One of the casualties of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was the confidentiality of the Catholic Sacrament of Penance — commonly called ‘the Seal of Confession’. The Catholic bishops who responded to the Commission were unable to convince the commissioners that the seal of confession should continue to be respected, Read more
As much as we would like to have definitive answers regarding the impact of the pandemic on congregational life in the United States, and even with some people and organizations claiming to have definitive answers, there remains a lot of uncertainty. The last 20 months have tried churches and clergy in new and challenging ways. Read more
As relationships, living arrangements and family life continue to evolve for American adults, a rising share are not living with a romantic partner. A new Pew Research Center analysis of census data finds that in 2019, roughly four-in-ten adults ages 25 to 54 (38%) were unpartnered – that is, neither married nor living with a partner. This share is up Read more
Catholicism has been sometimes described as a very materialistic religion. Why? Because Catholics take created reality seriously. Karl Rahner, S.J., once called Christians “the most sublime of materialists” because they “neither can nor should conceive of any ultimate fullness of the spirit and of reality without thinking too of matter enduring as well in a Read more
The pandemic we are in the midst of is unique and it is dangerous. It is not the “common cold” that some people write to me about. Worldwide there have been over 250 million cases and just over 5 million deaths – this pandemic is unique and dangerous. As of last week, in New Zealand Read more
The recent revelations of the systemic sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in France has left many people in the country angry, saddened and confused. As in other parts of the world, where the abuse crisis unfolded years and even decades earlier, some French Catholics are questioning whether they can continue to remain Read more
Was anyone surprised when New Zealand’s self-made Apostle Brian Tamaki courted controversy and arrest by participating in two anti-lockdown protests in Auckland recently? Or that during one of these events he declared he would rather live in “dangerous freedom than peaceful slavery” and likened the director-general of health to Hitler? This was, after all, the Read more
The First Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council held few surprises. The program made sure of it. Proceedings were carefully choreographed and the agenda was deliberately anodyne. It took several days before participants found their feet. The ‘deep listening’ process of scripture reflection and sharing in small groups did engender a spirit of collegiality. At the Read more
Throughout the Catholic Church, something is stirring about the way we are governed. For many of us in the Church and across society, we don’t much care about that subject; we long ago made peace with being parts of communities, organizations, nations and even families where we just get on with our lives and leave Read more
When Richard and Angela Wolohan created the Wolohan Family Foundation in 1986, they sought to use their wealth, derived in part from the sale of a successful lumber company, to support organizations and charities that appealed to their shared Catholic faith. Nearly 25 years later, both the founders had passed away and their seven children Read more