I write having just celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi in our parish which included sharing First Holy Communion with 126 children at four of the five weekend masses. Like many other parishes, for some years now, we have fittingly celebrated First Holy Communion within this feast.
Trinity Sunday thoughts
I’m sitting down to write this little editorial contribution on Trinity Sunday. So among other thoughts my mind is trying to uncover something of the Mystery of God, and hoping to share that during today’s celebration of Eucharist.
Celebrating mass in different ways
Three of your contributors to the autumn 2010 edition of The Swag, Fathers L Donnelly, M Ryan and G Hayes, in separate articles, referred to the the so-called Tridentine Rite of Mass and its liberalisation by the Holy See in recent times. May I make some comments in reply?
To begin, I should set forth my own credentials.
Clerical culture silences women
Last year one of the Anglican ministers said to me, in as many words, “I would become a Catholic and study for the Catholic priesthood immediately as I know our great weakness is that we have now so few unified beliefs in issues of faith and morals.
An Open Letter from Dr Hans Küng to the Bishops of the World
VENERABLE BISHOPS, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am making this appeal to you in an open letter
Into unknown territory – Pope Benedict in Portugal
At last weekend’s Kirchentag event in Munich, where Pope Benedict was once archbishop, there was disappointment that he did not attend. The massive interchurch gathering, for the second time in its history involving Catholics as well as Protestants, was a striking sign that ecumenism can still warm the blood in the land of Martin Luther, even if the impression is given that the Vatican has gone cold on the subject. The Pope was in Portugal, attending a big celebration at the shrine of Fatima. But it would be misleading to interpret this as a retrograde retreat into simplistic pieties. The Catholic Church in Portugal, as elsewhere in Europe, is struggling to come to terms with a pervasive spirit of secularism.
Cyril Hally – A faithful Prophet
Cyril Thomas Hally SSC died in Melbourne on May 18 at age 90 after a remarkable life that offered hope and wisdom in many of the struggles for justice and peace in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.
His priestly life can be summed up in his honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University at the Sydney Town Hall on 31 March 2005 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the cause of global peace and justice.
NATSIEC on Northern Territory Intervention
There is no evidence, either in Australia or internationally, that income management helps underprivileged people to deal with issues arising from their circumstances.
Broken Bay Institute: Mary First disciple eConference May 18
Fr Francis Moloney SDB, the key presenter, explored Mary as disciple, woman, and mother. He looked at the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew and then spoke about how Mary is seen in Luke’s Annunciation story. Moloney outlines the process of Mary’s “yes”. Upon hearing the angel say “Rejoice, you in whom God has rejoiced” Mary was deeply troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this is. Then the angel says she will be the mother of the Jewish Messiah. Mary then goes to reason – How can this be? But the angel goes further to name the child as Son of God. Then she says “yes”. This is a paradigm for all faith journeys.
Plea to suspend returns to Sri Lanka
On the first anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, who recently returned from Sri Lanka, said tonight that the country is not safe for deported asylum seekers.
