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Perspectives

1. The benefits of being both spiritual and religious  

   23-Nov-2012

   Many people today define themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’, but is it really that easy, or healthy, to separate spirituality and religion from one another? James Martin SJ thinks not, and in an extract published in Thinking Faith, from his popular book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, he explains why religion should not be dismissed so readily.

   
   

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2. King of the Jews  

   23-Nov-2012

   

   John 18:33-37

   Pilate asked Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered: “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied: “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”

   
   

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3. On faith, doubt and certainty  

   23-Nov-2012

   In the life of faith, of what can we be certain? This perennial question came to the fore for me last Easter. Over some days of quiet and reflection I read two books which set me thinking, questioning and wondering about the role certainty and doubt play within a mature, adult faith and in one’s allegiance to the Church, wrties Patty Fawkners SGS in The Good Oil.

   
   

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4. Road of Hope - Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan  

   23-Nov-2012

   This Salt and Light TV documentary is on Vietnam's Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who spent 13 years in a Communist prison - nine in solitary confinement. Titled Road of Hope, this film offers an unprecedented glimpse into the life of a modern day martyr and saint.

   
   

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5. How to make your best Confession ever  

   23-Nov-2012

   Without true repentance for sin, there can be no spiritual progress. That is the first step in preparing to go to Confession. You go because you need to go, because you are a sinner, and because you wish to grow closer to God. One should put oneself into this frame of mind: you approach Confession as a humble petitioner, coming to Him who has all the graces and gifts that you so sorely need. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith urges Catholics to enter the confessional with newfound courage, in The Catholic Herald.

   
   

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6. Students to Cambodia, outback priest optimistic  

   23-Nov-2012

   Sydney students head to Cambodia to rebuild homes, the Syro-Malabar archbishop is to visit Brisbane, an outback priest (pictured) says the church will survive its current sadness and other faiths provide solidarity over the confessional seal.

   
   

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7. Stations vandalised, social media survey, Consistory variety  

   23-Nov-2012

   Stations of the cross are vandalised in Ireland, the Church re-affirms its esteem for Jews, UK bishops welcome the new Archbishop of Canterbury, an American survey on the social media usage patterns of Catholics and the Vatican Consistory to expand the variety of cardinals in the College.

   
   

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8. The war hero as monk – and diverting gossip   

   23-Nov-2012

   Captain Dom Alberic Stacpoole (second from left) won a Military Cross in the Korean War, and then joined Ampleforth Abbey, where he stood out among his brethren as a genial, deadpan purveyor of gossip.  A frequent attender at reunions on the battlefield of Monte Cassino, he was well known as a regular letter writer to the London Telegraph where his subjects ranged from the claims of Kieran of Clocmacnois to be the patron saint of Ireland and his own claim to have celebrated the first Catholic Mass at Knole Park since Archbishop Warham in 1522. Fittingly, this obituary first appeared in The Telegraph of London.

   
   

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9. Final thoughts of a devout atheist   

   23-Nov-2012

   The British writer and contrarian, Christopher Hitchens, died of pneumonia as a complication of oesophageal cancer just on 12 months ago. During the progress of his disease, he chronicled the illness in a column in Vanity Fair. Those essays, expressions of his looming appointment with and connection to death, reveal their tone from his opening paragraph where ‘Some kind of shadow was throwing itself across the negatives’. By the end of book, the author has already met his own end, leaving the afterword to his wife, Carol Blue. Reviewed for The Sydney Morning Herald by Thornton McCamish. More

   
   

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10. Education chief moves on after 'beachhead for mission'  

    23-Nov-2012

    "A beachhead for the Church's mission" is how Brisbane Catholic Education's leader David Hutton describes the crucial nature of the enterprise he has overseen these past 14 years. He is in a reflective mood as he prepares to step down from the role, reports The Catholic Leader.

    
    

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