Religion and Faith
-
Kieran Tapsell: The Inquisition of the Catholic Church at the United Nations.
The Vatican’s former Chief Prosecutor, Bishop Charles Scicluna, found himself before the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child in Geneva on 16 January 2014. He joked that in the past his predecessors may have been on the other side of the table as the “Grand Inquisitor”. The Church signed up to the Continue reading »
-
Pope Francis – Message on Migrants and Refugees. January 2014
‘Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more. Contemporary movements of migration represent the largest movement of Individuals, Continue reading »
-
Sex abuse: the de facto privilege of clergy. Kieran Tapsell
On 29 December 1170, four armed knights from the Court of King Henry II of England entered Canterbury Cathedral. They had previously heard the King complain about the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a’Becket, who was in dispute with Henry over “privilege of clergy”, the right of clergy to be tried exclusively in Church or canonical Continue reading »
-
Asylum seekers – Tony Abbott and I share a Jesuit education. John O’Mara
Like many Australians, I look on the way the Abbott government is handling the matter of asylum seekers with ever increasing dismay. Tony Abbott’s mantra “stop the boats”, is unprincipled, contrary to signed UN agreements and impractical. It is hard to erase the pre-election memory of the Western Sydney interviewee..”I’m going to vote for Abbott, Continue reading »
-
Repost: Don’t tamper with the Refugee Convention. John Menadue
It would be dangerous to open up the pandora’s box of the Refugee Convention. It has served us well. Who would seriously suggest that persons facing persecution should not be protected. Given the world wide agitation against refugees and ‘outsiders’, a review of the Convention would be a great opportunity for extremists to run their Continue reading »
-
Is Pope Francis a Marxist?
On 16 December last year, Eureka Street carried an article by Neil Ormerod about Pope Francis and his economic, social and political message. That article can be found on the link below. John Menadue http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=38645#.Us8a9j0XBt8.email Continue reading »
-
A 100 billion dollar tale of piracy in the Timor Sea. Michael Sainsbury
Although it sits on a vast undersea gas reserve, Timor-Leste remains deeply impoverished. Deep under the Timor Sea, there is a huge reserve of gas. Geologists now believe it is worth upwards of US$100 billion; a figure more than twice the amount estimated by Australia as recently as 2006. It is perhaps ironic that the Continue reading »
-
The Revival of Misprision of Felony. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
In the days before police forces, the State in the English speaking world relied on citizens to report serious crimes, called “felonies”. The posse in the Western movies is a reflection of the “hue and cry” that citizens were expected to raise. Failing to report a felony was itself a crime, called “misprision of felony”. Continue reading »
-
Putting the Jesuitical back into the Jesuit. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
The Vatican has two hats. It is the mini-State of 44 hectares in Rome, and it is the “Holy See”, the governing body of the Catholic Church. When it suits, it puts on one hat and hides the other. At the Murphy Commission in Ireland it relied on its status as a foreign country in Continue reading »
-
Repost: Are most asylum seekers and refugees Muslims? John Menadue
Repost for holiday reading. Well, as a matter of fact, they are not. But I am sure that many commentators and a lot of the community believe that most are Muslim. The dog-whistlers like Scott Morrison feed on this assumption .According to Jane Cadzow in the Sun Herald he urged the Coalition parties “to ramp Continue reading »
-
A Christmas Message from Sister Joan Chittister.
Two years ago this Christmas message was published by Vision and Viewpoint, an e-newsletter. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, is prioress of The Benedictine Sisters in Erie, PA. Now and here bells everywhere are ringing again. The gift boxes are heaping up. Everybody’s saying it: “Christmas Blessings… God bless you at Christmas time… Christmas Peace to Continue reading »
-
Waiting on Him in Advent for His Birth; His birth in us. Guest Blogger: Caroline Coggins
Is the birth of Jesus a story that can touch us deeply today, does it offer a way for us to know and follow Jesus? Do we get glib with what we know, and skate over the story? The advent story is like a pregnancy, it creates an intimate space to be with Mary, from Continue reading »
-
My year of leaning – and leaning into Christmas. Guest Blogger: Patty Fawkner SGS
There are all kinds of years. There’s the year of living dangerously and the annus horribilis. 2013 was the Year of Grace and the Year of the Snake. For me it’s been the year of leaning. Earlier this year I was intrigued by the title and the phenomenal publishing success of Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean Continue reading »
-
Cracks in the Church Dyke at the Royal Commission. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
On 19March 2010, after the Murphy Commission in Ireland found that there had been widespread cover up of child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a “Pastoral Letter to the People of Ireland”. The Murphy Commission had some harsh things to say about canon law and the requirements of secrecy, Continue reading »
-
New Vatican Committee on Sexual Abuse – What the Pope and the Bishops should do. Guest blogger: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
Pope Francis has announced that he is setting up a committee to advise him on how to respond to sexual abuse within the Church. There is a large amount of scepticism in many quarters about such a move, for there have been so many other meetings before this and they have produced so little. So Continue reading »
-
Archbishop Coleridge and Canon Law: Humpty Dumpty Rules . Guest blogger Kieran Tapsell
“When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “It means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.” Continue reading »
-
Flogging a dead horse at the Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
