When public Masses were no longer allowed, my family and I watched the livestream Mass for a few Sundays. We tried very hard to continue our weekly ritual of prayer and worship. Like many families, we created a small home altar. We lit a candle. We set out a statue of Mary. We stood. We Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to loneliness in Australia. This is especially so as Melburnians entered the strictest lockdown to date. Meanwhile, the rest of Australia braces for the possibility of a second wave and people are adapting to new habits and restrictions. This has disrupted our social routines, and in many cases has Read more
What is the proper spiritual response to the coronavirus pandemic? Although many Catholics seek to use this period as “a time of renewal,” as one priest put it, a vocal minority are approaching the pandemic with words more suited to culture warriors than to spiritual warfare. Any Catholic who has spent time on social media Read more
As we took the field to defend 15 in the super over in the World Cup final last summer, Jos Buttler told me he hoped I had a couple of shamrocks in my pocket. I laughed, and turned to Adil Rashid: “Allah’s with us, isn’t he?” Rash agreed he was. Later, at the end of Read more
On Aug. 8, some 76 faith leaders from around the world issued a powerful statement calling for action to stop atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Muslims in China that they describe as “one of the most egregious human tragedies since the Holocaust.” Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, Read more
There was some excitement in Hong Kong’s under-pressure independent media on Aug. 7 when it came to light that Catholic education authorities had urged schools to follow nationalistic new practices introduced on the back of tough new national security legislation. But this seemed to have buried the real story — the short and medium-term future Read more
We are in the midst of a global health crisis that already has inflicted a significant humanitarian and economic toll on the United States. For now, we must try to contain the spread of Covid-19 through physical distancing and face-covering. But we will reach another turning point when a vaccine to prevent the disease has Read more
The man who helped write guidelines on transgender players in women’s rugby says he hates that his work has created a platform for people to attack transgender people as cheats. “That’s not the case,” says sports scientist Ross Tucker. “I wish that society would be accepting.” The report was leaked a couple of weeks ago Read more
An article in a Jesuit magazine describing alleged exploitation of nuns in Catholic convents has been criticized as an attempt to silence members of women’s religious orders who have begun to speak out against sexual abuse by priests. “I think there is a possibility of a revolt of religious sisters,” said Lucetta Scaraffia, the former Read more
The drums of war are beating ever louder as arms traders supply weapons for war in the Middle East while the superpowers line up in confrontational posturing in a show of might and military power. “Might is right” is the thinking behind the three biggest military powers vying for prestige and power in the world. Read more