The Importance of Understanding Spirituality
Robert van Mourik
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience;
we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Spirituality is an awareness that there is no difference between matter and spirit. Some define spirituality as man’s search for meaning and others as recognising this awareness. Mystics have long recognised spiritual growth (e.g. The Interior Castle, St Teresa of Avila) while modern authors have written about stages of faith (Stages of Faith, Fowler) and stages of spiritual growth (Integral Spirituality, Wilber).
Robert van Mourik is a co-convenor of St Lucia Spirituality, a community that supports seekers in their spiritual growth.
To learn more, see stluciaspirituality.com
Passing generation of Vatican II clergy
John Warhurst
Yet another religious order or congregation leaves our diocese. A much-loved Vatican II-inspired archbishop dies. Our parish priest tells us that relieving priests are more difficult to find. These are all striking moments in church life. Yet the biggest shock has been to learn of the seemingly inevitable decline of the National Council of Priests (NCP).
In any likely version of a future Church the clergy will play a central role. They will do this either as the traditional church’s clerical workforce in a largely unchanged hierarchical church or as equal partners with lay Catholics and religious in a newly reformed and co-responsible synodal church.
Pope Francis certainly recognises this fact and often gives the impression, when he condemns clericalism, that he frets about whether the modern church’s male priesthood is fit for the task and committed to his synodal agenda. As part of the consultation for the second assembly of the Synod of Bishops he called 300 parish priests from around the world to Rome to learn more about their views.
John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University.
Life After Death
Garry Everett
The Christian view of life after death owes everything to the Christian view of God, writes Garry Everett. Our experiences of love are foretastes of God’s greater love for us.
In that wonderful stage production and movie, The Lion King, the opening song is entitled, The Circle of Life. Like the verses of our favourite psalm, we should ponder the words of this song also.
The lyrics by Tim Rice touch into the eco-spirituality theme of the inter-connectedness of all things. The music by Sir Elton John conveys the feeling that every ending is a beginning of something new.
Church without Clergy
Dr Harald Prinz
There are situations in which history overtakes itself and developments unfold a dynamic that was hardly conceivable a short time ago. This is shown by the current discussion on the role of the priest in the Catholic Church, which has broken out on a large stage.
It is less than two years ago that I put forward a cautious conditional thesis on this topic in this magazine: “If the Church is not in a position to adapt the image of the priest to today’s requirements and convictions and thus to provide the faithful with sufficiently good priests, an alternative path could be to train a Church that no longer needs clergy, but only more pastors (women & men) who understand people’s lives”.
LGBTQ+ Issues and Catholic Doctrine
Dr. John A. Dick
July 10, 2024
After my Values Clarification post on July 3rd, a number of people have asked me for a clarification about Catholic teaching about LGBTQ issues past and present. By way of response, here is my brief summary…
The Bator Week: The impact and the Legacy
Michael Gill
He arrived on Wednesday, flew out the following Tuesday. An amazing gift to us in so many ways.
For most of us, an “unknown”. Who would turn out to listen and contribute?
Fr Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ aka Bator. Nigerian convert, coming from a community where the various brands of Christian abused him and his Animist family and neighbours.
He grew up in a family of his father, 7 wives and 27 siblings ( I hope I recall the numbers correctly).
We Are Historical: We Grow in Knowledge and Understanding
Evolution is a fact not a theory. Evolution of life on earth has been going on for 3.5 billion years. Anthropologists have discovered that the first humans (Homo Sapiens) most likely developed in the Horn of Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. Cave paintings and rock paintings began to emerge on multiple continents some 30,000 years ago. The physical universe, our planet, and all living organisms are still evolving.
Baptism
John A. Dick
The Synoptic Gospels (Mark 1:9–11; Matthew 3:13–17; Luke 3:21–23) mention the ritual immersion practiced by John the Baptizer in which Jesus himself participated. Matthew 29:18–20 also portrays the risen Lord, in a post-Resurrection narrative, commanding his disciples to baptize using a Trinitarian formula. The words came not from the historic Jesus, biblical scholars suggest, but from early church practice around the year 80 CE.
Ordination
John A. Dick
Our understanding of priests, bishops, and deacons has changed dramatically in the church’s long history.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples of Jesus (c. 4 BCE – 30 or 33 CE) understood their role as one of ministry and service to others. Sent out to spread the Good News of the Way of Jesus, they were called “apostles” from the Greek word apóstolos, meaning “one who is sent out.”
In the earliest Christian communities, men and women were apostles. There was a variety of ministries; but ordained priesthood was not one of them. Contrary to what one occasionally hears, the historical Jesus did not ordain anyone at the Last Supper. In the medieval period, many thought he did. But ordination did not exist in his lifetime.
*********
Evolving Catholicism and the Synod
ACCCR Webinar 22 February 2024
Francis Sullivan AO
In the moments available to me this evening I would like to give a reflection on where I sit with the Synod on Synodality.
I do so because many fine Catholic friends either have no interest in the Synod, have not even heard about it, or have little hope that it will amount to anything.
I think we all appreciate that the interest and confidence in the Church is at an all-time low. The fact that a meeting in Rome, still heavily controlled by the Vatican, can somehow enliven the flagging fortunes of the Church is a bridge too far for the majority of my Catholic friends and the Catholic circles in which I move.
Yet, I have hope. Even more than hope, I see some tentative green shoots of change.
Kevin Liston
Catholicism is at a crossroads. Most baptised Catholics have given up on the church organisation. They find the spirituality and theology on offer to be inadequate. Rules, practices and exclusions do not make sense. The credibility of bishops and clergy is at an all-time low. Many of my family, friends and colleagues wonder what I find in it and why I continue to be involved. I am not alone in this.
Catholicism is evolving. At this time in the West or Global North, it is in decline, rapidly diminishing in credibility, influence and relevance. Yesterday, I heard Austen Ivereigh, the Pope’s biographer, describe the Synod as the most important event in the Catholic church since Vatican II. I have questions about that. I want to ask if this is so.
**************
Observations from Near and Afar
Tommy Hayden and Leo Traynor
Although these ‘Observations’ refer directly to experiences in Ireland and three African countries, but they are also relevant to the church in Australia. ACCCR
We are responding to a request to share our thoughts on our contrasting experiences of the church in Africa and Ireland – and by extension in the West. We came here as missionary priests in the 70s and 80s and have now worked in three countries in West and Central Africa.
ACCCR Response to Pope Francis' On Promoting Theology
Catholic theology is at a turning point. On 1 November 2023, Pope Francis endorsed a major evolution. It is, as it always has been, a search for understanding but it is no longer restricted to Scripture and Tradition as sources. Francis is clear; the experience of human living is an essential source of theological reflection. The traditional description, “faith seeking understanding” has been declared inadequate and has been superseded.
The human experience of the faithful, the concrete situations in which we live, and the knowledge we gain through our relationships with one another are genuine sources of mature theology.
No official English translation has been issued to date (18/5/24). The button below leads to an an unofficial translation by Daniel Madigan S.J.
*********