Whenever there is a matter of dispute in the modern-day Church, there is a tendency to ask what would be the opinion of those members of the Early Church? Those of you already familiar with the writing and teaching of Tom O’Loughlin, Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham, will welcome his Read more
There is an old joke about the civil servant who was put in charge of implementing the government’s new policy on “freedom of information”. When asked by a journalist how the new freedom of information policy was playing out, he replied: “I’m afraid I cannot comment: that matter is classified!” It may be an apocryphal 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
As Lent comes towards its climax in the celebration of Easter, we might revisit the energy of Ash Wednesday and renew our renewal for this final week. This process of making changes in our lives, having a new outlook, repenting, converting, turning over a new leaf — all render the command, metanoeite — that we Read more
Anyone attending a Catholic liturgy for the first time is struck by the number of gestures, images, and items of clothing that one just never sees anywhere else. Some of the leaders might be resplendent in silks with gold embroidery – straight out of a painting by Benozzo Gozzoli who lived between 1421-1497. In some Read more
When we gather for worship, we always find ourselves in a strange place. On the one hand, the God we worship transcends the whole creation. Usually expressed using a shorthand that was a brilliant joke in the mid-second century – creatio ex nihilo – this is a phrase that for us is often less than 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
Pope Francis has warned on many occasions over the past seven years of the danger of the Church being like a museum, full of lovely stuff that’s without any real currency. He phrases it in various ways, but the message is the same. “Keep us from becoming a ‘museum Church,’ beautiful but mute, with much Read more
The great Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan once described those nostalgic for the pre-1970 liturgy as a group “that is determined to live in a world that no longer exists”. The phrase came back to me recently when I read of another Jesuit, Pope Francis, who spoke about finding “new languages for handing on Read more
In everyday life, our experience tells us – unconsciously – when it is appropriate to use the verb ‘to give’ and when it is appropriate to use ‘to share.’ So we might ask someone to ‘please give me that book lying there’ or ‘I gave him the money’ or ‘she should give that form to Read more