Today’s is the third of four Gospel readings we are having for as many weeks from Chapter 6 of the Gospel according to St John. Today’s text is part of a dialogue Jesus had with fellow Jews about his identity and his claim to have a unique relationship with God, greater than any other person’s…
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A gross betrayal of trust: the Benedictine schools scandal
15 August 2018 | by Catherine Pepinster in THE TABLET In October 1975 a small item entitled “Bishops’ Move” appeared in the Britain section of The Economist magazine, tipping off readers that the relatively unknown Basil Hume, Abbot of Ampleforth, could well be the next Archbishop of Westminster. The magazine had an inside track: its…
Pennsylvania report: Vatican expresses ‘shame and sorrow’
17 August 2018 | by Catholic News Service Greg Burke, Vatican spokesman, is seen with Pope Francis aboard the flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Rome Dec. 2, 2017 CNS photo/Paul Haring The church must learn hard lessons from its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers and those who permitted abuse to occur'…
Homily, 17th Sunday (B) 2018
(For the first time in nearly seven months, I celebrated the Sunday Masses at Holy Name on 29 July. As my health improves, I hope to resume doing so by the end of August. ~ MJC) I don’t know whether it is true or not but the story is told that when Peter, now Lord,…
Patients can be starved to death in their ‘best interests’
from Rose Gamble in THE TABLET, 31 July 2018: A Supreme Court ruling this week that legal permission will no longer be needed to withdraw treatment from patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) will increase the likelihood that patients in this condition will be starved or dehydrated to death in their supposed “best interests”,…
Losing religion can be seriously good for your wealth
From THE TIMES, 19 July 2018: It is a debate that has raged between scholars for more than a century: does a country become less religious after it grows richer or does secularism help capitalism to flourish? Now a study has provided an answer: rejecting God can significantly boost a nation’s wealth. Academics at the…
A Catholic trifecta of disgrace: Next step in abuse saga is due
By Mary E Hunt in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 20 July 2018: The Academy Award-winning movie "Spotlight" offered a summary of the first part of what I predict will be a Catholic trifecta of disgrace. "Spotlight" showed priests abusing minors and clerical higher-ups covering for them, making for a grim, ongoing tale of betrayal…
Book review: Roman burial art reveals forgotten women of Christianity
CRISPINA AND HER SISTERS: WOMEN AND AUTHORITY IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY By Christine Schenk, CSJ 480 pages; Fortress Press; 2017 Review by Laurie Brink in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 11 July 2018 Is there such a thing as reverent glee? If so, then that's how I would have described St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk as…
Why the Church Should Change Her Mind on Priesthood, Sex and Gender
This is the text of the lecture by Terry Wright, Emeritus Professor of Literature at Newcastle University, given at Holy Name, Jesmond on Wednesday 4 July. Change is not a word that trips easily off the Catholic tongue. There’s a type of ultra-traditional Catholic, often active on social media, who argues that the Church has…
Pope Francis: the Church is ‘us who walk’
From THE TABLET, 6 June 2018: 'The Church is us who walk, us who are here in the square. It's everyone' Pope Francis has said the church should be understood not as a hierarchy but as “us who walk”. Continuing his series of reflections dedicated to the Sacrament of Confirmation, Francis told pilgrims gathered…
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