Keywords: Laity

  • AUSTRALIA

    Tony Abbott's FUD factor

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 01 August 2011
    36 Comments

    In the 1980s computer journalists used to refer to the 'FUD factor' and its impact on computer purchases. FUD — Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Tony Abbott has become the master of the FUD factor in the debate over climate change and the carbon tax.

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  • RELIGION

    Catholic Ireland's watershed moment

    • Gerry O'Hanlon
    • 26 July 2011
    13 Comments

    The surprise in the Irish Prime Minister's frank and undiplomatic speech on sexual abuse is that his target was not the Irish culprits but the Vatican itself. He articulated the anger of the Irish people towards the Vatican, which is undoubtedly on a learning curve on these matters.

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  • RELIGION

    Democracy in the Church

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 July 2011
    30 Comments

    A petition circulating among Australian Catholics offers a sombre picture of the state of the Church. To some Catholics petitions seem inappropriate. But they have the value once attributed to canaries in the mineshaft: their witness is dismissed at the mine owners' peril.

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  • RELIGION

    Liturgy translation 'suprisingly good'

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 13 April 2011
    48 Comments

    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. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Priests, sex and the media

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 March 2011
    13 Comments

    Media coverage of the Church usually assumes priests form a homogeneous and disciplined body whose uniformity derives from fear of authority. Priests are more like franchisees than employees, independent and always ready to grumble. This does not amount to disaffection.

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  • RELIGION

    'Sheila' MacKillop boosts Catholic brand

    • Paul Collins
    • 19 November 2010
    9 Comments

    This week it was reported that the canonisation of Mary MacKillop boosted enquiries at Australia's Catholic Enquiry Centre by 63 per cent in the past year. The saturation media coverage of the event suggests the Church may not be as much 'on the nose' as is popularly thought.

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  • RELIGION

    Rethinking indigeneity in the age of globalisation

    • Frank Brennan
    • 01 November 2010
    3 Comments

    There is an emerging Aboriginal middle class. The contested questions in those communities relate to the expensive delivery of services including health, housing and education. The contested issue in the urban community is over self-identification as Aboriginal by persons of mixed descent.

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  • RELIGION

    Catholic Church needs total reform

    • Pat Power
    • 23 April 2010
    81 Comments

    The crisis facing the Church arising out of sexual abuse is arguably the most serious challenge it has faced since the Reformation. Issues such as authoritarianism, compulsory celibacy, the participation of women and the teaching on sexuality cannot be brushed aside.

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  • RELIGION

    Poverty and plenty: where do Christians stand?

    • Frank Brennan
    • 22 March 2010
    2 Comments

    Text from Fr Frank Brennan SJ's presentation Poverty and Plenty: Where Do or Should Christians Stand? at the Centre for an Ethical Society as part of the 2010 Series Forum at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 17 March 2010.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rosemary Goldie and the Santamaria Split

    • Bruce Duncan
    • 10 March 2010
    12 Comments

    In July 1953, the Vatican's agent Rosemary Goldie — who died on 27 February — met Santamaria but was unable to convince him of the need to keep Catholic Action out of direct political involvements. She was dismayed by the Movement's defiance of clear directives from the Holy See.

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  • RELIGION

    Liturgical payback

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 25 February 2010
    33 Comments

    It's unlikely people will flock back to mass simply because a new translation is in place. Far more likely is that, as with the change at Vatican II, there will be a disaffected minority who cease to practice because their experience of the sacred has been violated.

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  • RELIGION

    Stradbroke Island homily

    • Frank Brennan
    • 18 August 2009
    1 Comment

    Before the mission was established here, the local Aboriginal community of 200 persons was forced to host 1000 convicts from the mainland for eight years. I daresay not all the convicts were easy-going beachcombers.

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