Women served as deacons in Europe for about a millennium in a variety of ministerial and sacramental roles, according to Phyllis Zagano, an author and professor of religion at Hofstra University, and Bernard Pottier, S.J., a faculty member at the Institut D’Études Théologiques in Brussels, in an interview this week with America. “They anointed ill Read more
The suppression order in relation to Cardinal George Pell has been lifted. In December, a jury of 12 of his fellow citizens found him guilty of five offences of child sexual abuse. No other charges are to proceed. Cardinal Pell has appealed the convictions. The verdict was unanimous. The jury took three days to deliberate Read more
The rhetoric of anti-Catholicism, whether its sources are Protestant or secular, has always insisted that the church of Rome is the enemy of what you might call healthy sexuality. This rhetorical trope has persisted despite radical redefinitions of what healthy sexuality means; one sexual culture overthrows another, but Catholicism remains eternally condemned. Thus in a Read more
New Zealand could tackle its youth suicide rate by discouraging unsustainable and isolated communities, a controversial Canadian psychologist says. Dr Jordan Peterson, a clinical behavioural psychologist currently on a talking tour in New Zealand, has drawn protests over his criticism of the #MeToo movement and his huge online following of disaffected young men. “If you’re Read more
The West is becoming increasingly post-Christian. Many of the more progressive nations are not merely overlooking or ignoring their Judeo-Christian heritage, but actively destroying it. They are making their way through their laws and constitutions, their definitions and traditions, to divest it all of any remnants of the biblical principles and assumptions upon which these Read more
There are many words to describe the state of the political discourse today—degraded and debased, vicious and vacuous. “Virtuous,” however, is not among them. There is virtue-signaling, to be sure, but turn on the news or log onto Twitter and you will undoubtedly find politicians and pundits engaged in verbal combat or thinly veiled self-congratulation. Read more
Do children raised by religious parents have better social and psychological development than those raised in non-religious homes? In a new study, researchers found that religion can be a mixed blessing for children as they get older. John Bartkowski, professor of sociology at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Xiaohe Xu, professor of Read more
New research carried out by the University of Birmingham’s Gëzim Alpion concludes that Mother Teresa’s dark night of the soul was triggered by childhood and that she had gnawing doubts about the existence of God to the end of her life. Dr Gëzim Alpion, who is based in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Read more
If you too are of an age where you attend more funerals than weddings you will know the mixture of grief and celebration that unites people. There is a lot of hugging, wiping of eyes, laughter, memories shared. Friendships are renewed. Family connections are updated. As one person said, “It takes a good funeral to Read more
If the problem is clericalism, what is the solution? It is axiomatic that vices cannot simply be eliminated—they have to be replaced with something better, or else they will just come back, often in a form that is even worse. (Cf. Mt. 12:44-45) So it is a bit worrisome that when Pope Francis frequently mentions Read more