Today Australia is awash with politicians who identify or are identified as Catholic. Anthony Albanese is a Catholic. Down the Eastern seaboard, the three state premiers, Dominic Perrottet (NSW), Daniel Andrews (Victoria) and Peter Malinauskas (SA) are Catholics. There are many other high-profile Catholics at ministerial level and as opposition leaders. Others, like Queensland Premier, Read more
The power of major internet companies like Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, and Twitter over public life is a particular threat to religious groups that focus on controversial issues like abortion, marriage, and sexuality, several commentators said at a roundtable last week. These groups should prepare for the possibility of censorship and organize effective countermeasures, they said. Read more
A Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist known for her compelling Christian characters has urged Christians to engage fearlessly and generously with a world “enthralled by contentiousness.” “There’s something very, very wrong when so many people who claim to be religious act as if they have to hide out, as if their understanding of things couldn’t support Read more
The genius of the American founders lay in their ability to design institutions that would call forth the best in a fallen humanity while containing the worst. The separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution, novel for its time, is a good example of this theo-political balancing act: No single person can be trusted to Read more
The first words of the prologue to the Catholic Church’s catechism express the purpose of faith: “Father … this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Cultivating that relationship with God is the purpose of faith and the mission of the Catholic Church. Read more
How should bishops conduct themselves in the public square? The question is especially urgent today when so many divisive issues, including contraception mandates and same-sex marriage, complicate the nation’s politics. Economic concerns still dominate the public’s interest, but it is these hot-button issues that get people’s blood pressure rising. The question is urgent for another Read more