The mandated Sunday litany of shame was a communications, liturgical, and theological blunder that left people re-victimised. “I stood there in the Church and didn’t know what to do. I was listening to this lament in a very public place. I wanted to leave, but then I thought I would be seen to be a Read more
Fr Joe Grayland’s disquiet over the NZ bishops’ apology (Cathnews 18/11/24) is perplexing. In a letter that needed to be short, it is hard to know what language the bishops could have used to make their apology more comprehensive than it is. Certainly, the apology needed to acknowledge, above all, Church leaders’ own failures for Read more
Some ask about polarisations occurring within the Church, and they expect honest answers. Others give me their own frank and honest opinions. Their concerns deserve respectful dialogue. Yet others have partially removed themselves from in-house discussion by opting for a “spirituality” more or less independent of the Church. Confusions that come to us from the Read more
We can truly feel for women who find themselves in a terrible predicament for which abortion can seem to be the only way out. That situation is not what I am addressing in this short article. We can also sympathise with good and decent people who have become victims of a culture that is not Read more
A New Zealand liturgical theologian is sad the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference National Synodal Synthesis is calling for a new English translation of the Roman Missal. Dr Joe Grayland makes the comment in a comment and analysis piece in today’s CathNews. The National synodal synthesis calls for “liturgical language that is welcoming, inclusive, less misogynistic, Read more
In part II, Bishop Peter Cullinane clarifies some of the areas in Pope Francis’ Decree Traditionis Custodes, where there is potential for misunderstandings and superficiality. Liturgical misunderstandings and superficiality develops Part I: Like charity, Christian unity begins at home. Wasn’t the Traditional Latin Mass the “Mass of the ages”? Yes, which is why it adapts Read more
When Jesus’ first disciples were signing on, “Philip found Nathaniel and said ‘we have found the one Moses wrote about… Jesus from Nazareth’. Faced with Nathaniel’s scepticism, Philip simply said ‘come and see” (John 1:43-46). And that did it. If this same Jesus is now “Christ among you, …” (Col.1:27), then people’s experience of Christian Read more
We have come a long way since the liturgy of the word was that part of the Mass we could miss and still fulfill our Sunday obligation! It was the next part of the Mass that mattered because the presence of Christ in the Sacrament was so special. But nearly 60 years after the Second Read more
There are men and women whose attraction is to the same sex, who just get on with their lives, often with the support of others of the same disposition, and in many cases living chastely. This essay is not about them. Rather, it is about those who have an ideological agenda. Yet, in either case, Read more
Dear young people – it is especially you I am thinking of as I allow these thoughts to unravel. You will be the architects of the future. Amazing science and technology will open doors we haven’t even come to yet. Hopefully, you will always be guided by what it means to be authentically human, which Read more