What a sight! Over 25 times from the top of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., I have seen a sea of people marching to proclaim the dignity of unborn human life, and how death-dealing abortion sends the unholy message that some human beings are disposable. And the latest March for Life (Jan. 27) was equally Read more
The headlines in Australian newspapers this week have not been kind to the Catholic Church. Gail Furness, the lawyer for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, delivered a blistering speech outlining its findings to date about Catholic dioceses, religious orders and institutions. Afterwards, the Sydney Morning Herald editorialised: “Now we know too, that Read more
Today’s Super Bowl halftime show will undoubtedly be a provocative spectacle, but it will also be a form of religious devotion for some. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta will step on the world’s biggest stage as Lady Gaga, the Catholic schoolgirl turned chart-topper. Along with the electropop and theatricality, she will deliver an overt, yet often Read more
A new year tends to be a time of reflection. We’ve just celebrated another birthing of Christ Jesus in our lives and our faith is touched by a freshness, a feeling that we are at home with the Holy Family. The months ahead promise growth. The year will also deliver hard work. Living in this Read more
In 1977, work began on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel ceiling to remove 500 years of incense and candle smoke from Michelangelo’s paintings. When the chapel was opened again in 1989, not everyone was happy with the result. The colours were so bright some people saw them as gaudy, and believed Michelangelo’s masterpiece had Read more
It is that time of year again when someone somewhere has to write an article lamenting the commercialisation of Christmas, though it has to be said that these type of articles have faced some competition of late from articles lamenting the campaign by the politically correct to abolish Christmas altogether. Poor old Christmas: attacked on Read more
I listen halfheartedly to the dinner conversation as I roll warm purple wax between my fingers. Every time another stream of wax bursts down the side of the candle I daintily scoop it up and let it slide down my finger, mesmerized by the sight. “Stop playing with the wax!” says my mother, suddenly realizing Read more
I haven’t written in this space for some time, but now that the election is over some additional interventions seem necessary to capture what’s happening in Roman Catholicism’s remarkable period of controversy. My Sunday column talked a bit about the way in which varying interpretations of “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, have Read more
We are told that we experience God in the present moment, and we know that as truth. But our brains are wired for learning from the past, planning for the future, and we’re not going to be rid of those habits. While we may find it impossible to live in the present moment, that very Read more
As regular readers may remember, I have been suffering with depression since the summer. My last blog on the topic, I’m told, came across more “worryingly bleak” than “winningly chipper in the face of adversity”. That wasn’t really the intention at all. But hey, I’m mentally ill – so what do I know? As I Read more