By Hille Haker in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 3 October 2020 WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN CATHOLIC COLLEGE: WOMEN IN THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE MIND OF CHRISTBy John Wijngaards216 pages; Acadian House$16.95 In a small, very readable and well-argued book, John Wijngaards presents his decadeslong research on women's ministry. The reader of What They…
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How the pandemic deepened the poverty pit
By Simon Kuper in The Financial Times, 26 September 2020 Being poor is like trying to climb out of a pit while roped together with your family. At the bottom of the pit — below the international poverty line of $1.90 per person a day — the water is filthy, there’s very little food and…
The virus and the virtues
By Julian C Hughes in THE TABLET, 24 September 2020 It’s now six months since the lockdown began, and a second wave of the coronavirus may be upon us. We have learnt that in a crisis what makes the difference is not algorithms or protocols, but virtue and character One of the things we have…
Homily, 26th Sunday (A) 2020
In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in the number of advertisements that invite people who have had an accident at work to call legal firms to sue for damages. If company negligence is responsible for that accident, it is important that victims have the proper legal assistance to gain compensation for their…
Vatican reaffirms opposition to euthanasia
by Joshua J. McElwee in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 22 September 2020 VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is firmly reiterating its objection to the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, calling the intentional killing of sick patients an "intrinsically evil act" akin to murder and warning that legislators who approve such laws "become accomplices of a…
Homily, 25th Sunday (A) 2020
One of the many tragic consequences of this coronavirus pandemic is that so many people are losing their jobs and if still in work they are fearful they also may be made redundant. It’s a desperately worrying time for them and their families, and also for those who are struggling to keep their businesses going…
A Prime Minister is not above the law
From THE TABLET, 17 September 2020 When trouble is brewing at home, populist leaders sometimes find it useful to pick a fight with a foreign neighbour, to whip up patriotic feeling and distract attention from domestic difficulties. This is one possible account of Boris Johnson’s motives for issuing a threat to disregard international law, on…
Pope Francis to parents of L.G.B.T. children: ‘God loves your children as they are.’
By Gerard O'Connell in 'America, The Jesuit Review', 17 September 2020 Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40…
Homily, 24th Sunday (A) 2020
Last Sunday we heard of Our Lord’s strategies for resolving conflict between his followers. The emphasis throughout is to give the offending person every opportunity to admit wrongdoing and to repair the relationship with the injured party; and, as a last resort, if this did not happen, to remove that person from the community. Today…
Report abuse learned in confession or go to jail, says Australian state
From The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 8 September 2020 BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — A new law requires priests in the state of Queensland to break the seal of confession to report child sex abuse to police or face three years in jail. The law was passed by Queensland Parliament Sept. 8. It had support from both major…
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