When she was 13 years old in 1960, Marie Collins underwent treatment for a bone infection in a Dublin hospital. In the privacy of a ward cubicle, she was raped by the hospital chaplain, Father Paul McGennis. She did not report the priest until 1995, some 35 years later. When she went public, she says, Read more
Pope Francis is not only a good pontiff as pastor, he is also a good pontiff as church politician. In canonising two popes — Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II — who each represent the progressive and conservative wings, respectively, of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has shrewdly bridged the church’s theological schism. But in Read more
Floribeth Mora Diaz fought back tears on Thursday (April 24) as she claimed that the late Pope John Paul II had saved her from an inoperable brain aneurysm three years ago. Mora will be on hand at Sunday’s historic ceremony in St Peter’s Square as Pope Francis canonizes both John Paul and Pope John XXIII, Read more
In comparison to their male counterparts, female pastors have limited opportunities and face serious pay discrepancies. Never mind that half of people in mainline seminaries today are women – so if many churches are to survive in the future, it may be with a woman at the helm. But too many congregations are not willing Read more
March is a wet month in Rome. It was raining when Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013, and it was pouring raining again when I was back there last week in preparation for his first anniversary. But nothing seems to dampen media enthusiasm for Francis and his approach to what he calls his Read more
This week we celebrate the first anniversary (13 March) of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. But it is next month that we will witness an event that says more about what to make of him and what to expect in his Pontificate. In April, Pope Francis will beatify on the same day Read more
Women should be offered leadership roles in pontifical councils, a German cardinal says. In an interview with Italian newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Walter Kasper said women need to be present at every level of the Church and given positions of full responsibility. Cardinal Kasper, who addressed the world’s cardinals at a consistory last month, criticised “clerical Read more
Sister Candida Bellotti turned 107 years old on Thursday, and she is believed to be the oldest living nun in the world. Naturally, she has a thing or two to say about longevity and living well. Born in 1907 in Verona, Italy, Candida joined the Camillian nuns more than 80 years ago and has spent Read more
The 20th-century Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: “The only task worthy of our efforts is to construct the future.” My concern today is how to construct a new future for women around the world through the global outreach of the church. The 6th-century philosopher Boethius reminds us that every age that is dying Read more
The day Prime Minister Helen Clark was berated and humiliated at Waitangi for daring to speak on the marae should have been the day all iwi resolved to reassess the rules subordinating women on marae and in wharenui. It should have been considered urgent. Perhaps the indignity of that day was generally dismissed as mere Read more