According to a new breakdown of Australian census statistics, Catholics have smaller families, are better educated and more diverse than ever, but are also older and are less likely to be married. The 2021 social profile of the Catholic community in Australia, prepared by the National Centre for Pastoral Research from census data released last Read more
Variously described as a maverick, a “kick-arse dude in a robe” and an “anti-Catholic lowlife”, the Catholic priest Father Bob Maguire became the darling of the people – and the media – for his community work and his often acerbic statements delivered with humour, irreverence and hyperbole. Maguire, who has died aged 88, defiantly and Read more
Known as the “Orlandi case” and, thanks to a recent television series, the case of the “Vatican Girl“, it is the saga of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared in Rome nearly 40 years ago. Since her father worked in the Prefecture of the Papal Household, she and her family Read more
The Washington Post detailed last March how a group of Catholic conservatives in the United States spent millions of dollars de-anonymizing mountains of data to identify priests who were using phone apps that facilitate sexual hook-ups, like Grindr and Tinder. The most public of the targets was Msgr Jeffrey Burrill, who was general secretary for Read more
As Poles move away from the church – particularly the urban young, and also some older believers in the Catholic small-town heartlands – a deeply religious country wrestles with its own identity. The Black Madonna of Częstochowa looks much like other Eastern religious icons, with its deep golden halos and sombre colour palette. But the Read more
In December 2019, an active-duty soldier was arrested at Linton Military Camp. It has been reported that the soldier, who is still awaiting court martial and has name suppression, was a member of multiple far-right groups, including the white nationalist organisation Action Zealandia. He is facing numerous charges that include espionage. Less widely reported is Read more
Many conservative Catholics are upset with Pope Francis, who they complain is changing church doctrine, but they hardly blinked when Pope Benedict got rid of Limbo, a Catholic doctrine that had been taught for centuries. Careful readers will note that rather than closing Limbo, as reported by the media, what the International Theological Commission did Read more
The things that make you feel good in politics don’t necessary do good. But boy, are they morally satisfying. Legislating to stop hate speech. Using a “hecklers’ veto” to run Posie Parker out of town. Victories against hate. Job done. I’ve done my share. My student comrades were on a high after we heckled and Read more
In the recent discussions raised by San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy on “radical inclusion,” for LGBTQ people and others in the Catholic Church, one obstacle posed is the consistent teaching of the church in sexual ethics. As a moral theologian, I believe it is worth knowing how and why those teachings were formed in the Read more
It is not new for Catholics to wield the authority of pope as a weapon against their perceived ideological opponents — as long as the pope is in their corner. For decades the Catholic right referred to the positions of Popes St John Paul II and Benedict XVI; now the Catholic left points to Pope Read more