Yesterday new legislation redefining marriage as the “union of two people regardless of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity” took effect in New Zealand, and 31 officially recognised weddings of same-sex couples took place. Some of them, predictably, were media events sponsored by radio stations and public institutions. A lesbian couple had their ceremony on Read more
This is the second article in a series of three instalments, comprising Aftab A. Malik’s reflections on his three month stay in Lakemba, Sydney. Even before I began giving lectures, controversy had spread concerning my presence in Lakemba. Who was I? Why was I here? What was my agenda? Needless to say, some emails that Read more
We reach the rock art caves and everyone falls silent. Later that night, the giant Northern Territory moon up and the mosquitoes and flies of all worlds swarming through the dark camp, the boys and the young men will talk of magic from up this hill and along the ridge where the rock art is. Read more
A crisis of sorts is developing in the appointment of Catholic bishops worldwide as a backlog of 187 sees (excluding China) remain vacant, writes Edward Pentin in the National Catholic Register. Half of Scotland’s ordinaries — four out of eight — have yet to be appointed. The Philippines has nine sees without a bishop, and Read more
The Catholic Church has had little trouble finding its way onto the front pages of Australian newspapers in recent weeks and months, though it’s usually been — not unlike many other Western countries — to report on something related to the sexual abuse of minors. With two state inquiries and a national Royal Commission all Read more
The launching of the Catholic Voices project in Australia has raised the prospect of this media initiative being extended to New Zealand. Catholic Voices, whose aim is to improve the Catholic Church’s representation in the media, began in Britain in 2010 with the training of 24 lay people and a priest in preparation for the Read more
In obstetrics, a fetus is an unborn child who is recognisably human and in whom all the major structures and organ systems are already present. An embryo is an unborn child from an earlier stage of development. An embryo becomes a fetus about eight weeks after fertilisation. The ‘abortion drug’ RU486 kills embryos. RU486 or Read more
In 1985, Mary Anne Warren coined the term gendercide to refer to the ritual eradication of women and girls throughout the world. More recently, the heartbreaking film It’s a Girl documents the effects of this practice on the numbers of girls and women in China and India. It makes for difficult viewing, particularly when confronted with the Read more
The Catholic Church in Australia has declared it wants the truth exposed before the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, and has pledged it will pay appropriate compensation to victims. The chief executive of the Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council — which will represent the Church at the royal commission — Read more
Seminary enrolments in Australia and the United States are rising, in spite of the sex abuse and other scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church in recent years. In Australia, the seminary intake has risen from about 235 a year in 2007 to 350 in 2012. The rector of Holy Spirit Seminary in Queensland, Monsignor Read more