In Cuba, where communism and religion live uneasily side by side, there is a city where it is no longer strange to see a priest walk down the street in a white cassock followed by enthusiastic greetings of “Good day, Father!” A small order of Catholic clergy has become a beloved and indispensable part of Read more
June 21 was supposed to be England’s “Freedom Day.” Back in February, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a weary populace that, all being well, the country could look forward to the end of a nationwide lockdown on June 21. But all wasn’t well. With the third wave of COVID-19 spreading across the country, Johnson announced Read more
The Catholic Church organization reflects an ancient society where women are incapable of leadership and governance says Auckland theologian and lecturer, Jo Ayers. “Second-class membership for women anywhere is unjust,” she told Flashes of Insight on Wednesday. Asked by host Joe Grayland if the relationship of women and the Catholic Church is a problem, she Read more
In rich countries, the virus is retreating before the vaccines: Deo gratias. In some places parish life – and celebrations in church buildings are returning to a kind of normality. Many, especially presbyters, are pleased: the familiar is returning. But we settle back into our familiar ways, we should take stock. A new normal might Read more
As the American Catholic bishops debate whether President Joe Biden should receive Holy Communion given his support for abortion rights, outrage has been building in the United Kingdom since the country’s chief executive, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, recently came out as Catholic, to the concern of British Catholics, some parish priests and parliamentarians. The controversy began Read more
We might think that being greener at home means being more mindful. But Bindi Chouhan and her family of seven, who generate less than five rubbish bins worth of waste per year, say that most sustainable things they do on a daily basis are mindless. The fourth-generation Indian-Zimbabwean grew up in a micro village of Read more
The Irish Catholic bishops have announced they will initiate what they call a synodal process and this move seems to have fairly widespread support. Many of us have only vague ideas as to what is involved but have experienced some different types of assemblies at diocesan level. The focus of these groups is the revitalisation Read more
Mention the name of any religion and the first reaction of contemporary, western, first world and secular society people will be to ask about its content: what do they believe? The emphasis is, at once, on a list of ideas about the universe, human life, purpose and what, if anything, is beyond the universe. Once Read more
“I’m not angry,” says Catherine Ulrich. “I just want things to move.” Ulrich works for the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg (LGF) in Switzerland and is a member of the Network of Women in the Church. She’s one of the figures of the women’s movement in French-speaking Catholicism who are calling for more Read more
In the Carafa Chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, there is a statue of the revered Catholic figure St Thomas Aquinas with the Latin inscription, Sapientiam sapientum perdam. The inscription translates as “I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise”. Who were the wise? The wise were scientists and philosophers Read more