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.

Michael's recent articles

Vale Francis Gerard Brennan

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. Marys 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.

Well, thats it. Your life is over

Well, thats 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 wasnt to be and the sharp end was not negotiable.

Bringing light out of darkness

Bringing light out of darkness

There have been few lead ups to Easter in my experience more aligned with one of Easters central messages bringing light out of darkness than Easter 2022.

Lessons in loneliness at Christmas from Dorothy Day

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.

Back to the future governance in the Catholic Church

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.

Cowardly acts by both ISIS-K with its suicide bombers and the US with its drone strikes

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.

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 hasnt won a single war in which it has participated for more than 75 years - since the WW2 conflict with Japan, concluded in 1945.

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.

Myanmar steps back into darkness

Since the February 1 coup, the Tatmadaw the official name ofMyanmars armed forces has escalated itscrackdownon citizens protesting against the military takeover that ousted Myanmars democratically elected government.

This one will blow up on Scotty: Christine Holgate's unfair dismissal

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.

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 as we seek conversion?

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.

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).

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 thats the exciting part: we can discover it.

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.

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.

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

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 Ive got and the more Ive come to know Jesus, the more Im 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 live in age of identity politics but also of identity religion. I find both, and the satellite culture wars they trigger, just tedious, often odious and so destructive.

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

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.

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.

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 prison called Bangkok.

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.

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.

MICHAEL KELLY. Canada shows us how it is done.-A REPOST from July 5 2017

The Refugee Council of Australias 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.

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 for one of the 220 million people who are citizens of the two nations) that find their entry among the marginalized.

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.

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.

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 isnt over yet. More will be targeted and more will run for their lives in what is the most serious humanitarian crisis in Asia since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

FR. MICHAEL KELLY. Christianity isnt the answer

Paul Kelly named what is the biggest untreated socially communicated disease in the Western world: narcissism (The Australian, 8/07/2017).Hes not alone of course and quotes several other commentators who believe the same thing, among them David Brooks.

MICHAEL KELLY. Time to think outside the square for the Church in China

Joseph Jiangs timely essay on the Church in today's China will annoy some but asks all the right questions.

MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Six archbishops examined by Australian judge.

An extraordinary piece of evidence presented to the Commission is that up to 7% of Australian Catholic clergy have been child abusers.

MICHAEL KELLY SJ. 2017 for Pope Francis: what to expect.

At the heart of what Arrupe sought to do was get Jesuits out of their comfort zone, engaged with the real world and most especially reconverted to Jesus Christ by their encounter with the poor. Pope Francis would agree.

MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Understanding challenges the church in Asia faces.

The Church in Asia can absorb and replicate its hierarchical, tiered cultural surrounds, or leave behind the clericalist conception of the Church, as a tightly run top-down organisation. It lies at the intersection of local hierarchical cultures and the culture of the church fostered by Rome before Vatican II. The calm confidence of Cardinal Oswald Gracias that the church in Asia will avoid or at least manage a Left-Right divide in the churchs hierarchy is an optimistic political review of our prospects.

MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Winners are grinners - asylum seekers in Bangkok.

In the great race of life, its well to savor the few winners you back. Such was my experience last week. For some years, Ive been helping a small group of asylum seekers survive against the odds in Bangkok. The win was a simple one as all the best wins are. After almost four years of waiting, five asylum seekers Ive been able to help - thanks to the financial support of Australian friends are making their way to resettlement in Canada. Five down and 28 to go. Theres no great virtue in doing what you can...

MICHAEL KELLY S.J. Making saints.

In our dreary world full of incredible people making claims to leadership, finding the occasional hero or heroine cant be a bad thing. So why begrudge the Catholic Church its idiosyncratic ways of creating people for believers to admire the saints? Mother Teresa of Calcutta - thats what it was called when she lived there but lets call it Kolkata to bring the citys name up to the present - was canonized by the Pope last weekend. The media around the world found their way to the woman cured of her tumor, a cure that was the first...

Michael Kelly SJ. Washing feet, culture and religion.

The decision by parts of the Catholic Church in India to differ with Pope Francis' decision to allow women to have their feet washed in the ceremony on Holy Thursday is puzzling to say the least. Their reason given is simple. The inclusion of women in a ceremony where a man (the celebrant) washes the feet of a woman as one of the 12 people who participate in the re-enactment of Jesus actions on the first Holy Thursday would offend against cultural sensitivities. Do these church leaders appreciate that this was just the point Jesus was making? He...

Michael Kelly SJ. Where to from here for the Catholic Church in Australia

Despite the unpersuasive Vatican spin on Cardinal Pells appearance last week before the Royal Commission into child sex abuse in institutions that his performance was dignified and edifying, his performance, in the assessment of most observers including this one, was inept, cowardly and unconvincing. Cardinal Pell is only one Australian Catholic and he has a small following, even among the countrys bishops. But he has single handedly brought the Catholic Church in Australia to its knees. If what occurred last week happened to any other entity in Australia a political party, a trade union or a university,...

Michael Kelly SJ. As Holy Mother Church has always taught.

