I would rather jump through a glass window than talk to literally anyone about reproductive politics. Given the choice between a very normal and appropriate conversation about reproductive politics and a glass window, I will be in the bushes out front, picking glass out of my torso. That is because when I was 17 I Read more
“Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding,” said philosopher, Abraham Kaplan. In the Church today, we have one single instrument for leadership—the pastor. Search church positions on any of the many job search forums and recruitment sites and you’ll find there is only one tool churches Read more
There was a time in my life when reading the wise words of some faraway monk sufficed in motivating me to a life of greater solitude and spiritual discipline. I wondered why it was so difficult for most people to find time for God when it came so easily for me. Naturally, at every naïve Read more
The Pope’s new work, Let Us Dream, about which Austen Ivereigh, his collaborator, writes movingly in this week’s Tablet, was published on 1 December. So, with the caveat that the final work may be different from the excerpts I have read, it strikes me that it is characteristic of Francis’ best and least good aspects. Read more
Child advocates are slamming the Government for its “unjustifiably slow” action on welfare reform, with a new report finding just four of 126 recommendations have been fully implemented. And it found none the 42 key recommendations made by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group early last year have been achieved almost two years later. The Child Read more
“I see the encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’ as a testament of Pope Francis. He’s bringing together all the things he wanted to say over the last seven years, and there’s an obvious connection with the Human Fraternity document that he signed with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Al Sharif on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi,” Read more
Since around about 1970 in Australia, the trend of people stating they have “No Religion” on the census has been constantly, significantly, increasing – from 1966 when the sliver started to first appear in any noteworthy fashion, to the 2016 census where it had reached 29.6% of the total population. In fact, the “not stated or unclear” is a Read more
To come out of this pandemic better than we went in, we must let ourselves be touched by others’ pain. Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and the bishop of Rome. In this past year of change, my mind and heart have overflowed with people. People I think of and pray for, Read more
Every year hundreds of thousands of children send letters to Santa through the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Operation Santa, a program that seeks to put those letters in the hands of organizations and individuals who can respond and send a thoughtful gift on Santa’s behalf. And each year, the USPS shares some of the Read more
Stein’s law says that if something cannot go on forever, it wont. But does a speculative bubble matter? The cryptocurrency bubble can be left to itself (tax evasion and criminal transactions aside). Why shouldn’t we do the same for housing? There are two general reasons why we should be concerned with a house price bubble. Read more