Recently, my husband repurposed a piece of plastic, some string and a scrap of fabric to make a therapy swing for my daughter’s Barbie dolls. My daughter Josie has Down syndrome and attends a therapy centre where she works on her speech and her fine and gross motor skills. She loves being pushed on a Read more
My relationship with Mary, like that of many women, is complicated. Mary embodies some of my most deeply held values. As a young, poor woman from Galilee, she represents how God chose to enter into human existence in the most radically humble way. Her “Magnificat” is one of the most powerful passages in the Gospels. Read more
In the warring empire of the potentate, Vladimir Putin and the pontiff Patriarch Kirill, a priest who prays for peace is a perjurer. He condemns himself to be treated as an apostate, the religious equivalent of a political traitor. This is the extent to which Russia will go in silencing those within the Orthodox Church Read more
A grey and drizzly Rome was under an intense security lockdown on Saturday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to town for the day. The Italian government deployed some 1,500 security agents, stationed snipers on rooftops, and enforced a no-fly zone for the visit of the president whose country continues to fight the troops from Read more
The modern age is crumbling. You can see it in the news. Rather than hearing about supposedly sophisticated, enlightened people, every day there are stories that seem to have been ripped from history pages about ancient barbarians and medieval vandals. Halls of government are increasingly characterised by political theatre more than rational, civil debate. We Read more
“Hurt” people hurt people. Those who have been hurt or broken in life often respond by striking out and hurting or harming the people who are near them. Many abusers are victims of abuse. Many bullies are victims of bullying. These pain patterns get passed on generation after generation. Elisha is Jeered … Elisha went Read more
In late March of this year, the Vatican formally — and somewhat surprisingly — repudiated the centuries-old “Doctrine of Discovery,” based on papal dictates of the 15th century that justified the domination of newly “discovered” lands and peoples by European Christian explorers. Indigenous activists and organisations in North America were pleased but ultimately underwhelmed by Read more
One of the strong social movements of our time is the growing recognition of indigenous (first/original/ aboriginal peoples) in countries that have taken their contemporary form following a period of colonisation by European powers. The ways colonisation took place varied according to place and time but usually involved the imposition of European power over local Read more
Mary Harrington’s new book Feminism Against Progress boldly asserts that women are women. Human embodiment matters because we are our bodies rather than being some sort of disembodied minds that happen to be piloting meat suits. Consequently, feminism focused on effacing the differences between men and women does not serve women’s interests. Harrington writes from Read more
According to a recent study, coastal shipping produces a fifth of the carbon emissions (well-to-wheel) of road freight. Rail also performed well, with about a quarter of trucking emissions. Despite this, trucking accounts for nearly 80% of New Zealand’s heavy goods transport, and a 94.5% share of the total emissions from heavy freight transport. The Read more