Sr. Mary Ann Walsh over at the USCCB blog takes a good long look at Bill Keller’s remarks about Catholicism. The Catholic Church doesn’t totally give up anyone. Even if you’re excommunicated, it expects you to attend Mass each week, though not to participate in the sacraments. James Joyce in Finnegan’s Wake defined the Catholic Church Read more
Analysis and Comment
Confession – a matter of convenience
Friday, July 15th, 2011
Penance or confession, is the sacrament of the forgiveness of sin. You can’t beat it for convenience. It’s available practically whenever. Tell a priest you want to go to confession and you’ll get his attention. Sr Mary Ann Walsh relates that a bishop was cornered on an airplane. Another passenger figured out what was going on and Read more
Church has lost power to inspire
Friday, July 15th, 2011
Australian Catholics for Renewal, in an open letter addressed to the Pope and the Bishops of Australia say that the church no longer has the power to inspire people. “It (the Church) has alienated too many adults who were born of Catholic parents, attended Catholic schools and lived a sacramental life,” the letter says. The Catholics for Renewal chairman, Read more
Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God ? Muslims claim that “There is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet.” while Christians claim that “There is only one God and Jesus is his Son”. Clearly we are in disagreement about Mohammed and Jesus, for even though Muslims say they believe in Jesus as a Read more
The Vatican Says
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
In this topsy turvy world in which we live, there are so few things of which we can be sure. But there is one truth which endures: if someone tells you, “The Vatican says,” then it probably doesn’t. And what do they mean, “The Vatican,” anyway? And what do they mean, “says?” The phrase “the Read more
Church has a duty to enforce moral standards in its own community
Friday, July 8th, 2011Mark John Reynolds, commenting on the Catholic Church’s stand on same sex marriage, contends that the Catholic Church has a duty to enforce moral standards in its own community. “The line between church and state begins the moment a politician such as Andrew Cuomo walks through the parish door. When he stands in the pews, he is Read more
Fiji: The chiefs and the church
Friday, July 8th, 2011
Matt Tomlinson has been conducting research in Fiji since 1996. His area of investigation is the relationships between the indigenous chiefly system and the Methodist church, which had enormous influence on politics until the most recent coup in 2006. “What struck me during fieldwork was how the relationship between the chiefs and the church, that Read more
Modernisation and Secularism
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
In the western experience modernisation and secularism come in a single package. “Real modernity must be democratic, runs the logic; and real democracy must be secular” says Lois Lee. However, outside of Europe, modernity is emerging without secularism. In modernised India for example the organisation of public space and the place of religion in it is quite different. The historian Dipesh Read more
Breaking the silence: Macsyna’s challenge to our darkness
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Telling stories is an essential part of being human. Marketing those stories keeps booksellers in business so it’s an interesting twist to find that major chains intend to boycott Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case, Macsyna King’s story about the death of her twins, a tragedy that has horrified New Zealanders. “There’s no way I can Read more
Christianity put a stop to science. Huh!
Friday, July 1st, 2011
Christianity put a stop to science according to Victor Stenger. “Greece and Rome were well on the way to modern science when Christianity interrupted its development for a thousand years. It was no accident that the scientific revolution of the eighteenth century happened only after the revolts against Church authority in the Renaissance and Reformation opened Read more