Roger Dawson SJ

In recent weeks, questions over the legitimacy of possible military intervention in Syria have given rise to a lot of discussion about Just War Theory. What does Just War Theory actually say? Roger Dawson SJ sets out the criteria. Read more.

Massimo Faggioli

Case in point: catching my attention at the recent AAR annual convention in Atlanta were the translations from French into English of the private journals of two of the most important Catholic theologians in the 20th century, whose work was decisive in the theological developments of Vatican II: Yves Congar and M.D. Chenu. Read more.

Missionary spirit is manifested by preaching love, humanity and faith through one's witness and not through proselytism, Pope Francis said. Read more.

Michael Kelly SJ

The worldwide crisis of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is nothing of the sort. That tragedy was and is a crisis of episcopal mismanagement. In country after country, bishops have demonstrated their incapacity to handle the scale of clerical sex abuse and the necessary measures required to address it. Read more

On November 15 Pope Francis visited the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rome. He answered questions from the people. Read more

Charles de Foucauld left very little at his death in 1916, almost a century ago, despite his ardent desire to be a founder. Read more

Robert Mickens

“Over the next several years... in every community, in every parish and institution, in every diocese and ecclesiastical circumscription and in every region try to begin – in a synodal way – a deeper reflection on Evangelii Gaudium, in order to draw practical criteria from it and implement its provisions,” Francis said Tuesday in Florence, the magnificent Tuscan city where bishops, consecrated religious and lay leaders gathered for the huge conference. Read more.

Michael Kelly SJ

I live in Asia and never cease to marvel that little if any informed attention is given to the religious foundations of much that disturbs Asian societies and is now convulsing Europe. The cultural poverty of the West about religious matters really comes home to roost when events like this occur. Read more

Watch this brief but beautiful video of the Holy Father speak to the bishops in Florence. Watch the video.

The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions was promulgated fifty years ago, on 28 October 1965. Michael Barnes SJ explains why the process of Nostra Aetate’s development is as important as the text itself. ‘Perhaps more than any other document, and despite its obvious weaknesses, it encapsulates the extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit that characterised the Council’. Read more.

One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. Read more

Catalyst Dinner presentation by Frank Brennan SJ

This is the text of Frank's presentation at the Catalyst Dinner held at Hunters Hill;, October 23 2015.

"As the XIV Ordinary General Assembly is underway, it is a joy for me to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops and to praise and honor the Lord for the Synod of Bishops. From the Second Vatican Council up to the current Synod on the Family, we have gradually learned of the necessity and beauty of “walking together." Read more.

Catholic Studies Lecture by Donald Goergen OP

Published Febraury 2015. Fr Goergen is a preacher, lecturer, teacher and author.He has written and taught primarily in the areas of Christology and spirituality in the United States as well as in Africa and Asia. His most recent writing is Fire of Love: Encountering the Holy Spirit. Watch the video This lecture is one of a series sponsored by Aquinas College, Michigan, under the title of Catholic Studies series - click here for more information on this series of lectures.

Catholic writer, Heather King spoke about her journey as a woman of faith and as a writer at a monthly Prayer and Pasta gathering at Family Theater Productions. Watch the video.

The Catholic church has to respect decisions divorced and remarried people make about their spiritual lives after they examine what their conscience is telling them to do, Chicago's Archbishop Blase Cupich said during a press briefing. Read more

Notes by Archbishop Mark Coleridge

Many of you may already have been catching up with this via the web or facebook but Archbishop Mark is fairly well committing himself to posting a story a day while the Synod on the Family is in session in Rome. For those who haven’t I will post a full series here, another catch-up again in a week and a final the week after. Read more. For updates click here.

Two high-profile cardinals taking part in the Synod of Bishops on the family offered different views on Monday about some elements of the process, with one scoffing at charges of manipulation and stacking the deck, and another saying there are real uncertainties and doubts. Read more.

At the first session of the keenly anticipated Synod of Bishops on the family, Pope Francis called on the roughly 300 prelates gathered in Rome not to wheel and deal on issues like a legislature, but to be guided by divine inspiration in their deliberations and discussions. Read more