There have been some local decisions about the liturgical use of iPads and other electronic devices, but so far there have been no pronouncement about their use from Rome which would apply to the church world-wide. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university note that “at least one cardinal, celebrating in his Read more
The American Lingerie Football League (LFL) has arrived in Australia. In an opinion piece in Eureka Street, Catherine Marshall points out that while a few newspaper writers “have done much to highlight the misogyny that is inherent to this form of entertainment, they have done so against a rousing tide of public support for this seedy Read more
Bishop Leonard Blair is one of the three bishops (the other two being Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Archbishop J. Peter Sartain), that made up the committee formed by the Holy See to undertake the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR. Bishop Blair says that since the assessment has been completed he “can only marvel at what is Read more
Among all the opinion pieces about the new translation of the Roman Missal there is one that provides a blind test. It gives 4 translations from Latin into English of the same collect (opening prayer) and asks the reader to pick the translation that is done by Google Translate, an online computer translation program. Father William Grimm then Read more
Religion at work has profound effects, according to the findings of a study by the University of Wollongong. “They wanted to find out whether people’s religious beliefs influenced their behaviour at work. The answer was: yes”, says James Adonis, as he reflects on how religion has influence in the workplace. Read James Adonis’ article Image: Vimeo Read more
Sister Margaret Farley’s book, ‘Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics’, published 6 years ago, has been condemned by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This has had the effect of elevating the book to Amazon.com’s list of 100 bestsellers and it is presently out of stock. In an opinion piece, Maureen Read more
Acceptance, a Sydney organisation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, “have celebrated a weekly Mass continuously for most of the past 40 years”, notes Kristina Keneally in a recent address. She goes on to speak about how it is that she is a feminist and still a Catholic, and that while she finds in the Read more
Secrecy — utmost secrecy — is a feature of the way in which the Catholic Church is administered. A natural consequence of secrecy is lack of accountability by Church officials, and, inevitably, the covering up of such evils as sexual abuse, writes Fr. Brian O’Connell. When such evils are uncovered the damage to the Church’s Read more
Chaplains in hospitals are expected to talk of spiritual things but for clinical staff it is different. While a holistic approach to health care is much talked about, “spirituality remains a bit hazy; hard to find words for in a world dominated by scientific method”. “Making meaning is seen as one of the important elements Read more
The vexed issue of euthanasia is back on the agenda for discussion because Maryan Street’s member’s bill is about to be re-introduced in parliament. Reflecting on her elderly mother’s recent death, Deborah Coddington puts forward the view that noone wants to administer euthanasia. “The NZ Medical Association is opposed to voluntary euthanasia … So the Read more