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Author: Bill Uren

  • RELIGION

    Astute stewards: Implementing the Synod

    • Bill Uren
    • 20 November 2024

    Will the recommendations of the Synod on Synodality inspire lasting change or risk losing momentum? With bishops balancing tradition and reform, the coming year will determine whether this moment becomes one of true transformation.

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  • RELIGION

    Francis’ Church may be more transparent and accountable, but don’t call it democratic

    • Bill Uren
    • 04 September 2024

    The Synod on Synodality begins its second session in October. And while the synodal process may involve consultation, Pope Francis is keen to remind those hoping for reform that teaching authority remains with the Pope and bishops. As the Pope has insisted on a number of occasions, the Church is not a democracy, and the synod is not a parliament.

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  • RELIGION

    Vatican document focuses on process, not problems

    • Bill Uren
    • 30 July 2024

    The Vatican's new Instrumentum Laboris outlines the path forward for the Synod on Synodality, but with a heavy emphasis on process over substance. While it acknowledges the need for greater women's involvement, it firmly reinforces the authority of the Pope and bishops, raising questions about the true potential for change.

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  • RELIGION

    The Bishop of Rome and universal jurisdiction: An ecumenical obstacle?

    • Bill Uren
    • 11 July 2024

    The recent Vatican instruction terminating the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral is a prime example of Vatican officialdom overriding local episcopal authority. Let us hope that in a more decentralized Church some traditional obstacles to ecumenism may be removed without respective ecclesiastical loss of face on the part of the contributing Churches.

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  • RELIGION

    Women deacons: A closed book?

    • Bill Uren
    • 11 June 2024

    In a 60 Minutes interview, Pope Francis was asked whether there would ever be the prospect within the Catholic Church of a woman being ordained as a deacon. The Pope’s reply was a blunt ‘No’. This negative response came as a surprise to many Vatican watchers. 

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  • RELIGION

    Where does Infinite Dignity meet finite reality?

    • Bill Uren
    • 24 April 2024

    The recent Vatican declaration 'Dignitas Infinita' aims to provide a response to pressing bioethical and social issues, from abortion and euthanasia to gender theory and the rights of migrants. But does it effectively bridge the gap between doctrine and the lived experiences of the marginalised?  

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  • RELIGION

    Why did the Vatican take a new stance on blessing 'irregular' relationships?

    • Bill Uren
    • 07 March 2024
    4 Comments

    In December, the Vatican issued ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ (‘Supplicating Trust’), licensing priests to bless partners in same-sex and other ‘irregular’ relationships (divorced and remarried couples, couples ‘living in sin’, etc ) when they are approached in good faith.  

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  • RELIGION

    Ministering to euthanasia patients

    • Bill Uren
    • 30 January 2024
    8 Comments

    As Australia adopts voluntary assisted dying nationwide, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference addresses ethical challenges for end-of-life care in this new legal landscape. What is to be done when a terminally ill Catholic patient requests access to the sacraments when their intention is to embark on assisted suicide?

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  • RELIGION

    Unearthing hidden gems of reform following the synod

    • Bill Uren
    • 12 December 2023
    2 Comments

    The Synod on Synodality raised possible Church reforms like expanding communion to non-Catholics in interchurch marriages and reevaluating the stance on divorced and remarried members. This raises the question: Can the Church reconcile longstanding traditions with emerging calls for inclusivity and ecumenical openness?

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  • RELIGION

    The doubts of the five cardinals

    • Bill Uren
    • 16 November 2023
    7 Comments

    Just two days before the opening of the recently concluded Synod on Synodality, five senior Cardinals — German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, United States Cardinal Raymond Burke, Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen and Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval Ìñiguez — brought to public notice the five ‘Dubia’ (Doubts).

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Wifedom and the casual patriarchy

    • Bill Uren
    • 26 September 2023
    16 Comments

    Why has Orwell's wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, been strikingly omitted from his many biographies? As Anna Funder's Wifedom delves into this oversight, we're prompted to question: have we truly moved beyond the casual patriarchy?

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  • RELIGION

    Catholicism's transgender debate

    • Bill Uren
    • 15 September 2023
    3 Comments

    As society grapples with evolving concepts of gender, and as the Catholic Church has maintained a stance in conflict with modern gender theory, recent statements by American bishops spotlight the chasm between doctrine and contemporary gender theories. Can these differences be resolved?

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