Columns

As Francis makes new waves, conservative feathers are ruffled

Jun 30, 2016

“I believe that the Church not only should apologise to the person who is gay whom it has offended, but has to apologise to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labour; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons.”
The struggle to love our neighbour

Jun 24, 2016

“The most damaging idolatry is not the golden calf but enmity against the other.”
Why Francis rejected a ‘666’ donation

Jun 24, 2016

The Bishop of Rome has rejected a donation of 16,666,000 pesos (RM4.9m) from the Argentinian government to the Scholas Occurentes educational foundation, which has a network of 430,000 schools in five continents.
Sensitivity and suffering

Jun 17, 2016

Daniel Berrigan, in one of his famous quips, once wrote: Before you get serious about Jesus, first consider carefully how good you are going to look on wood!
Long neglected Mary Magdalene finally gets due recognition

Jun 17, 2016

Something interesting happened the other day. Pope Francis has turned an annual commemoration in honour of Mary Magdalene, into a major feastday, in effect placing the celebrations on par with those of key male apostles.
Muhammad Ali’s greatest fights were outside the ring

Jun 13, 2016

The screen from the small black and white television flickered in front of a hall full of excited primary schoolchildren.
Ordinary goodness and our spiritual journey

Jun 13, 2016

The spirituality writer, Tom Stella, tells a story about three monks at prayer in their monastery chapel.
Faith and Fear

Jun 03, 2016

A common soldier dies without fear, yet Jesus died afraid. Iris Murdoch wrote this and that truth can be somewhat disconcerting.
Is global fascism rising and spreading?

Jun 03, 2016

A friend of mine sent me a New York Times article about how the rise of Donald Trump has fuelled debate about global fascism, which is characterised b
Universal healthcare a basic right underpinned by a sense of solidarity

May 26, 2016

The Bishop of Rome has stressed that healthcare is a basic human right. Healthcare, said Francis, is “not a consumer good, but rather a universal right, and therefore access to healthcare services cannot be a privilege”.