New Zealanders rightly refuse to be awed by wealth. But just as we condemn the excesses of capitalism, so we should give credit to those who selflessly put their money to good use. They are opposite sides of the same coin. In any case, philanthropy is not the preserve of the very rich. On the Read more
In a few weeks, at the end of this month, Pope Francis will follow in the footsteps of his immediate two papal predecessors, by making a religious/diplomatic pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Pope John Paul II did so in March 2000, and Pope Benedict visited in 2009. Read more
Whac-A-Nun season opened with a bang in Rome as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) again excoriated the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Rapped knuckles belonged to LCWR, to Fordham theologian Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, and to any other American woman walking around with letters after her name. Even Seattle Archbishop J. Read more
There’s something quite peculiar and absurd about being a Nigerian. It’s a country of—so to speak—unspecified data and dimensions. Nigeria is not simply plagued by inexactitude; it cultivates numerical and other forms of fuzziness. The other day, Ikhide Ikheloa, one of Nigeria’s most pugnacious gadflies, was waxing indignant on Facebook and Twitter. His grouse? Nigeria has Read more
Pope Francis is not only a good pontiff as pastor, he is also a good pontiff as church politician. In canonising two popes — Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II — who each represent the progressive and conservative wings, respectively, of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has shrewdly bridged the church’s theological schism. But in Read more
The remarkable thing about Francis is not that he’s fundamentally changing the theology of the Church, nor that he’s carving out a space for the pope as a heavyweight in the economics public sphere. It’s that he’s consistently able to match the themes that animate his spirituality and faith with issues that people around the Read more
Human rights must apply to everybody – even to those who have abused others’ rights. This is the uncomfortable underpinning of the Police Minister’s proposed register for the close monitoring of sex offenders in the community. Anne Tolley has, however, struck the right balance in, first, piloting the monitoring system with about 300 convicted child Read more
It is a poignant coincidence that Popes John XXIII and John Paul II will be canonized as Catholic saints on the eve of Yom Hashoah, the international day of Holocaust remembrance observed in Israel and by Jews around the world. These two popes’ personal narratives are inseparable from the Holocaust, and their reactions to the Read more
[Sunday]’s canonisation of Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II drew 800,000 people to Rome. I spoke with a small fraction of the massive crowd that filled the streets near the Vatican, but every one of them agreed: Two popes, two saints, two more reasons to be happy. Much of the commentariat – and Read more
‘Holiness, a message that convinces without the need for words, is the living reflection of the face of Christ’. Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium). These words have always appealed to me, challenged me and inspired me to try to be a ‘living reflection of the face of Christ’. Read more