Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Vatican Ii

  • ENVIRONMENT

    How Laudato Si’ inspired a global movement for sufficiency

    • David Ness
    • 28 November 2024
    2 Comments

    As the climate crisis deepens, there's an urgent need for a global shift toward fairness, equity, and living well within our planet’s limits. Drawing from Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’,  sufficiency thinking offers a critical, overlooked pathway to global equity and sustainability.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    The quiet revolution in women's roles in the Church

    • Joanna Thyer
    • 07 November 2024
    3 Comments

    At the World Synod in Rome, four women joined to advocate for ordaining women as deacons. Though the topic remains off the table officially, the message highlights the Church’s internal conflict between traditional values and growing calls for inclusion and change.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

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

    • Bill Uren
    • 04 September 2024
    6 Comments

    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.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    In future Church governance, hierarchy meets partnership

    • John Warhurst
    • 03 September 2024
    8 Comments

    Lay-led organizations, once marginalised, are now ascendant in the Church, challenging traditional hierarchies and redefining what church might look like in future. Ministerial Public Juridic Persons (MPJPs) have a growing influence, and for some, hold the potential for a more inclusive, lay-led Church.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    When the Pope drops by

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 28 August 2024
    5 Comments

    As Pope Francis embarks on a demanding tour, skipping Australia to visit smaller marginalised Catholic communities in Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, he is demonstrating the priority of the Church in reaching out to those on the margins.   

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Gerry O'Collins: Seeking the good, true and beautiful

    • Julian Butler
    • 26 August 2024
    3 Comments

    Gerry had a wonderful way of making people feel welcome. He wanted to see people at their best and his company allowed others to be so. Gerry’s life was peopled by some of the most significant figures in the global Church, and in political and cultural society more broadly, but he wore those connections lightly. 

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Women deacons: Is it time?

    • Elizabeth Young
    • 15 August 2024
    12 Comments

      Copious research has demonstrated the historical existence of women deacons, including St Phoebe, the only person in scripture with the descriptor Deacon. So how far off is Australia from ordaining women deacons? 

    READ MORE
  • 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.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    What to make of the Viganò Schism?

    • Miles Pattenden
    • 23 July 2024
    6 Comments

    Schism is an entrenched idea within Church History. What should we make of Pope Francis’ very modern schism: a decision by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to declare Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò guilty of ‘public statements resulting in a denial of the elements necessary to maintain communion with the Catholic Church’ and to excommunicate him?

    READ MORE
  • 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.

    READ MORE
  • 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.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Women deacons: A closed book?

    • Bill Uren
    • 11 June 2024
    15 Comments

    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. 

    READ MORE
Join the conversation. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter  Subscribe