Religion
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In whose hands?
The newness brought about by Vatican Council II was very real. In last Sunday’s article I referred to Pope Paul VI’s address to the Roman Curia on the subject. The fortress model of the Church gave security. The windows opened on the world by the...
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Quotes and news
The Vatican’s semi-official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has stated editorially that the Coptic papyrus fragment which seems to indicate that Jesus was married is “a fake”. The papyrus fragment was introduced by Karen King of Harvard University...
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Going global
Today’s readings: Numbers 11, 25-29; James 5, 1-6; Mk 9, 38-43.45.47-48. Celsus was a second century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. For him, the error of the Christians concerns not only what they think, but how they live.
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Hope for the Church
On October 11 the people of God will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s opening. Fifty years is a long time. Those old enough to have witnessed the event are getting fewer. Many younger people, including a number of...
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Quotes and news
Speaking to leaders of the Christian Democrat International Pope Benedict said: “The commitment to respecting life in all its phases from conception to natural end – and the consequent rejection of abortion, euthanasia and any form of eugenics – is,...
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Dying to self
Today’s readings: Wisdom 2, 12.17-20; James 3, 16-4, 3; Mark 9, 30-37. Humanity is going through a very delicate point in time where our true self is concerned. Religion and morality were a most important, if not unique, source of the self in the...
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A prophet’s last words
Our faith community has lost a prophet: Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini was a gift to the Church, a prophet and shepherd who led God’s people through God’s Word, in itself a prophetic choice. It is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the...
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Quotes and news
The Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate said opinion studies showed that the vote of Catholics for the forthcoming US presidential election is almost evenly split between the candidates. While President Barack Obama enjoys 47 per cent of...
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Time to be still
Today’s readings: Isaiah 50, 5-9; James 2, 14-18; Mark 8, 27-35. The answer to the God-question in life is often influenced by many other answers we give to many other questions, not least among them the question about our own identity. The way you...
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Thank God for Church schools
Holidays are almost over. Time to go back to school and a good time to reflect about Church schools. There are 63 Church schools, run by 16 religious orders or entities, involving more than 2,000 full-time teaching and non-teaching staff, as well...
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Quotes and news
The following are extracts from the statement issued after a recent meeting in Cyprus the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe: “The interpretation of subsidiarity given by European politics, seeing it as a simple work supported by the...
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The power of connecting
Today’s readings: Isaiah 35, 4-7; James 2, 1-5; Mark 7, 31-37. Connecting with God appears to be a major challenge in our culture. Strictly speaking, connecting with God is not something we can achieve. The God we believe in is a God who himself...
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Reaching the unredeemables
Some weeks ago I attending a very interesting meeting on how to improve interpersonal communication within consecrated life. Although I did not agree with every idea mentioned I am thankful to God that I attended this intriguing lecture. The...
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Quotes and news
Paolo Gabriele, the man behind Vatileaks changed his version of events during an interview on the Italian TV station La7. While originally he was saying that he had acted alone, now he is saying that he had at least 20 collaborators helping him. The...
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Let my people grow
Today’s readings: Deut. 4, 1-2.6-8; James 1, 17-18.21-22.27; Mk 7, 1-8.14-15.21-23. Religion is about the deepest dimensions of being human. Yet there is always the tendency to render religion as having to do with trivialities in daily living. Very...
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Social change and the Kingdom of God
Just over a week ago, Malta bid farewell to Dom Mintoff. It is not my intention here to evaluate his contribution to the evolution of Malta’s political and social history. This has been done well by others, though opinions did not always...
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Quotes and news
The European Court of Human Rights has decided that the rights of parents are violated by the Italian law on IVF which does not allow them to screen embryos for disease before implantation. The 2004 Italian law, considered to be one of the strictest...
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The true faith
Today’s readings: Joshua 24, 1-2.15-18; Ephesians 5, 21-32; John 6, 60-69. The first reading from Joshua and the gospel today make us look backward and forward and ask very pertinent questions about the adequacy of the faith professed to the times...
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Safeguarding life
The proposed Bill regulating infertility treatment has prodded public opinion to focus on a matter that has been left unregulated for too long. The bishops’ pastoral letter that soon followed let off the predictable overheated reaction from the...
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Quotes and news
L’Osservatore Romano is editorially supporting, even praising, Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh after he decided to break off talks with the government over the introduction of same-sex marriage in Scotland. The Vatican newpaper described...
