Religion and Faith
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The song in our hearts and of our hearts
In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another. Continue reading »
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Pope fires warning shot to Church leaders who would defy Vatican II
The neo-traditionalists have been sent a clear message by Pope Francis that their dismissal of synodality, and their disruptive behaviour do violence to the very nature of the Church itself and thereby damage the Reign of God. Continue reading »
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Why does Australia want to be so suicidal?
Australian leadership is no longer an embarrassment at UNFCCC COPs. Nonetheless, Australia’s participation in the fossil fuel industry, including through new projects, is not putting us on the fastest path to net zero. Will we miss our “brief and rapidly closing window” to secure a liveable future? Continue reading »
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Pope Francis has abandoned transgender Catholics
In a recent official Declaration on Human Dignity, Dignitas Infinita, the Pope has endorsed a document that effectively outlaws sex change for transgender Catholics. The Declaration is both harsh and unrelenting in its tone, dismissive of new science and judgemental of those Catholics who in good faith make life choices contrary to the edicts of Continue reading »
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Ok, Allah, we passed your test
There are five major and hundreds of minor religions in the world. But don’t worry – yours is the right one. – Anon Continue reading »
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Peacemakers for our wounded humanity
Has there ever been a more important time for peacemaking with a universal consciousness? Continue reading »
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Lights on or lights out?
In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. Continue reading »
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Imitation accelerates
The whole world is experiencing an “escalation to extremes” because we imitate each other to a profound degree. We should choose our models more carefully. Continue reading »
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Stan Grant on Good Friday, Easter, and God’s absence in our suffering world
I never thought I’d see an inspiring Easter reflection in the usually secular, The Saturday Paper. But last Saturday (March 23) there was Stan Grant, writing on the Christian feast. Continue reading »
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The Cross: What do we bring to the Cross this Holy Week 2024?
The Cross speaks to us of how we find God in places where compassion is needed. Continue reading »
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We now need, it seems, a Voice for bigots
The best argument against having an explicit legislated or constitutional right of freedom of religion in Australia comes right out of the playbook of the No campaign during the referendum on a constitutional Voice for Indigenous Australians. There’s no particular problem of giving expression to one’s beliefs in this country, and almost any attempt to Continue reading »
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‘The credibility of the Gospel is at stake’: Pax Christi calls on faith leaders to speak out on behalf of Gaza
Faith leaders should stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and should call on the Australian government to condemn all violence that threatens a just future for the people of Palestine, Israel and the Middle East. Continue reading »
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Thinking about peacebuilding in Australia on St Patrick’s Day
You would think that the suffering we are now seeing, including on and after October 7, would also compel international leaders to negotiate a peaceful future. There is no future in hate. Continue reading »
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What is Zionism?
One only needs head into the city on a Sunday in order to hear it: loud and vociferous condemnation of Israel and – together with it – the evils of Zionism as a political philosophy. But what is Zionism? I would imagine that many of those who so loudly condemn it would be hard placed Continue reading »
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Israel and Judaism part company
Every religion is rooted in core beliefs or dogmas but is judged or weighed by the character it espouses and the values with which it identifies. Belief is verified or condemned by the way life is lived. Christianity is known to espouse “love your neighbour as yourself” or, “do to others as you would have Continue reading »
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Amidst strategic stalemate, Ukraine war remains Vatican priority
Two years since the Russian invasion, Ukraine has faded from the headlines. But not in the Vatican and for the man who might be the next Pope. Continue reading »
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Here, while others are not: A meditation on peacebuilding
When our father was one of those Australian soldiers fleeing the advancing Nazi army in Greece, an aircraft suddenly appeared. He jumped into a ditch on one side of the road. Others of his mates jumped into a ditch on the other side of the road. The guns in the plane killed all those on Continue reading »
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Vatican – Israel rupture over Gaza
The invasion of Gaza, described by Pope Francis as ‘terrorism’, is causing strained relationships between Israel and the Vatican. Continue reading »
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The perfect recipe for a real antisemitism crisis
If I wanted to increase antisemitism, I imagine I’d do a lot of really evil stuff under a Star of David flag while adamantly insisting that my actions are inseparable from the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. I’d kill children by the thousands and commit genocidal atrocities. Continue reading »
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Pope Francis would find PNG refugee conditions an eye-opener
In December, an impressive young Papua New Guinean named Jason Siwat, the director of the refugee program for the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands, travelled to Canberra bearing two important documents. Continue reading »
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The materialisation of Chinese Christianity
As the Lunar New Year approaches, many Chinese families clean the front door of their home and hang poetry around it. This is a rich and age-old Chinese tradition, both cultural and religious. Continue reading »
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Why is Christian persecution often met with indifference?
It has never been more dangerous to be a Christian than today. According to the newly released 2024 World Watch List – an authoritative survey by Open Doors, an organisation that supports persecuted Christians – 365 million Christians, or one in seven, are at high or extreme risk of persecution every day because of their Continue reading »
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Ant nest theology
Consider an ant nest in far flung outer Siberia. Continue reading »
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The agony of Michael Gawenda
Michael Gawenda, former editor of The Age and Walkley award-winning journalist, published his memoir ‘My Life as a Jew’ last year. Actually, it’s only part memoir, since much of it is reserved for polemics against Jews and Gentiles who are critical of Israel. The rest traces his life journey from an anti-Zionist Bundist youth to Continue reading »
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Division, terrible suffering, and learnings about peacebuilding
Amplified by the terrible sufferings in many places, and by the divided voices, especially as regards Israel/Gaza, we have some learnings about peacebuilding that it might be timely to reflect on. ‘Cease-fire,’ of course, is just a less vivid way of saying ‘we will stop killing people we don’t know.’ Continue reading »
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Efforts to suppress Palestinian history defeated
From the first days in their Jewish day schools and youth organisations, young Jews are drilled with the lie that Palestine was ‘a land without people for a people without a land’. From its inception, the Zionist movement has sought to suppress Palestinian history and narratives. Whenever there are exhibitions or events or publications featuring Continue reading »
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The need for theological reform
In the mid-1980s when I was at Boston College, a Jesuit university, one of the lecturers commented that the Catholic Church hierarchy was fearful of a schism in the church. Too late, he remarked, it is already here, informally. He pointed out that the majority of students at that Catholic university no longer believed the Continue reading »
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Blue Christmas
A Meditation for Those who are Grieving Loss during this Christmas Season, 2023 Continue reading »
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Suffer the little children to come unto me…
Well, not so if they are Palestinian children that Israelis keep killing time and time again. It is part of what Israelis calls ‘mowing the grass’. Continue reading »
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Losing my religion
Theology has long been used to justify war. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it’s happening again in the Middle East. Continue reading »
