Flashes
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The theology of chairs
There is a particular irony in celebrating free elections and participatory governance from behind a lectern while your audience sits in silent rows. The Vatican’s meeting with lay leaders exposed a contradiction at the heart of the Church’s synodal project.
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St Jerome’s crude language used to destroy a rival thinker
Vatican II worked to restore the centrality of baptism and the equal dignity of all the faithful — precisely the ground Jovinian occupied in the fourth century. If the Council’s teaching is orthodox today, the logic that condemned Jovinian deserves to be revisited formally.
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Open letter to Pope Leo
Mandatory celibacy, introduced nearly 1,000 years ago, has outlived its purpose. Bishop Bonny of Antwerp plans to ordain proven married men — viri probati — from 2028, reflecting what many laity and clergy quietly believe: declining vocations, abuse scandals, and overstretched priests have eroded whatever once justified the rule. The Spirit is speaking.
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Waiting through life’s transitions
Noah couldn’t rush the forty days or control the waters. He could only trust, and wait. When modern life traps us patience becomes our ark—the vessel that keeps us afloat through destructive forces. Waiting, remains essential to spiritual transformation.
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The cross that outlasted Hitler
Nazi secularisation replaced crucifixes in German public buildings with portraits of Adolf Hitler. After the war, the crosses returned. In 2018 Bavaria mandated them at all public building entrances — not as religious symbols, the premier insisted, but as markers of regional identity.
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Open church doors through respectful dialogue
Mission is not a one-way broadcast but an invitation to mutual learning. Parishes and ministries are called to open their doors, engage in respectful dialogue with their neighbours and discover how Christ’s message of mercy can be heard, experienced and lived together.
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The liturgical discipline of mystery
Water, oil, fire, bread and wine do not merely represent something else — within the liturgical action they do something. They engage the body, awaken memory and invite response. Over-explanation risks leaving the assembly understanding more while perceiving far less.
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Social teaching is binding doctrine
Catholic social teaching is a series of doctrinal claims that bind the Catholic faithful as much as doctrinal claims about eternal life because one is connected to the other. Our salvation is not unconnected to how we live.
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Leaders choose war; Christians must choose peace
Political self-righteousness fuels wars abroad and bigotry at home, yet faith traditions share foundational values of peace and respect. Staying silent while people suffer contradicts the gospel. Believers must act as bearers of peace, starting in their households and extending to care for the earth.
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Stars emerge at Würzburg’s Catholic Congress
Seventy-five thousand people gathered in Würzburg for Germany’s Catholic Congress, and from the opening thunderstorm Mass to the closing liturgy, moments of courage and candour cut through — a bishop calling for women in all ministries, a student challenging a cardinal, and a synodal partnership that modelled shared power.
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