Call it brat summer or a “femininomenon.” Girls are having their moment. After the June 7 release of her latest album, “brat,” the 32-year-old English dance-pop star Charli XCX started what has become known as “brat summer.” The indifference of the album artwork expresses the very nature of what it means to be brat: It’s Read more
The recent opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation of Palestine drew little attention in Australia. The silence perhaps reflects Australians’ identification of law with enforcement. By these standards the judgement of the International Court was a mere opinion to which the United Nations General Assembly of the United Nations may Read more
Men’s violence against women in Australia is recognised as a national crisis. We urgently need to better understand what can be done to prevent it and intervene effectively. There is a need to hold perpetrators to account for their abusive behaviour. This is set out in the National Plan to end Violence against Women and Read more
Slavery ended in the 19th century, right? Wrong. It’s an easy enough mistake to make. After all, the end of America’s civil war and the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – both in 1865 – brought an end to slavery in the U.S. And the British Slavery Abolition Act in 1834 ended slavery in Read more
I was given my first parish as a reasonably new priest just three short weeks before the devastating Christchurch earthquakes. For Kiwis it was a big parish — a Mass count approaching a 1000 people on the weekend. It was a contented parish, well organised, it had some money in the bank, its biggest age Read more
A popular hymn of the early 70s that remains in use today is known by its first line, Colours of Day, a hymn from the folk genre of the time. It is worth reflecting on some of its words these fifty years on. “Colours of day dawn into the mind, The sun has come up, Read more
In a high-rise apartment in New York City overlooking the Freedom Tower and the Statue of Liberty, Catholic thought leaders both conservative and liberal gathered. They were there to pray together and share a fine meal over a glass of Cabernet Francis — all in an effort to overcome polarisation. In the Catholic world, it’s Read more
The Royal Commission’s reports into the abuse of young people in state care are shocking and important but we must acknowledge that the most dangerous institution in New Zealand are families. In fact, it’s a relatively small percentage of families. More damage is done to children by these families than by the state. Regarding the Read more
Yet another religious order or congregation leaves our diocese. A much-loved Vatican II-inspired archbishop dies. Our parish priest tells us that relieving priests are more difficult to find. These are all striking moments in church life. Yet the biggest shock has been to learn of the seemingly inevitable decline of the National Council of Priests Read more
As I’ve observed before, the “Vatican girl” case, referring to the 1983 disappearance of a 15-year-old girl in Rome whose father was a minor Vatican employee and whose family lived in a Vatican apartment, is the Italian version of the Kennedy assassination, That means it is the country’s most notorious unresolved mystery. Both have become Read more