Columns

  • Two-tier system in general hospitals would undermine community solidarity

    Jan 06, 2017

    The proposal to extend the controversial “full-paying patients” scheme to more general hospitals has raised concern.

  • Our churches as sanctuaries

    Dec 22, 2016

    Whenever we have been at our best, as Christians, we have opened our churches as sanctuaries to the poor and the endangered.

  • Time for a carpet of stars this Christmas

    Dec 21, 2016

    The familiar Nativity scene from the Gospels shows wise men in search of a newborn child who offers hope for a fallen world and a new kingdom of justi

  • The martyrdom of inadequate self-expression

    Dec 19, 2016

    Art too has its martyrs and, perhaps, our greatest pain is that of inadequate selfexpression.

  • Greed, corruption and ‘the tragedy of the commons’

    Dec 19, 2016

    One of the less understood concepts of our time is that of “the Commons”: Wikipedia defines the commons as “the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth.

  • The end of the world

    Dec 09, 2016

    People are forever predicting the end of the world. In Christian circles, this is generally connected with speculation around the promise Jesus made at his ascension, namely, that he would be coming back, and soon, to bring history to its culmination and establish God’s eternal kingdom.

  • Being consistent about human rights

    Dec 09, 2016

    It was not so long ago that boat people or refugees were carted away to immigrant detention centres, facing an uncertain future.

  • The dangers in being a warrior prophet

    Dec 02, 2016

    A prophet makes a vow of love, not of alienation. Daniel Berrigan wrote those words and they need to be highlighted today when a lot of very sincere, committed, religious people self-define as cultural warriors, as prophets at war with secular culture.

  • Overcoming fear; lighting a candle in the dark

    Dec 02, 2016

    In these troubling times, it is important to remember the words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid.”

  • Why dark nights of the soul?

    Nov 25, 2016

    Atheism is a parasite that feeds on bad religion. That’s why, in the end, atheistic critics are our friends. They hold our feet to the fire.