New Testament was originally composed: was it an essentially Jewish frame of mind or was it a Greek frame of mind? Vynette asserts it was a Jewish frame of mind, not Greek, and the Greek mindset subsequently imposed on the New Testament has distorted the original message of Jesus. These are massive questions which we hope might lead to an invigorating discussion and exploration of our beliefs. Vynette's title for this essay is "The Spirit of Truth". [more]

012 :
18 Jul 2010

The Search for the Divine Feminine... Like many in recent days John Chuchman has been incensed with the insensitivity coming from the Vatican in equating the quest for the ordination of women as both a sin and a sin on the scale of pedophilia. His blog in recent days [LINK] has featured a string of reflections exploring this controversy. For Catholica readers I have chosen this latest reflection and subtitled it "the search for the Divine Feminine". John's further reflections on this theme can be found at the link above. [more]

012 :
17 Jul 2010

Is it possible to make Catholicism a strong spiritual & cultural force in society again? I cannot believe it is over 20 months since we ran a lead commentary from Vince Exley. Vince has been one of the founding members of the Catholica community. My association with him goes back to the earliest days of the community that first began to congregate on the old CathNews discussion board around nine years ago now. And what a valuable commentary Vince delivers to us today. In so many ways I see it as a reflection of the journey so many of us in this community have been on. This is a "no holds barred" lay persons' reflection exploring the crisis the institutional Church is in and the search for any alternative set of answers that might pull the Church he loves out of that crisis by returning to grasp the insights of the original followers of Jesus. You may not agree with all that Vince writes. I can imagine some will switch off completely and get angry with some of his thoughts. Many will read this as the reflections of a mature man who has endeavoured to be faithful to the institutional line for a long, long time and he has, like so many others in this place, simply got fed up with where we have been led. ...Brian Coyne (Editor) [more]

148 :
15 Jul 2010

What sets Christians apart from the rest of Society? Today's commentary is the text of an address Dr Ian Elmer delivered at a conference in Melbourne last week. In it he's looking at one of the earliest places in the history of the Church where there was conflict between the Christian community and the State. These conflicts are still real in the world today and this commentary might help foster a discussion on what are the hallmarks that might characterise Christian attitudes towards the rest of society. [more]

137 :
14 Jul 2010

The impact of Vatican II on priests at the time... In the third part of his series on the The Documents of Vatican II Tom McMahon reflects on the impact the Second Vatican Council had on him, and his priest colleagues at the time of the Council. It created disquiet in the minds of hears of some — a disquiet we're still living with. For others it opened a whole new way of relating to Jesus. [more]

007 :
13 Jul 2010

Time for your audit or performance review! For those who remember his whimsical commentaries from last year our mate Pewter is back. He sent me through a pile of these short reflections he's penned over recent months. This is the most recent, written in the last week, and I'll see how I can fit the others into our schedule. [more]

103 :
12 Jul 2010

30.4: Looking for positive alternatives... Sadly today, we publish (or, more correctly, re-publish) Tom Lee's mammoth personal exploration of the First 500 years of Christianity and the Papacy. He ends with a sense of personal optimism but also a sense of dread of the threat posed by fundamentalism. He writes: "Like novelist William Kelley, 'My faith now is a thin wire wrapped in a cord of hope'. I have left the world of miracles behind, but not, I trust, my sense of wonder. I look forward to my ultimate death, free of dogmatic optimism, and without dread. I am wistful for faith, but can only stand with the Buddhists who leave the existence of God as an open question. Superstition has reigned for all of our known human history, and that kind of thinking seems to have led us to the brink of global destruction, the likes of which no previous generation has witnessed." [more]

136 :
11 Jul 2010

How can the world solve inter-racial conflict? We interrupt our normal schedule to bring you this special commentary from Tom McMahon written in the wake of rioting that broke out in Oakland, California, following the trial of a white policeman who shot dead a colored man, Oscar Grant, on a train in January 2009. Tom's essay takes a deeper look at the racial tensions that continue to lurk just below the surface in American life. [more]