Whenever there has been an inquiry into the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse by its clergy, the Church has claimed that child sex abuse was some sort of hidden problem that the whole world, including the Church, had only just discovered. It has done this in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and now Continue reading »
-
New Vatican Committee on Sexual Abuse and ‘zero tolerance’ of Pope Benedict. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
On 5 December 2013, the Vatican announced that it had set up a new Committee on sex abuse and that the “the initiative was also in line with the zero tolerance approach of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.” Pope John Paul II has rightly been hailed for his contribution to bringing down the Soviet Union. But Continue reading »
-
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. John Menadue
On December 9 the Royal Commission will commence public hearings into the role of the Catholic Church in Australia on this issue. Francis Sullivan the Executive Director of the Truth Justice and Healing Council of the Catholic Church said on 3 December that “Catholics and non-Catholics will be shocked and disillusioned when they hear the Continue reading »
-
Bella Figura and the Vatican. Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
Bella figura, writes Bishop Geoffrey Robinson in his book, For Christ’s Sake, pervades the Vatican. In Italian, it means putting on a good appearance, and never admitting mistakes – what we might call “spin”. Its opposite, bruta figura means looking dreadful. Bella figura can quickly turn bruta as Sir Walter Scott reminded us: “Oh what Continue reading »
-
What a good effort. Guest blogger: Chris Geraghty
This is the best effort at an apology so far and “the leaders of the Catholic Church in Australia” are to be congratulated, finally. They have been dragged, fighting and squealing, to their knees, no, to their bellies, but eventually a thorough and unqualified commitment statement has been published and read to the faithful at Continue reading »
-
Pope Francis’s Synod. Guest blogger: Eric Hodgens
The new Pope Francis has caught the eye of the world. Many people with Catholic friends know that there are two Catholic Churches in the world today – one of the popes and the Pells, the other of the rank and file Catholics and their priests. The first is doctrinaire. The second makes adjustments to Continue reading »
-
A reflection on Pope Francis’s Exhortation. Guest blogger: Frank Brennan SJ
Pope Francis has published his first and very prolix papal teaching document entitled Evangelii Gaudium (the joy of evangelisation). With a tone of delightful self-mocking he observes, “I am aware that nowadays documents do not arouse the same interest as in the past and that they are quickly forgotten.” On the scale of papal Continue reading »
-
Sexual abuse: two Popes late on the scene. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ
Early in the 20th Century, the French Catholic poet and writer Charles Peguy observed that, at the turn of each age, the Catholic Church arrives a little late and a little breathless. It was not till the 1960s, at Vatican II, that the Church absorbed and authorized the major influence of the French Revolution – Continue reading »
-
Sexual abuse – don’t mention Canon Law! Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
Submissions and speeches by the Australian Catholic Church about child sex abuse, remind me of Fawlty Towers, where Basil asks his non German guests not to mention the war. In the Church’s case, the unmentionable is canon law, the law of the Catholic Church. In his speech at Ballarat on 20 November 2013, Francis Sullivan, Continue reading »
-
Systemic issues arising from the Victorian Parliament’s ‘Betrayal of Trust Report’ Guest blogger: Kieran Tapsell
On 13 November 2013, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organizations handed down its Report, entitled “Betrayal of Trust”. It stated: “No representatives of the Catholic Church directly reported the criminal conduct of its members to the police. The Committee found that there is simply no justification Continue reading »
-
The end of an era. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ
It may be because I’ve been in Ireland and dealing with people who are the heirs of those responsible for most of the heritage and works of the Australian Jesuits. But I don’t think so. What struck me most deeply after a month or more among European Jesuits, and registering the scale of challenge to Continue reading »
-
The Catholic Church is in for a shake-up. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ
Pope Francis has pressed all the hot buttons that get Catholic and other tongues wagging- a pastoral response to divorced and remarried Catholics, homosexuality, the place of women in the Church, the excessively centralized nature of management in the Church, liturgical adaptation to local pastoral circumstances and wealth and triumphalism as the all too frequent Continue reading »
-
In Bob we Trust. Guest blogger Chris Geraghty
In Bob We Trust begins with Father Bob’s potted version of the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Five minutes of fun and irreverent theology. Over two thousand years passing in the blink of an eye. Then Father Bob, assisted by his sinister chess opponent, John Safron in the guise of the Devil, gets down Continue reading »
-
The eye of the needle, politicians, and Confucius. Guest blogger: Milton Moon
Milton Moon is an eminent Australian potter. A Master of Australian Craft. My current reading is dominated by the superb collected essays of Simon Leys, under the title The Hall of Uselessness. (An indication of just how small the world has become it was recommended to me by a Jewish friend, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Continue reading »
Top 5 most read
- An Open Letter to the Australian Government from…
We the undersigned are scholars of the humanities and social… - Vale, Stan Grant
Stan Grant is always intelligent, insightful and provocative. He demonstrated… - The war in Ukraine was provoked— and why that…
By recognising that the question of NATO enlargement is at… - Who started the trade war with China?
There is a sharp contradiction at the heart of the… - Why a different world order is already here
US primacy is being replaced by two orders led by…
