Synodal feedback calls for reworking the current Roman Missal to provide better, more straightforward and accessible liturgical language. Sadly, this request reads as if this change were not already possible. It has been available to the New Zealand Church since September 3, 2017, when Pope Francis published Magnum Principium (The Great Principle). In Magnum Principium, Read more
As we slowly to move towards a synodal Church we should expect that there will be many stumbles, confusions, and false starts. The enthusiasm of some for the Synodal Way is one side of the way all human societies make deliberate change. Likewise, the fears of Cardinal Walter Kasper and some other bishops are exactly Read more
The synodal consultation gives insight into the issues shaping the lives of local Catholics. Although themes such as child abuse, clericalism, and priestly formation are emerging internationally, these issues do not drive local synodal processes with the same intensity or to the same degree. A synodal process is a local event as much as an Read more
One of the most dis-spiriting things in life is when we have no sense of ‘agency.’ The notion of ‘Agency’ is one that originated in sociology but it refers to something that most adults have felt at one time or another. Agency is the sense that I can do something about a problem, that I Read more
Sunday – 8 May – is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and we treat it as Vocations Sunday. Traditionally (i.e. for the last 50 years) we have presented it as a time to talk about the need for more young (and not so young) men to think of going into a seminary and preparing for Read more
The Bishops’ Conference of the Nordic Countries recently wrote an open letter to the German Bishops’ Conference to voice concerns over the Synodal Path now underway in Germany. They ‘“let rip” at the Germans. The Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland Church leaders’ letter is an excellent example of one group of bishops seeing the Read more
One of the major cultural shifts in Western society in the 20th century has been the decline – in many places, the disappearance – of the culture of deference. Many reasons have been advanced for this shift in how people relate in society, but all are agreed that it has occurred. What is a culture Read more
Every human institution – be it a family, a village, a company or a worldwide Church – must rely on certain virtues that are common to its members if it is to survive. This is the truism that is at the basis of every system of ethics – both those that have been written down Read more
Covid is bringing everything to the point of unstoppable change. The pandemic experience is reforming and reconfiguring our presumptions of contemporary life and liturgical practice and community. The constraints imposed through social lockdown have reframed our church life and will influence how we “do” church for years to come. For Catholics, the experience of Covid Read more
A Synodal Church is not just another idea, it is ‘the’ idea, Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham told CathNews. “If we fail to embrace this challenge we shall have little to offer and shall become an irrelevant religious sect with massive museums and a complex back story.” Pope Francis has said Read more