We are living in a unique moment in church history with an ex-pope, properly credited for having the courage to resign when the problems he faced became overwhelming, living within the Vatican walls. The resignation is best interpreted as Benedict XVI’s act of generosity toward the church. The graciousness Francis has displayed toward his predecessor Read more
Credit where it’s due. The Saudi Absher app, just described as “inhuman” by two clearly terrified Saudi refugees, also has some fabulous user reviews on its supplier websites, Apple and Google Play. To read the surge of five-star tributes placed after the app’s invaluable contribution to human enslavement was widely exposed earlier in the year Read more
The proposed End Of Life Choice Bill has elicited story upon story. Stories of death and dying, done both well and badly; stories of hope, fear, anger, and beauty. And cutting through the emotion have been key words: Choice, compassion, dignity, safety. Good words; aspirational words. Like a panacea, whose meaning is self-evident, these words Read more
New Zealand has stubbornly high rates of sexual violence, despite feminist movements like #MeToo. Laura Walters looks at the the societal barriers to ending rape. The advent of online dating and aggressive porn increasingly appear to be a contributing factor to stubbornly high rates of sexual violence, according to new research. A series of studies Read more
The wedding invitation said ‘summer chic’. I smiled to myself as I read this request of the parents of the bride. I had to hope that my hosts would be very understanding. The black suit of a priest would hardly pass as ‘summer chic’! At any celebration, the hosts are very much in charge. They Read more
The cardinals who voted in conclave to elect Pope Francis did so hoping he would reform the scandal-plagued Vatican Curia and make it more responsive to the concerns of the universal church. Six years later, his Curia reform proposals are reportedly to be promulgated at the end of June, although they will probably be leaked Read more
There’s a war going on – against a religion whose name is often treated as an embarrassing footnote. It’s a war against Christianity, and while its tentacles of hatred reach across the globe, they were seen most horrifically in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday with multiple deadly suicide blasts. On one of the holiest days Read more
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli is no stranger to speaking about his faith. Both in his music and in interviews over the years, he has shown that his Catholicism is important to his life. However, that was not always the case, as he mentioned in a recent interview with Fr Davide Banzato on an Italian television Read more
As fire devastates the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, the building is as much a symbol of the recent history of the Catholic Church in Europe as it once was a symbol of the Church’s power and cultural supremacy. The church had been in disrepair for decades. Calls for its restoration went mostly ignored Read more
“It seems the younger priests emerging from seminaries, here and elsewhere, are getting better (or worse!) at demanding full allegiance from the laity,” said an email I received this week. Last Saturday the Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Tlhagale, preached about his woes – and sufferings – as a diocesan bishop at the first profession of Read more