At times I have to pinch myself to be alert to whats going on right now in the Catholic Church and to fathom the depth of it. Throughout history, we have seen change come abruptly. It happened in Europe and Japan after WWII. And in Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down when democracies emerged where only tyrannical regimes prevailed. But in the Catholic Church change comes in a different way. It doesnt come by a revolution that sweeps away the old regime and old ways of doing things. Change does not come in the...

Michael Kelly SJ. Treating Islams clerics like their Christian equivalents will save lives

There is an unexpected upside to the mayhem and carnage across the world, visited on the unsuspecting innocents of countries where Muslims are not a majority of the population Europe and beyond. Its something the Catholic Church has had to learn, too. And that is the simple fact that that misbehavior among religious adherents towards members of the faith community as well as those outside it requires external intervention to be rectified and hopefully crushed. This can be done by subjecting the verification and authorization of religious officials and organizations to the same stringent tests that...

Michael Kelly SJ. Paris: the problem is deeper than criminal acts

Theres somethingprofoundly rotten about cultures that can give birth to the murderous behaviour on show in Paris last Friday. This is just the latest and probably most visible instance because it happened in one of the hubs of the European and North American news media.   These hubs make things that happen in too many other parts of the world actually reach living rooms worldwide. As such, this event is something that makes very clear what has been around for a long while in many parts of the world.Media focus actually makes these events part of the lives...

Michael Kelly SJ. George Pell's own goal.

A Catholic friend of mine who spent his professional life as a journalist at what was the then rather WASPISH Melbourne Age told me in the 1980s that two sports dominated that papers pages Australian Rules football and Catholic fights. Cardinal George Pell should have stuck to playing Ozzie Rules. In that game, shirt fronting is the common tactic used to eliminate opponents. It comes down to knocking out an opposing player usually with a side-on, full body smash that leaves the opponent flat on his back. As a first ruck, Pell was so well known for...

Michael Kelly SJ. The challenge of people movements.

Great as the gesture of Pope Francis is to mobilize parishes in Europe to accommodate the influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East (they call them migrants), the problem is more complex than offering immediate support to needy people. The Pope knows that. Hes said so many times. The Pope is drawing a line in the sand. He will be called nave and grandstanding. In a world where 60 million of the 7.3 billion humans on the planet are displaced, the clich about protecting borders isnt adequate to the challenge that confronts humanity now....

Michael Kelly SJ. It cant get any worse.

Current Affairs. Theres a special irony in the Australian Catholic bishops recent statement Dont Mess with Marriage which is a defence of the institution against proposals to recognise gay marriage. What are they defending? Its not just the Catholic sacrament of marriage that is their focus of attention. They are worried about marriage as proposed under Commonwealth law. Over forty years ago when the Whitlam Government introduced the Family Law Act with no fault divorce that could be applied for twelve months after separation, it was denigrated as the end of marriage as we knew it and the ruthless...

Michael Kelly SJ. Pope Francis and the Curia.

The tongues are certainly waging worldwide over the Christmas message of Pope Francis to staff at the Vatican the priests, monsignors, bishops and cardinals gathered for an end of year assessment by the pope of the year that has passed. A few perfunctory words to round out a very busy year or a general expression for thanks for various contributions? Not at all! A full on, Gospel based account of the traps of bureaucracy, the hypocrisy that can beset professional Catholic administrators and an implied warning that more is to come when the anticipated plans to restructure the...

Michael Kelly SJ. Phillip Hughes: reality bites

Seeing Australia from outside the island continent offers some very strange views from time to time. The outpouring of grief over the tragic accident that took the talented life of cricketer Phillip Hughes went global within a very short time. The home of cricket England was profuse in the time devoted to this sad event. While he was in hospital, Phillip Hughes was part of hourly bulletins on the BBC. On the day Hughes was declared dead, the BBC gave a full quarter hour of coverage from England and Australia involving players, administrators, medical doctors, sports physicians...

Michael Kelly SJ. On being a Priest.

Ive been a priest for thirty years and for perhaps the past two decades, I have known that when I walk into an unfamiliar setting or join a new group of people and tell them what I am, a goodly number are thinking to themselves: What sort of a weird, psychologically deficient, sexually repressed and potential criminal do we have here? Part of me enjoys the dare that such subconscious assessments offer. I am none of those. Ive made some choices in life and had to live with their blessings and burdens. Right now such assessments are predictable...

Michael Kelly SJ. A new magazine - Global Pulse.

Global Pulse Magazine brings together the rich editorial resources of some of the worlds leading independent publishers in the Catholic Church for an international English readership. Global Pulse provides insights into the Church and in the wider world of politics, religion, ethics, society and culture. Visit www.globalpulsemagazine.com In October, access is free so you can get a taste for whats on offer. From November, you can subscribe for $22 for a years subscription Involved in Global Pulse Magazine are: Bayard/La Croix Bayard, founded 1870, is the French and English language multinational Catholic publisher of the highly respected...

Michael Kelly SJ. Stopover in Hong Kong

John Le Carre (real name David Cornwall) has written a lot of books about the fairly predictable workings of spies. The Dirty Tricks manual doesnt have a lot of chapters and you dont have to be too smart to anticipate the moves and motives of different players. But they can make a thrilling read. Hong Kongs Umbrella Revolution is petering out. Basically, for a business town, the behavior of the students was becoming an interruption to trade. And so business leaders joined with police and government officials in telling the students and their allies that the game is over....

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