During this month’s synod on the family, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin will speak to Pope Francis about a possible papal visit to Ireland in 2018. Speculation is growing about a papal visit after it was announced that the next World Meeting of Families would be in Dublin in 2018. Archbishop Martin said Francis is Read more
Posts Tagged ‘families’
Sydney archbishop looks to Africa for orthodoxy
Tuesday, September 29th, 2015
Ahead of the synod on the family, Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has pointed to African bishops as a sign of hope in confused times. Archbishop Fisher’s comments came after an address by Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia on September 24. Archbishop Fisher, who attended the address said: Read more
Synod on families, marriage, relationships
Tuesday, August 11th, 2015
In preparation for the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2015, Pope Francis has encouraged bishops around the world to undertake wide consultation on the topic ‘The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World’. The New Zealand Conference of Bishops invited people to add their Read more
Jesuit theologian faults ‘intrinsically evil’ tag
Friday, July 31st, 2015
A Jesuit moral theologian has taken issue with the labeling of some human acts as “intrinsically evil”. In a presentation at the so-called “shadow council” at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University in May, Fr Alain Thomasset, SJ, described such labelling is one of the main problems in the pastoral care of families. Understanding some acts as intrinsically evil, Read more
Pope says families who choose to be childless are selfish
Friday, February 13th, 2015
Pope Francis has said that families that choose not to have children are making a selfish choice. The Pope said this in his general audience at St Peter’s Square on February 11, during which he continued a series of reflections on the various roles in the family. A society that “views children above all as Read more
Pasifika mums hope their children join a church
Friday, October 24th, 2014
Many Pasifika mothers hope their children will belong to a church. However european mothers are far more likely to hope their children would grow up to respect cultural diversity. This is one of the findings survey of about 7000 expectant parents of children born in Auckland and Waikato in 2009-10. The $3 million-a-year Growing Up Read more
Mum said, “I don’t want to die”
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
When Mum called to tell me she had cancer I didn’t answer. I looked up from my eggs on toast, registered her name flashing on my phone, and decided that whatever Mum wanted could wait. It waited until after I’d showered, watched an episode of Orange is the New Black, painted my nails a lurid green, Read more
Pope: Marriage is ‘not just a pretty ceremony’
Friday, November 1st, 2013
The sacrament of marriage is “not just a pretty ceremony” — through it a couple receive from God the grace they will need to fulfill their mission in the world, Pope Francis has told a Pilgrimage for Families. The pilgrimage, organised for the Year of Faith, attracted more than 100,000 people to St Peter’s Square. Read more
There’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ family
Friday, October 18th, 2013
For his new book, author Andrew Solomon spoke with parents who have children completely unlike them — with autism, Down syndrome or dwarfism. SPIEGEL spoke with him about his findings and how they changed his parenting. SPIEGEL: Dr. Solomon, in your book you write about Jason Kingsley, who was a child star on “Sesame Street.” What’s Read more
The curse of small families
Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
We all know what’s coming. Everywhere in the developed world, populations are greying. The media are full of stories about the surge in the numbers of the elderly within the next 20 years, while governments have been pushing the age of retirement entitlements upward. Most of the spotlight has been on the new greybeards themselves—the Read more