Pope Francis seems to have changed his mind about female deacons. This week, in a CBS TV interview, he explained that ordaining women has never been on his agenda, but non-ordained female deacons could be. Female diaconate supported In February, one of Francis’ theological advisers, Sr Linda Pocher, said while the Church wasn’t considering women’s Read more
Jinky, the Springer Spaniel, has his own social media page, where his doggie parents document his beautiful life in Yorkshire, England. As the photos suggest, he loves playing in the mud. Springers are active, love the great outdoors, and are known for having a lot of energy. Recently, Jinky’s mom took him on a walk Read more
Fr Tomáš Halík, a renowned Czech theologian and philosopher, says the Catholic Church should shed the “heresy of triumphalism” and foster a more synodal approach to evangelisation in today’s secular climate. Halík recently participated in a synodal gathering convened by the Vatican, highlighting concerns over parish priests’ exclusion from previous synodal sessions and stressing the Read more
The idea of AI bots lurking about can be somewhat disturbing. But some can be useful – such as AI bots that are repositories of Catholic teaching. Learning and research These days, if you have a question about a Catholic Church teaching, there are several ways you could check out the answer. You could open Read more
Three innovative Roncalli College pupils hope Young Enterprises judges like their idea the best. Krishna Shah, Alexis Miller and exchange student Oliwia Sobocinska have developed a product to help ease menstrual pain. What they came up with isn’t – as some might think – maybe a soothing tisane or perhaps an app with stretching and Read more
An issue that refuses to hide its face is the continuing fall in the number of priests serving our parishes. We should be considering this question as a matter of some urgency if we are to maintain our present diocesan structures at anywhere near their present level, let alone seek to become a Missionary Church. Read more
It took a little more than a day for Father Justin, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar posing as a priest, to be defrocked. Defrocking Justin After Catholic Answers, a site devoted to evangelising for Catholicism, introduced the character to answer questions about the faith, Catholics on social media called the character a “scandalising mockery of Read more
More than 1.5 million couples globally have transformed their marriages after attending The Marriage Course, a marriage boot camp. Recently, fifteen couples marked the end of their transformative journey as they received blessings and celebrated the culmination of the seven-week course at Ryde Gladesville Catholic Parish near Sydney, Australia. Led by parish priest Fr Greg Read more
Last week the Orthodox Church sacramentally ordained a deaconess for the first time in modern times. Archbishop Serafim of Zimbabwe ordained Angelic Molen (pictured right) as a deaconess on Maundy Thursday (2 May) in Harare. Molen “will do what the deacon does in the liturgy and in all sacraments in our Orthodox services” Serafim says. Read more
I will be 80 years old in June. As a young child in the Methodist Church, I was certain I was called to ordained ministry. At Duke University, I majored in religious studies and then served as pastoral assistant and director of religious education in a small church in upstate New York. Then, in the Read more