The Australian bishops were in Rom during October for their regular five yearly report. This gave Cardinal Pell the chance to get the pope to bless his favourite project in Rome – a beautifully refurbished old religious house which has been turned into a 33 room guest house for paying visitors. Its grand chapel and organ have been richly restored. It can be used for conferences and has a 150 seat auditorium.
Statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops on Toowoomba
Our letter to Bishop Brian Finnigan in May said that, during the Ad Limina visit in October, we would have discussions concerning the events which led to the departure of Bishop William Morris from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Toowoomba. That has been done. We had individual meetings with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal William Levada, [...]
Morris replies to ACBC
The statement of the Australian Catholic Bishops contains inaccuracies and errors of fact evidenced by the documentation relating to the issues concerning myself and a number of Vatican Dicasteries.
Bishop reflects on trends in the Church
This is a lunchtime address given by Bishop Kevin Dowling CSsR, Bishop of Rustenburg, South Africa, to a group of leading laity in Cape Town, South Africa on 1 June, 2010.
Benedict’s papacy: the way it’s shaping up
In just six years, Benedict XVI has shaped the Church through his appointments of key clergy to high office in Rome. The Slavic slant of his Polish predecessor has gone although, as this Tablet analysis reveals, Benedict has not replaced it with a German tendency – but the usual Italian one.
A shepherd who refused to become a sheep
Mike Fallon tells the story of a cardinal from Glasgow in Scotland speaking truth to power on the translation of the missal.
Sense of heaven
Daniel O’Leary speaks of the challenges of moving through the stages of life’s journey.
Vatican II: lost and betrayed
Giovanni Franzoni, a former Benedictine abbot, Catholic theologian, and eyewitness to Vatican II, offered these reflections at the 31st Congress of the Asociación de Teólogos y Teólogas Juan XXIII in Madrid in September 2011
Laity find a voice
David Timbs, in a blog on CathNews (August 23, 2011), discusses the Catholics for Renewal petition to the Pope and Australian Bishops to continue the reforms needed for the next century.
A church of the people, by the people, for the people
Peter Day reviews the possibilities for a church claiming the vision Pope John XXIII once held.
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was an old man, but at 77 years decided that things had to change. He loved his church. He knew it inside out – warts and all. He had been a faithful Catholic from birth. But something was missing.
