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Modern societies rightly put much weight on transparency. Its absence is taken to discredit the institutions in which it is lacking. After the forced resignation of Bishop Morris it will be even harder for Catholics to win a hearing on issues that affect the public order.
Bishop Bill Morris' announcement that he had tendered his early retirement under Roman pressure will arouse debate in and outside the Catholic Church. In these first days of controversy, it may be helpful first to reflect on the impact that the action has on the people most affected by it.
John Paul II was as much a Polish Catholic as Mary MacKillop was Australian. His moral force eroded the legitimacy of the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. The controversy about his beatification is not about his virtue or historical significance, but about his legacy to the Church.
My exposure to the Bible gave me a store of rich language and evocative imagery, a sense of history, and illustrations of moral principles. Does it matter that I know something of the story of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, come Easter, and my children only think of holiday? Well, yes.
Good intentions are not sufficient to give life meaning. Easter's significance comes not from Jesus' choice to die, but in God's gift of raising him from the dead. In the Anzac story, it may be comforting to say young soldiers died that others may live, but the comfort is too easy.
Fr Ian Dillon portrayed teaching as a power struggle, with students and teachers pitted against one another. He enjoyed criticising those in power at any level of state and church. His stories would end with a laugh, and his exclamation of delight, 'They really haven't got a bloody clue!'
Liturgy has always aroused strong passions. In the 19th century, some London churches served by Anglican priests who wore lace were stoned. So it is not surprising that the introduction of a new translation of the Catholic Mass should be turbulent.
‘I don’t like middle class people very much,’ said Joe Bageant in an interview for the documentary Deer Hunting with Jesus. Bageant championed the cause of the ‘white redneck’, a social group he saw as being one of the most marginalised and disenfranchised in America.
In a recent speech titled 'The Fall of the Christian West', American Cardinal Raymond Burke was concerned with Catholic identity. Questions about identity fix our attention on the group to which we belong, when Christian groups should instead begin by looking outwards.
Two political leaders in Pakistan were murdered for speaking out against blasphemy laws that had been used to oppress religious minorities. Disturbingly, many Muslim intellectuals stayed silent regarding this injustice. Why were they so defensive?
I received a letter from a former student. Ten years ago, he had suddenly vanished without warning or further communication. Now he was about to reveal the reasons for his disappearance. It was the sort of story I had heard often before.
When Christianity and science come together, the meeting place is often like a battlefield. That is a pity because the central Christian belief – that in Jesus Christ God’s reason entered the world – demands that science be given an independent and honoured place.