High Court Statement – Fr Kevin Reynolds
Read the full text of the statement that was read out in the High Court by Fr Kevin Reynolds’ barrister once the settlement had been agreed
High Court Statement (PDF, 3.6mb)
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Don’t let life get you down
Seamus Ahearne reflects on life and death, and threats of death, amid all the other day to day happenings in a busy life.
“The brush strokes of nature are also hints and whispers of life. They scatter the colours carelessly. They ask us to notice them and not to forget them. But maybe like nature and autumn, we need to throw around the unruly and incomplete brush strokes in our ministry. The unfinished days; the little celebrations; the Godliness of daily life; the laugher among us; the colours that we cannot take for granted. Possibly nature is talking to us. We too can be so serious (so immersed in the quicksand of problems). What are we doing to God’s world? Is that love song wasted on us?”Man made for the Sabbath
Peter Feuerherd writes in the NCR about the plight of married deacons who wish to remarry following the death of their spouse.
In such a case if the deacon marries he must be laicised and ‘As part of his laicization, … is prohibited from performing sacramental ministry pertinent to the ordained, as well as bringing Communion to the sick and reading at Mass, duties that can also be performed by laypeople. “Walk with me
Chris McDonnell writes, in the Catholic Times 13 April, on the significance of ‘breaking the bread’ together.
“It is important that we recognise that we not only receive the Risen Christ but share that experience with each other.”The making of bishops
Joshua J. McElwee reports in the National Catholic Reporter that the recent meeting of the Council of Cardinals discussed the role of Nuncios in the appointment of bishops. It seems the Council of Cardinals previously discussed the selection of bishops around the world in their meeting held last April.
Are they talking to anyone other than themselves about how bishops are chosen and appointed?Pope Francis and the Challenge of being Church today
Bishop Vincent Long of Parramatta, NSW, spoke recently about how we are now ‘living in a watershed and a privileged moment in the history of the Church.’ It is a time with demands and challenges for us.
He said that in church ‘It is not “business as usual”. There needs to be an attitudinal change at every level, a conversion of mind and heart that conforms us to the spirit of the Gospel, a new wine into new wineskins, not a superficial change or, worse, a retreat into restorationism.Gaudium et Spes, the guiding document of the Council, presented a new paradigm: the church is not an enclosure which protects its members against the sinful world. It is a fellow pilgrim with the men and women of our age. It is a church incarnate in the world. Therefore, it is time not of fearful retreat, disengagement and self-referential pomp, but of accompaniment and engagement.
The church will be less than what Christ intends it to be when issues of inclusion and equality are not fully addressed. That is why you heard me say that I am guided by the radical vision of Christ. I am committed to make the church in Parramatta the house for all peoples, a church where there is less an experience of exclusion but more an encounter of radical love, inclusiveness and solidarity.
We cannot be a strong moral force and an effective prophetic voice in society if we are simply defensive, inconsistent and divisive with regards to certain social issues. We cannot talk about the integrity of creation, the universal and inclusive love of God, while at the same time colluding with the forces of oppression in the ill-treatment of racial minorities, women and homosexual persons.”
It is a long but worthwhile read and can be downloaded in Pdf format
Petition provided to have Fr. Tony Flannery returned to priestly ministry
Over 1,900 people have now signed a petition to have Fr Tony Flannery returned to priestly ministry.