In the run-up to the forthcoming canonisation of Charles de Foucauld on May 15th I was asked to write an article on his influence on missionary thinking, spirituality and practice for the Dutch language periodical Tijdschrift voor Geestelijk Leven. What follows is a two part translation into English. F.E. Personal experience. Like most missionaries of my…
In the run-up to the forthcoming canonisation of Charles de Foucauld on May 15th I was asked to write an article on his influence on missionary thinking, spirituality and practice for the Dutch language periodical Tijdschrift voor Geestelijk Leven. What follows is a two part translation into English. F.E. Charles de Foucauld – Monk-Missionary In…
Synodality is a way of doing church that emphasizes things like listening, shared leadership responsibilities between ordained and lay faithful, and reading and responding to the signs of the times. One of the Jesuits helping the church think about how synodality is lived out is Fr. James Hanvey, SJ. Fr. Hanvey is a theologian and…
Barring a few exceptions, by and large, the quality of leadership went down and has now become bland and uninspiring. The criteria for the selection of bishops have changed considerably. During the period immediately after Vatican II, bishops were selected based on their ability to carry out the decisions and teachings of the council. Their…
Each year on 25 April, the Church celebrates the feast of St Mark. Who is this Mark? He is usually identified with a young man we meet in the Acts of the Apostles. This Mark was a member of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, whose mother offered refuge to Peter when he escaped from…
How To Experience Resurrection Now? In order to come to new life, one must first grow through a grieving process, a process of acceptance and processing of the loss, of the illusion, the actual death experience. Certain affective ties that one had with whom or what one has lost (a person, an ideal concerning one…
Try to imagine yourself as an educated member of the Roman Empire reading Luke’s account of the birth, life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, and at the end asking Luke: ‘If all that you write is true about the character and the behaviour and teaching of this good man who claimed to be a…
It is tempting to think of Jesus’s parables as timeless, unvaryingly true for every age; it’s a temptation I find myself resisting in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A process of what one might call ‘postmodern contextual reframing’ has been going on in my mind, with the result that it is still a powerful…
Hans Burgman MHM who died yesterday was a creative visionary. In an interview with the Dutch Missionary Agency ‘Mensen Met een Missie’ he reflected on what he saw as missed opportunities in the history of the Church. He likes to come straight to the point. Thus he begins about all the missed opportunities in the…
At a time when the Catholic Church is being invited to greater humility by the Plenary Council and greater synodality by Pope Francis it may be prudent to acknowledge both the richness and limitations of human knowing, especially when it comes to matters concerning ultimate reality. A progressive understanding of the nature of knowledge will…
María Luisa Aspe, a Mexican historian, says that when it comes to women, the Catholic hierarchy is “trying,” but doesn’t always understand their importance in the Church and in society. Two years ago, she was one of 13 women of Latin America invited by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, to discuss the role women…
The first point to observe when speaking of Christian Unity is that God is always working for unity; it follows, therefore, that if we are working against unity we are opposing God’s purposes, no matter how admirable our aims may seem to be. Secondly, however, diversity is difficult; there has never been a time when…
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