Richness does not lie in the structures, but in its members, with special mention to the most needy and vulnerable. It is my hope that my reflections will evoke in you a similar sense of thanksgiving and belonging without, of course, denying our flaws and lack of perfection.
Nowhere is the truth that we live in a consumer society clearer than in the Eucharist. In several Christian denominations, frequent reception of the consecrated host is far more common now than 50 years ago. At Mass, often only the priest received it, while the laity remained in their places in prayerful contemplation. This now seems strange.
Woe to chastity that is not practiced out of love, but woe to love that excludes chastity. These are the words of Benoit Standaert, a Benedictine monk, and I believe they can be profitably read in our culture today where, to the detriment of everyone, the sexually active and vowed celibates alike, sexuality and chastity are generally seen as opposed to each other, as enemies.
University historian, Eamon Duffy – formerly professor of church history in Cambridge, and a Catholic, has published “Essays in Medieval Christianity”. Its 21 chapters supply a vivid panorama of themes in Western Christianity between the fall of the Roman Empire and the advent of Martin Luther.
Sometimes all you can do is to put your mouth to the dust and wait. That’s a counsel from the Book of Lamentations and while perhaps not the best response to the recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church, it seems the only helpful response available to me as Roman Catholic priest today.
Pope Francis has dismissed claims from a former Vatican ambassador that he was made aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Francis urged members of the media to make a judgment about an explosive document released by Archbishop Carlo Vigano but that he will not respond to what it alleges.
The colour survives in the work of 17th Century Spanish colonial painters, a symbol of the wealth that ultimately doomed the Mayans, writes Devon Van Houten Maldonado. Across the Atlantic Ocean, colonial Baroque works created by artists like José Juárez, Baltasar de Echave Ibia and Cristóbal de Villalpando in early 17th Century Mexico – New Spain – were full of this beautiful blue.
The family is a key issue today for the Church, society and for politics, according to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who is accompanying Pope Francis to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.
Catholic schools in both the state and private sectors recorded another exceptional set of A level results yesterday, with many citing students achieving top grades and securing places at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. In a separate development, there was a significant drop of 22.8 per cent in the number of young people taking Religious Studies at A level in England and Wales.
The documentary mostly consists of knitting together existing Vatican footage of the Pope with shots of him talking directly to camera, as if he is looking the cinemagoer in the eye. It’s a simple but fetching technique. But for those who know little about Francis’ background – his migrant Italian family or his time as a sometimes controversial leader of the Jesuits in Argentina – or about the Catholic Church, there is little effort to fill in the gaps.