“All those who want to go to Ecuador to mainly build houses, please raise your hands. OK! All those who have raised their hands, please stay home! Now, those of you who want to mainly listen and learn from the faith and culture of Ecuadorans, join my immersion trip.” This is how veteran Comboni Missionary Read more
God shows his love, not with great speeches, but with simple, tender acts of charity, Pope Francis said. “When Jesus wants to teach us how a Christian should be, he tells us very little,” the pope said, but he shows people by feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger. Celebrating Mass in the chapel of Read more
When famous people commit suicide, we can expect expressions of shock that “someone who had everything to live for” would do such a thing. The supposed buffer against despair and dread had collapsed. If that could happen to a model of societal success, what did that auger for the rest of us clinging to low Read more
2017 Lay Spirituality: From Traditional to Postmodern may well be regarded as a sequel to Pierre Hegy’s two previous volumes: Wake Up, Lazarus!: On Catholic Renewal (2011) and Wake Up, Lazarus!: Paths to Catholic Renewal (2013). What binds these volumes together and makes them unique is the use of sociological methods to understand church practices Read more
Sentencing a criminal to 1,000 years in an artificial hell may one day become a reality. At least, that is the claim of scientists at Oxford University who have been exploring controversial technologies that could extend human life. They say billions are being invested in techniques that could mean the cruellest criminals will be kept Read more
As Zhou Enlai supposedly said about the French Revolution, we can’t assess the legacy of the Reformation because it is too soon to tell. In fact, it is still going on. The biggest religious stories of our times—the stories of retreat and resurgence—are both outworkings of the Reformation. Retreat The industrialised, liberal West is living Read more
Western Europe, cradle of Protestantism and historical seat of Catholicism, has become one of the most secular regions in the world. This was confirmed by a survey study promoted by the US Pew Research Center on religious faith and practice in Western European countries. The percentage of lapsed Christians is increasing and a look at Read more
There are so many lessons that someone going through a divorce needs to learn, but three of the most powerful (and difficult) lessons I’ve learned are these. The label “divorced” does not define a person. It’s an event that happened—terrible as it is—but it in no way is the sum total of who a person Read more
Christians, and other religious communities, have long adapted to changes in media technologies. The emergence of writing, the move from scroll to codex, the printing press, the spread of literacy, the development of electronic media (radio, telephone, film, and television), and the subsequent rise of digital communication (social media, websites, digital publishing) provide obvious examples. Read more
Pope Francis has named Peruvian Archbishop Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo, who works defending the environment and who advocates living a life in harmony with nature, as one of 14 new cardinals. “The whole church must become ecological because every Christian needs to live his or her life in harmony with nature and with Read more