This category has personal opinion pieces on a wide range of Catholic issues by different writers.
Following the announcement - on the last day of Parliament before summer - that Fracking at the Preston New Road site in Lancashire has been given the final go-ahead by the Government, I would like to outline a few points to Claire Perry our Energy and Clean Growth Minister. Fracking is one of the dirtiest methods of extracting fossil fuels. It's production of gas would not be compa...
A new report estimates that more Nigerian Christians are being killed by Islamist herdsmen than by the notorious jihadist militia, Boko Haram. In the first six months of 2018, the International Crisis Group says 1,300 have died in the middle belt region of the West African country.
Yet, despite the evidence, the UK Foreign Office resists recognising the central role of fundamentalist Isla...
Pope Francis has once again put the cat among the pigeons.
In a statement issued to time with the feast day of the moral theologian and legal thinker St Alphonsus Liguori, Pope Francis has approved a change to the Catechism that declares the death penalty "inadmissible."
His argument is based on three grounds:
- that our developing understanding of dignity means we can no long...
These past weeks, a number of things have happened in the United States that signal to me we are entering a critical soul-searching time as a nation. We experienced the administration's hardened position regarding those who are entering our country, even for those seeking asylum. For a time it included separating children from their parents and placing them in detention centres without any plan...
Many of those who believe in the right to life of all human beings, including the right to life of the unborn, are reeling from the results of the recent referendum In Ireland. Their dismay is not lessened by the cheers of the crowd in Dublin Castle, celebrating that the state will soon arrogate to itself the power to end the life of the unborn on demand, and how that is being trumpeted in a pu...
Not too long ago a Catholic diocese advertised for a Justice and Peace worker. The job description referred to responsibility for the rights and well-being of disabled persons and also looked for some catechetical competence. It indicates the wide misunderstanding of the scope of J & P.
In thinking about this failure, I realised that there is a divide between what might be called pastoral...
At the beginning of the celebration of the centenary of World War I, 888,246 ceramic poppies were placed around the Tower of London. That figure was the number of British soldiers that were killed in World War I.
Some commentators made the point that the industrial nature of this slaughter which took the lives of almost 10 million soldiers was due to a clash between the 19th century milit...
Writing on his Facebook page this evening, David Alton, Lord Alton of Liverpool writes:
I am not alone in believing that when British law can displace the rights of parents then British law must be changed. I said exactly that at the time of the death of Charlie Gard and repeat it again now as little Alfie Evans battles for life.
The earlier case of Ashya King graphically ...
Ross Ahlfeld of Glasgow Catholic Worker reflects on his hopes for the new Pax Christi Scotland initiative.
I was delighted to learn recently, that the good folks at Justice and Peace Scotland have decided to nurture and develop the implementation of a Pax Christi group for Scotland. We Catholic Workers in Scotland, very much welcome this initiative. We also look forward to benefi...
The British Parliament is considering a move that may put justice within reach of persecuted minorities such as Christians in the Middle East. Lord Alton has introduced a bill that would require the British government to ask the High Court to decide whether or not genocide and mass atrocities are taking place.
His private members' bill is significant because it recognises that politicians...
It has been beyond frustrating to watch the media, politicians and others trash Oxfam over the past week, in what feels like a feeding frenzy that now poses an existential threat to the organisation and possibly to the whole international aid effort. Oxfam does not deserve this, nor do the people at the centre of the storm, who have provided exemplary moral leadership for decades, bu...
Since Cardinal Burke's recent Pontifical High Mass here in Glasgow, I've been following Scotland's Traditional Catholic Mass scene with some interest. Mostly, I've been trying to establish if there has been any kind of 'Burke Bounce' as a result of last year's Mass at The Immaculate Heart of Mary in Balornock.
To be honest, I've not observed much change and neither have I noticed droves o...
Austen Ivereigh writes in Crux: Pope Francis's defense of his actions over the Chilean Bishop Juan Barros on the flight from Lima will not be enough to satisfy victims there and their supporters elsewhere, but it is wholly consistent with everything he has said and done so far.
But that raises another question: Whether his stance - appointing and keeping in place a bishop accuse...
Deacon William T Ditewig, PhD, from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, has written the following letter in his blog: Deacons Today: Servants in a Servant Church
Dear Pope Francis,
Since so many people are choosing to write to you, I thought I would too. Many of the letters you receive, at least those shared through the media, take you to task for one thing or another. I am ...
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