Pope Francis has denounced liturgy that is detached from true spiritual worship as empty and almost magical. The Pope also called for a renewed commitment by the Church to the Second Vatican Council’s vision of the liturgy. He said this in a message to a symposium devoted to the 50th anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium – Read more
The former Franciscan Friar, Leonardo Boff, the leading representative of the Liberation Theology movement – or what remains of it – is simply the latest in the list of individuals who have asked for a Third Vatican Council to be held. He made this request in an article published in Brazilian daily, Jornal do Brasil, Read more
As my recently deceased spiritual guide, Peter Steele, would never tire of saying: ‘There are only two conditions in the spiritual life — you’re either growing or you’re dying.’ What makes for spiritual growth? In my childhood and adolescence, it was all about going to Sunday Mass, confessing your sins once a month at least, going Read more
The Vatican II council, which began 50 years ago next month, was the most momentous religious event in 450 years. On January 25, 1959, the newly elected Pope John XXIII invited 18 cardinals from the Vatican bureaucracy to attend a service at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He told them Read more
Pope Benedict has called for lay people to be seen as truly co-responsible for “the being and acting” of the Church, not just as collaborators with the clergy. “Co-responsibility,” he said, “requires a change in mentality, particularly with regard to the role of the laity in the Church.” “It is important, therefore,” he added, “that Read more
In 1962, I moved from the Brigidine Convent at Indooroopilly in Brisbane to St Joseph’s College, Nudgee Junior, under the care of the Christian Brothers. I was an impressionable eight-year-old and was in grade 3. I well recall one of the brothers taking the class up to the top floor of the school. We gathered Read more