Throughout the Catholic Church, something is stirring about the way we are governed. For many of us in the Church and across society, we don’t much care about that subject; we long ago made peace with being parts of communities, organizations, nations and even families where we just get on with our lives and leave Read more
In our world Church today, there are two conversations at a national level about how a national Synod should occur. One is in Germany and another is in Australia. There seems little doubt that these conversations are only the first two of what will become dozens and dozens of conversations seeking to clarify what the Read more
An idea hatched in Wellington last year and tested during COVID lockdown received international recognition on Saturday when Flashes of Insight was featured in the influential “Letter from Rome”. A weekly ‘must-read’ for informed Catholics, the Letter shapes and unravels the burning issues of the day in the Vatican and the Church. The conversation on Read more
One reading of the Vatican’s same sex blessing statement is it has back-fired according to theologian Dr James Alison. “I’ve been rather encouraged, and particularly surprised how much more unworriedly critical a vast number of people, including cardinals and bishops have been”. He’s calling the Vatican’s same-sex blessing statement “a shot in the foot”. James Read more
There can be little doubt that the experience of being a Catholic in 2020 – the year of COVID-19 – has marked our experience and our habits profoundly and changed the way we shape and imagine our belonging to the Church. But there is an additional element to consider – the impact of these new Read more
The world now knows Cardinal George Pell was convicted in December of child sexual abuse. Lamentable as that is, the question on many Catholics’ minds is how did he reach such a position of eminence in the Catholic Church? La Croix International’s commentator Eric Hodgens has told the story of his rise in Australia and Read more
In a line for his vision for renewal and change, Pope Francis captured something that is true for the church across the world but most especially for the church in Australia. The pope described our time in the church and wider society as “not so much an era of change as a change of era.” Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, 86, sits down for lunch. Chatting and smiling, he lists the options for main course at a private dining room in Bishop Lei International House, a church-owned hotel founded originally as a school for the De La Salle brothers. It’s perched high in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, high but Read more
What is happening right now is no way unprecedented in recent Catholic history in China. Moral outrage and high emotion are a potent cocktail. Such is what is reverberating around the world right now about the Vatican’s moves to replace two bishops in China. The events have triggered reports and comments in the Catholic media Read more
Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s criticism of Pope Francis’ termination of his tenure as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) is simply astonishing. His complaint is that he had no warning and the termination was a summary dismissal. I don’t know where the cardinal has been in recent months. But it doesn’t Read more