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Keywords: Lay

  • RELIGION

    Passing generation of Vatican II clergy

    • John Warhurst
    • 01 August 2024
    14 Comments

    In a troubling sign for Catholic reform in Australia, the National Council of Priests faces a dire membership crisis. Founded in 1970 to embody Vatican II's spirit, the organization now struggles to attract younger clergy. This decline mirrors broader challenges in the Church and may imperil efforts toward synodality and renewal.

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  • RELIGION

    Vatican document focuses on process, not problems

    • Bill Uren
    • 30 July 2024
    7 Comments

    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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  • MEDIA

    Where the media vultures gather

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 25 July 2024
    1 Comment

    Recent media pressure led to two high profile resignations. Joe Biden, after resisting pressure to do so, has abandoned his re-election bid and English professional football manager Gareth Southgate resigned. The part played by the media merits reflection on the human vulnerability of persons in public life and of those involved in reporting on it. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    On reading electoral entrails

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 18 July 2024
    2 Comments

    In the wake of recent elections in Britain and France, global democracies are seeing voters reject established parties amidst a deepening cycle of disillusionment. But can a return to honesty and integrity in politics break this downward spiral? 

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  • RELIGION

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

    • Bill Uren
    • 11 July 2024
    5 Comments

    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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  • AUSTRALIA

    NAIDOC Week is about shared pride

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 July 2024
    1 Comment

    A failed referendum leaves many Indigenous Australians feeling unheard, but hope remains. This year's NAIDOC Week takes on even greater significance. This celebration, born from a desire for recognition, is a time to reflect on how to build a more just Australia.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    John Grisham and the Camino literary caper

    • Peter Craven
    • 05 July 2024

    For a long time now, John Grisham has been part of the air we breathe. He's one of those writers who’s all things to all people. His latest Camino books are books about books;  a form of meta crime writing and you have to admire the move on the chessboard they represent. Can John Grisham be self-reflexive?

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  • RELIGION

    Is another Catholic school shutdown on the horizon?

    • John Warhurst
    • 03 July 2024
    8 Comments

    In 1962, Goulburn was the centre of national attention when Catholic schools closed in protest over a lack of government funding and control. Students overwhelmed public schools. Could this happen again? An Australian archbishop suggests it as an option if religious freedom in Catholic schools is threatened.

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  • EDUCATION

    New schools funding model will likely entrench class divides

    • Chris Curtis
    • 27 June 2024
    5 Comments

    In the new schools funding model, schools at the upper and middle parts of the parental income spectrum will find budgets getting tighter each year, and fees will likely increase. The worst affected schools will be those whose parents earn higher incomes but which have kept their fees low so that poorer families may also enrol their children.

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  • EDUCATION

    Are international students really to blame for soaring rents?

    • Erica Cervini
    • 11 June 2024

    The Labor government’s plans for managing overseas student numbers seem to be heavily influenced by the belief that these students are at least partly responsible for hikes in rents, housing shortages, and pressure on infrastructure.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Justice and Hope

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 June 2024
    1 Comment

    Raimond Gaita insists that there is something precious in each human being. He does not rest this conviction on a particular religious or philosophical grounding. It flows, rather, from a rich reading of human possibilities and questioning of the meaning of life.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Autumn's parting prayer

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 06 June 2024
    1 Comment

    The chill of winter is now upon us. It is said that landscape is a defining factor in how a people have developed and how their behaviour is formed and modified. So too it is for the season. So thank you, autumn.

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