The church is experiencing widespread calls for reform and has responded with platforms for listening and reflection through the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome. Many calls for reform have stressed the need to address changes in the church’s culture. However, the history of organisational and cultural change underscores leadership as being the most important Read more
We are now in the early days of Lent and the great Paschal feast is still weeks away. The Lenten season is spent in different ways by different people. Some give up something, while others take on a new challenge. And others of us might try to read a little more or set aside greater Read more
The next assembly of the Synod of Bishops must take up the issue of mandatory priestly celibacy. Now is the time. Following the death of a good man, Bishop Edward Daly — who went to the Lord on August 8, 2016 –, there was an appreciation of his life published on the website of the Read more
Traditional forms of youth ministry are losing their effectiveness. Attendance numbers at weekly worship are down across the board, and anecdotally, pastors, youth ministers and campus ministers are almost universally reporting greater difficulty in accessing and engaging Gen Z. Currently, 40% of 13- to 25-year-olds claim no religious affiliation or institutional trust in religion, continuing Read more
As we enter Lent, we reflect on the role of sin in our lives. But we often — maybe generally — look too narrowly at what constitutes sin. After Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, the country abandoned the lunar calendar altogether by 1910. So, though the rest of Asia welcomed this year of Read more
I’m not an authority on anything. The ridiculous certificates one gets after certain courses do little more than confirm one’s literacy. Way back there used to be a tag Roma locuta est, causa finita! Rome has spoken, that closes the issue! (We had Latin in school.) Well, in no sense am I a Roma echo! Read more
It was around 4 pm on Thursday when I checked the global news and saw the words of Vladimir Putin’s invasion speech coming through minute by minute; I had just finished an overnight tramp, something I had done in-part to escape the overwhelmingness of the local and global situation. I often check international news sites Read more
When we explore the historic writings of the Church, we often find veins of gold that enrich our spiritual life. Usually, the gold is in a simple statement and sometimes it is quite ancient. Always it is right for the moment we discover it. This is the way God works. I still cherish a vein Read more
When we gather for worship, we always find ourselves in a strange place. On the one hand, the God we worship transcends the whole creation. Usually expressed using a shorthand that was a brilliant joke in the mid-second century – creatio ex nihilo – this is a phrase that for us is often less than Read more
As the world begins to emerge from the most recent surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, how do we return to normal? And what should normal mean? The feeling that we are ready for the return to normal is as much a product of exhaustion as of progress. While there is much to be celebrated, especially Read more