March is a wet month in Rome. It was raining when Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013, and it was pouring raining again when I was back there last week in preparation for his first anniversary. But nothing seems to dampen media enthusiasm for Francis and his approach to what he calls his Read more
“THAT is totally untenable!” my friend yelled over the party music. “You can’t be a feminist and a Christian.” \ She was a staunch atheist, and spent the evening telling me, as many have done before, that Christianity is unavoidably and embarrassingly patriarchal. She urged me to throw off the shackles of my misogynistic faith. Read more
This week we celebrate the first anniversary (13 March) of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. But it is next month that we will witness an event that says more about what to make of him and what to expect in his Pontificate. In April, Pope Francis will beatify on the same day Read more
So I say to my competitive, jealous, and accumulative self, “Remember, but for the life-giving and loving gaze of God, you are but dust and to dust you shall return. “In reality there is no profit, no extra, no surplus, because all is God’s, and but for God’s generosity, there is nothing.” On Monday my Read more
Some people may think that I would be treated badly because I have Down syndrome. My experience has not been this way. God tells everyone to treat people equally, and I think that most people act in this way. I don’t feel as if people make fun of me or make me feel bad just because Read more
My heart grieved after reading the story of the young American woman who was stabbed to death by her Indian husband of five months, who subsequently killed himself. It grieves for all the young girls who are forced to remain subdued because of the threat of rape or sexual violence – abuse explained by some Read more
There have been calls from some quarters to reform Confession, and a recent Tablet article listed many reasons why Catholics said they had stopped going. Even a cardinal, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, has called for “proper reform to the sacrament” – an idea Pope Francis has signalled he does not want to look at. Recently I came Read more
When it was announced in 2001 that Melbourne Archbishop George Pell was to be made Archbishop of Sydney, the incumbent, Cardinal Edward Clancy, said Pell was ‘a controversial figure, and controversial figures generally create a few enemies as well as friends along the way’. Pell’s latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome Read more
As I was glancing at my Washington Post on Friday morning, I was dumbfounded by this headline: “Gay patient says Catholic chaplain refused him last rites.” The story focuses on Ronald Plishka, who was admitted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center after a heart attack and asked for a priest when — after 24 hours — Read more
“Do you mind if I feed Jonathan?” my sister-in-law asked me as she threw an oversized blanket over her shoulder – but the question she was posing to me wasn’t really “if,” it was “where.” My sister-in-law was gauging whether or not I was comfortable with her breastfeeding my 3-month-old nephew around me in her Read more