Like many other organisations across New Zealand every Anglican parish and diocese faces acute financial challenges in this era of increasing compliance and insurance costs, wages and salaries to meet inflation and the general rise in the cost of living and operating. At least three dioceses outside of Christchurch face significant, multi-million-dollar challenges getting their Read more
Before he retires or dies, Pope Francis needs to reform the process for choosing his successor because the current rules could result in a conclave deadlocked between a conservative and a liberal candidate. The process of choosing a pope is not divinely inspired. It is a human creation that has changed over time and can Read more
A survey of attitudes among young people has been conducted in eight countries about religious beliefs, prayer and social issues. It found that while about 25 percent identified as being atheist or agnostic, believers and non-believers were very likely to both agree about the severity of environmental problems and the danger of political corruption in Read more
What form of Christianity is coming? What will the Church look like in the new era? To begin to find an answer to that question, please join me at a recent gathering of parish delegates from the two adjacent Welsh dioceses of Cardiff and Menevia. It was in a parish hall in Miskin, outside the Read more
Do you know that the Catholic Church is now “more fractured than at any time in her recent history”? And do you realize that it’s all the fault of just one man — Pope Francis? That claim was made this past week in the latest attack on the 87-year-old pope, a declaration written (anonymously, of Read more
On February 15, more than 1,000 mourners — predominantly LGBTQIA+ people of colour — gathered for the funeral of Argentine American activist Cecilia Gentili at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Gentili was a transgender woman of colour who advocated for the health and dignity of sex workers and LGBTQIA+ people. She was also Read more
Women in key roles at the Vatican and Catholic universities in its close orbit have been leading an effort to raise women’s standing and visibility in church governance, creating a growing network of experts, diplomats and scholars like them around the world. “Today we still have a lot to do to promote women. There are Read more
In the past 11 years, it has become clear that the United States is the capital of the organised opposition to Pope Francis. There is an institutional opposition that seeks to maintain the institutional status quo, a theological opposition that’s resisting “synodality”, the newest phase of the reception of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and Read more
As a rule, evangelists from Texas don’t go shopping for bourbon before a speech. But that’s what Marcel LeJeune and some friends did when the Catholic Missionary Disciples leader spoke at a Franciscan University conference last summer in Steubenville, Ohio. Things turned serious while chatting with a saleswoman when he asked how she was doing, Read more
Without the Eucharist, it seems obvious: There is no Catholic Church. It feeds us as a community of believers and transforms us into the body of Christ active in the world today. But according to Catholic theology, we cannot have the Eucharist without priests. Sadly, in many parts of the world there is a Eucharistic Read more