048 :
10 Jul 2010

Apologies for Sexual Abuse are now "Too Little, Too Late" We welcome a new voice to the pages of Catholica. Professor Allan Patience is an Australian lay Catholic presently working at Sophia University in Tokyo. Archbishop Denis Hart's recent apology to victims of sexual abuse has stirred him into penning this cutting response that argues the institution's present problems extend far beyond the present focus of the sexual abuse scandal. [more]

1433 :
09 Jul 2010

Three articles to lift your spirits... We're holding off on any commentaries from Catholica today to draw your attention to an editorial and two commentaries that have been published in NCR overnight. As PeterR wrote in our forum just a while ago referring to the commentary by South African Bishop, Kevin Dowling, "IF YOU READ ONLY ONE ESSAY IN YOUR LIFETIME, MAKE IT THIS ONE". If you have the time we also recommend you read the NCR editorial and Eugene Cullen Kennedy's piece also. [more]

023 :
08 Jul 2010

What would Mary make of it all? One picks up a growing discomfort in the Australian community over the growing commercialisation surrounding the canonisation of Australia's first saint. The picture being portrayed would seem to be a long way removed from everything that Mary MacKillop stood to represent. Fr Dan Donovan was upset to receive some posters in the mail that he feels takes us away from the spirit of what Mary MacKillop represents. [more]

135 :
07 Jul 2010

The Documents of Vatican II—Part II Have there been bishops who have strongly influenced your life — in either positive or negative ways? In the second of his series on the The Documents of Vatican II Tom McMahon takes a look at four bishops who had a profound influence on his outlook in the light of what collectively all the bishops of the world discerned at the Second Vatican Council. [more]

001 :
06 Jul 2010

The Jewish God or the Triune God? Vynette Holliday, like many of us drawn to Catholica is a Catholic by birth and her early education but increasingly as she has grown older she has begun to question some of the assumptions on which her beliefs were based. Her particular quest has taken her back to exploring the Jewish roots of Christianity. Some of the conclusions she has come to are confronting and challenging. We are providing Vynette with a platform here to expound her views in the expectation that they will encourage spirited discussion, much thought, and hopefully responses that will significantly expand our thinking on these central issues of Christian belief: the nature of God; and the nature of Jesus and the nature of the relationship he beckons humanity, and each of us, into. [more]

102 :
05 Jul 2010

30.3: The future... Today's reflection from Tom Lee ends with a line from the comedian Dave Allen: "In the Catholic Church everything is forbidden until it's made compulsory!" Given the state of the institution these days perhaps the best survival mechanism is with gallow's humour? This essay, which we originally published on 7th April 2008 is the third in his concluding essays exploring the history of the first 500 years of Christianity and the Papacy. [more]

011 :
04 Jul 2010

The Nature of Spirituality... Spirituality is far from straightforward and simple. The metaphor of journey comes through in this reflection from John Chuchman today. It does have a destination but we meander around in our life journey to eventually get there. Perhaps the meandering is necessary to "shake off the absolutes" and grow "beyond a faith cast and frozen as dogma in stone"? [more]

022 :
03 Jul 2010

Where things seem to be heading now... This is the final part of a series of essays by Fr Dan Donovan examining where the Church seems to have lost its way in the modern world. What he writes today explores how the dialogue between the Anglican and Catholic churches seems to have been skewed in the pontificates and John Paul II and Benedict XVI. [more]

021 :
02 Jul 2010

The New Translation of the Mass: what will it achieve? In this second of a series of essays, Fr Dan Donovan begins his exploration of the game that is being played with changes to the English Mass text and the overtures being made to conservative Anglicans. It's almost two commentaries in one as the footnotes are as informative as the commentary itself. [more]

020 :
01 Jul 2010

The changing order of things in our world! For the next three days we present a connected series of essays by Fr Dan Donovanexploring the significant global challenges facing the institutional Church at the moment. Today, Dan looks at the changing picture of global economics and trade and the implications that has for the mission of the Church in the world. Tomorrow he asks whether the priority of putting an emphasis on a new translation of the Mass is a response to the crises facing the Church or some kind of distraction? On Saturday he explores whether the initiative to invite back conservative Anglicans is a useful way to go in replacing the many who have given up regular practice in the Catholic Church? [more]