A Latin teacher at the seminary I attended described Italian and the other modern Romance languages as “corrupt provincial dialects of Latin”. Pope Francis has decided that the working language of the Extraordinary Synod for the Family being held at the Vatican should not be Latin, but one of those modern descendants, Italian. That decision Read more
The biggest news to come out of the bishops’ synod in Rome so far is the acknowledgement that when it comes to talking about issues of family and sexuality, language matters. Among the examples of “harsh” rhetoric that bishops discussed as doing more harm than good in terms of “inviting people to draw closer to Read more
As I was saying last time, before I was interrupted, Pope Francis is facing resistance to the fresh air and change of ethos he’s trying to bring about inside the Church. And those with eyes to see can detect this opposition especially among the current crop of seminarians and younger priests, as well as a Read more
More than half (106 bishops) of the almost two hundred individuals participating in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family hail from Asia, Latin America, Africa and Oceania. It would be very short-sighted of us to therefore focus our attention exclusively on hot issues affecting European societies and Churches which are facing the challenge of secularism, Read more
In the mid 1990s my husband and I lived together before we were married. In the interest of family peace we kept our living arrangement secret from my devoutly Catholic grandparents who would not have approved. I wonder what my grandparents, who died a few years ago, would have thought about Pope Francis’ decision last Read more
Driving into the city, I passed a billboard advertising a programme for ‘Returning Catholics’. I was instantly dismayed by the term and related monikers – inactive Catholics, lapsed Catholics, resting Catholics, non-practising Catholics – there are probably many more. The labels are judgmental. They point the accusing finger: ‘You have failed.” “You are remiss.” “You Read more
Once I believed that when you found faith, it rarely wavered. Then I learned that even saints had massive doubts about God. How reassuring. If even the holiest of the holy had second thoughts, why not me? Maybe we Catholics should talk more about doubt. It actually is an intrinsic part of the pilgrimage, a Read more
We appear to have reached one of those extraordinary moments in history when people everywhere, communities and even entire nations, feel increasingly stressed and vulnerable. The same may be said of the planet as a whole. Whether intellectually or intuitively, many are asking the same question: Where are we heading? How do we explain the Read more
The Extraordinary Synod for the Family that will be held in Rome next month has attracted more attention than any synod since their introduction following Vatican II. The media are focused on the possibility that changes may be made in such matters as birth control and reception of the Eucharist by Catholics who have divorced Read more
In bureaucracies everywhere, when someone’s interests are threatened by a cycle of reform, one time-honoured resistance strategy is to dig up dirt on the reformers. For maximum effectiveness, the dirt should be related to a brewing crisis in which people are tempted to shoot first and ask questions later. Whatever its supernatural claims may be, Read more