On Instagram, I follow 700 people, mostly women. One hundred of those women follow Glennon Doyle, whose memoir “Untamed” has been on the Times best-seller list for 51 weeks. Fans of Ms Doyle’s gospel, an accessible combination of self-care, activism and tongue-in-cheek Christianity (“Jesus loves me, this I know, for he gave me Lexapro”), can Read more
In the famous Good Samaritan Parable of the Gospel of St. Luke, the first gesture of the Samaritan traveller, at the sight of the man left half-dead by robbers on his way to Jericho, was to pour oil and wine over his wounds. Such a metaphor, designed to evoke the concrete manifestation of God’s love Read more
Are Muslim women being asked to change too much of themselves in order to fit in? ‘Modest fashion’ has been a defining style for the past decade. The trend for oversize silhouettes and loose layers has united fashion fans, religious and secular; it has been in part an attempt by western brands to buy into Read more
Why are some US bishops of the Catholic Church telling Catholics to avoid the newly approved Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine? Why did some U.S. Catholic leaders rush to issue warnings about this vaccine even though the Vatican has already said that it can be morally acceptable to receive it? Most importantly, why did these Read more
Queer ethnic young people are experiencing harassment and rejection from their communities for coming out, research shows. Letting In – Closing Out, published by academics at the University of Auckland, found cultural expectations of marriage and children are pushing ethnic youth in New Zealand to remain silent about their sexual orientation. Parents struggle with understanding Read more
It has puzzled me a long time why Catholics are so much more engaged with the abortion issue than members of other Christian churches. All Churches start their response to abortion from the same baseline – the Commandment “thou shalt not kill”. Yet they do not all arrive at the same destination. Why is this? Read more
What are the key markers of contemporary religious faith and practice in New Zealand? Unlike Germany, there is no state support for the churches here. Unlike the US, piety is not worn on one’s sleeve. Attend a funeral or a wedding in New Zealand these days and what springs to mind is the incredible variety Read more
Anne Barrett Doyle is a devoted mother, practicing Catholic, and one of the fiercest crusaders against clergy sex abuse. Are you Catholic?” Anne Barrett Doyle smiled at me expectantly with kind, sea-green eyes. It was months before the pandemic hit, and Barrett Doyle had invited me over to the Boston loft she and her husband Read more
Here is a little story about how I left the church, sort of, and then came slouching back home, more or less. The late, occasionally great Mad Magazine once published a bit that showed people’s secret thoughts. A scene looks one way from the outside but is very different and allegedly very funny on the Read more
Should a secular state be concerned with the issue of abortion and if so, in what way? May the Church appeal to secular leaders, including Catholics, to protect women and children from a practice increasingly funded and vigorously promoted both by governments and by non-governmental bodies? In a letter on behalf of the US Bishops Read more