Writer
Michael Kelly
Father Michael Kelly is an Australian Jesuit who directed the Catholic Church's news feature and commentary service, UCA News, 2008-2018. He is the publisher of the English editions of La Croix International and La Civilta Cattolica, the 170 year old Jesuit publication of the Italian Jesuits.
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Vale Francis Gerard Brennan
Francis Gerard Brennan, who died on June 1 at the age of 94, will be farewelled in a Requiem Mass at St. Mary’s Church, North Sydney on June 17. He was a Justice of the Federal Court and the High Court of Australia, and Chief Justice of the High Court 1995-1998. Continue reading »
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Well, that’s it. Your life is over
The abrupt passing of a dear friend in a sudden moment is not only something I had not prepared for. I actually looked forward to seeing her on the weekend when we would meet up at Sunday Mass. But that wasn’t to be and the sharp end was not negotiable. Continue reading »
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Bringing light out of darkness
There have been few lead ups to Easter in my experience more aligned with one of Easter’s central messages – bringing light out of darkness – than Easter 2022. Continue reading »
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Lessons in loneliness at Christmas from Dorothy Day
Following Dorothy Day’s example, facing our emptiness is the first step to asking and receiving the healing grace of Christmas. Continue reading »
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Back to the future — governance in the Catholic Church
Catholics cannot afford to get bogged down in their own frequent failures to meet the challenges of the times. Continue reading »
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Cowardly acts by both ISIS-K with its suicide bombers and the US with its drone strikes
ISIS-K uses human suicide bombers to personally assassinate targets and murder civilians. The Americans use mechanical drones piloted from Langley, Virginia to do the same. Continue reading »
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After Kabul – a great opportunity for Australia
Our “great and powerful friend’, the United States of America, has suffered another humiliating defeat, this time in Afghanistan. In fact, the USA hasn’t won a single war in which it has participated for more than 75 years – since the WW2 conflict with Japan, concluded in 1945. Continue reading »
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President Biden, Chinese Communists and a very old division in the Church
The knives are out for President Joe Biden as a Catholic. Some commentators have drawn the comparison between how some (most?) US bishops are reacting to the President for his approach to legislation on abortion in their country and the controversy in the early Church called the Donatist controversy. Continue reading »
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Myanmar steps back into darkness
Since the February 1 coup, the Tatmadaw – the official name of Myanmar’s armed forces – has escalated its crackdown on citizens protesting against the military takeover that ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government. Continue reading »
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This one will blow up on Scotty: Christine Holgate’s unfair dismissal
For thirty years I have believed that, when it wants to, Australian public culture defaults to its misogynistic normal in justifying a woman be disciplined or punished for an event or outcome with which they may have absolutely nothing to do at all. Continue reading »
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Some thoughts during Holy Week
Lent is as we know a time in the life of the Christian community when we focus on the invitation Jesus makes to us to repent – to be converted. But what actually does conversion mean? What are the signs we should look for in our conversion? What gifts and graces should we pray for Continue reading »
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Obituary for Bishop Geoff Robinson
Saying farewell to Bishop Geoff Robinson as we did when he died on December 29, 2020, is saying goodbye to one of the few Australian Catholic bishops with his integrity and reputation for honesty and championing the defence of the weak and the abused still intact. Continue reading »
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Susan Ryan: a forgiving politician
It is difficult to exaggerate the significance of the movements, legislation and offices shaped or led by the late Susan Maree Ryan (Oct 10, 1942 – September 27, 2020). Continue reading »
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The effect of COVID-19 on religious habits
Church life will need to rebuild anew in the midst of a culture whose habits have been shredded by COVID 19. And God only knows where that will take us. But that’s the exciting part: we can discover it. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL JAMES KELLY. An Old Mans Gripe
It is a paradox: in the midst of suffering and dying, there is an unfamiliar human warmth. I have encountered it at several levels. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. Coping with Isolation
The ‘command and control’ world of isolation we all find ourselves requires some new lessons in coping with isolation. Father Michael Kelly reflects on his experience of the strict world of the Jesuit Novitiate to guide him through his isolation. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. Liberal culture and revelation
Western humanism has religious and transcendent sources without which it is incomprehensible to itself. Jacques Maritain, Integral Humanism. Faith in revelation does not destroy the rationality of knowledge but rather permits it to develop more fully. Etienne Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ. What is to become of us?
I used to think I was part of a religion founded by Jesus Christ. The older I’ve got and the more I’ve come to know Jesus, the more I’m convinced I got that wrong and have outgrown it. Not that pressure to keep up religious appearances is flagging. It is still alive and well. We Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ. The real culture war just down the road
Continuing the brutal ideological contest born of fear of difference and at times invincible ignorance only serves to maintain the power of the dominant Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ The biggest con in any current debate in Australian public life
In a highly contested event, one political con over the last decade stands out as the greatest bipartisan piece of deception in any enduring debate: the obfuscation employed in the public arguments over asylum seeker arrivals in Australia. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Religious Persecution and Home Churches in China.
When will they ever learn? The best tonic to stir up religious fervor and greater commitment in a totalitarian society is to persecute believers. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. A journey with urban refugees in Bangkok.
Some days I feel like a people trafficker, though I’m not making a zack out of the trafficking. Other days I see myself as a latter-day Oskar Schindler. But mostly I just feel trapped along with the 1000 refugees and asylum seekers I’m doing my not-very-successful best to get the hell out of an open Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. Change of era in Oz.
In a revealing throwaway line, Pope Francis captured something that is true for the Church across the world but most especially for the Church in Australia. The pope described our time in the church and wider society as “not so much an era of change as a change of era”. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Bangladesh wake-up call on sexual abuse for Asia’s bishops.
The case of Father Walter Rozario bears all the hallmarks of denial, cover-up and silencing victims seen in the West. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. Canada shows us how it is done.-A REPOST from July 5 2017
The Refugee Council of Australia’s call for more affordable and community based ways of settling refugees is only the latest attempt to bring both community good will to refugees and the implementation of a proven and superior alternative to government processes. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. The Pope in Asia
Pope Francis was true to his word about the best place for the Catholic Church to be is on fringes, away from the cosseted privilege that keeps reality at bay. Traveling to Myanmar and Bangladesh – both in the top five poorest countries in Asia – he was also visiting relatively tiny Catholic communities (accounting Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Pope Francis and The Lady meet
The much-anticipated meeting between Pope Francis and Aung San Suu Kyi will disappoint those who expected an attentive focus on the Rohingya. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. What brings a Jesuit Pope to Asia?
One of the biggest influences on Pope Francis remains relatively unexplored – Pedro Arrupe, the Superior General of the Jesuits (1965-83) who appointed Jorge Bergoglio Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina (1973-79) at the tender age of 36. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. The weakest to the wall.
The eyes of the world have been fixed on and appalled by the sight of more than 580,000 Rohingya fleeing the violence gratuitously inflicted on them by the military in Myanmar. And the story isn’t over yet. More will be targeted and more will run for their lives in what is the most serious humanitarian Continue reading »
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FR. MICHAEL KELLY. Christianity isn’t the answer
Paul Kelly named what is the biggest untreated socially communicated disease in the Western world: narcissism (The Australian, 8/07/2017). He’s not alone of course and quotes several other commentators who believe the same thing, among them David Brooks. Continue reading »
