Planet Catholic

This morning, my latest little Catholic internet project went live as the first episode of The View from Down Here was released. The show features your truly and the brothers Malone having a chinwag about some of the big news stories from the United States that touch on Catholicism, politics or — better still — both. In the first episode, we talked about the controversy over President Obama’s contraceptive mandate as part of health care reform. We also had the … Continue reading →

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For tonight’s post, I want to offer a bit of Catholic humour. We can often take ourselves far too seriously, and a lot of non-Catholics argue that we can’t laugh at ourselves, but here are two examples of Catholic witticism for your amuseme…

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Back in 1996, a young guy by the name of Eldrick Woods announced that he was going to become a professional golfer. You probably know him better as Tiger Woods, the name that he officially took on a couple of years later, and when he made the announcement, the commercials introducing him to the world had the catchphrase “Hello, World”. It was a pretty loud “hello”, given that Nike was one of the brands that was behind the media event. … Continue reading →

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Every so often, a fun little Internet fad takes off. In recent weeks, it’s been a humorous series of images, most of which have six smaller images. According to multiple sources, this was the first example of the “What I Really Do” meme: There have been hundreds of people use the template to refer to their own industry or place in life. I’ve found some religious-themed one for you to enjoy this weekend. There were several atheist memes; the one … Continue reading →

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In an interesting new poll, Catholic voters appear to be moving away from President Barack Obama and comprehensively favour Mormon Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a head-to-head contest against the incumbent president. The Catholic News Agency gets into the nitty gritty: [Rasmussen Reports's] national telephone survey, conducted Feb. 6-12 amid controversy over the federal contraception mandate, found that 59 percent of likely Catholic voters at least “somewhat disapprove” of the Obama presidency. While 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama … Continue reading →

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Over the past four-and-a-half years, I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with some very talented and dedicated individuals in the establishment and expansion of a podcast network: The 15th Station. Started initially as one monthly podcast, there have been five different shows come and go over that time and there have been more than 58,000 downloads over that period. Over that time, Father Roderick Vonhogen — about whom I’ve written many times — has been a source of great … Continue reading →

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Hands up if you’re familiar with the abbreviation CINO… Since I didn’t see any hands go up, I’ll assume it’s a term that not used all that widely. It stands for Catholic In Name Only, which is a variation on the “Cafeteria Catholic” theme. Cafeteria Catholics are the people who just pick and choose the Catholic teachings that they can and can’t adhere to. They leave the rest, like I leave the brussels sprouts on the side of my plate. … Continue reading →

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The term “political correctness” is often a hard one to describe, but I think the definition I’ve settled on is that it’s most obviously seen as something that allows a minority – often a very small minority – to effect change at the expense of the majority. Now, there are times when majority rule shouldn’t dictate public policy. I’m not saying that. But sometimes there is an attitude that seeks to eliminate anything, no matter how longstanding a practice or … Continue reading →

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In a move that hasn’t entirely satisfied the Catholic Church but is certainly a major concession, President Barack Obama yesterday announced that he’s removing the requirement for Catholic institutions to provide contraception and sterilisation services to employees and students as part of insurance plans. The onus for provide that coverage now falls to the insurance companies themselves. As The Los Angeles Times reports: Catholic bishops say they remain opposed to President Obama‘s plan to require insurers to provide free birth control, even … Continue reading →

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“Fisking” is a term some people won’t be all that aware of. It’s a bloggers’ term that basically means to conduct a point-by-point rebuttal of what someone else has said or written. It’s named after British journalist and columnist Robert Fisk. Catholic bishops probably aren’t the first people one would think of as proponents of the method, and I suppose it was likely the staff of the US Conference of  Catholic Bishops that did this job, but they have fisked … Continue reading →

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Here is a list of the last four ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church, starting with the most recent: Vatican II: 1962-65 Vatican I: 1869-70 Trent: 1545-65 Fifth Lateran Council: 1512-17 Now, these councils didn’t convene continuously during those years, my friends. And thank goodness for that. But I’m more pointing to the length of time between the councils. Trent was necessary as a response to the Reformation, which started almost at the Fifth Lateran Council was concluding. It was … Continue reading →

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I was chatting with the members of the Station 15 podcast crew tonight, and we got onto the topic of bishops in the US. We were talking in particular about the recent Department of Health and Human Services decision that no change will be made to the health care law that requires employers and institutions that provide health insurance to employees and students to pay for contraception and for sterilisation services, even if they — as in the case of … Continue reading →

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In recent weeks I’ve written a fair bit about the Republican presidential primary contests — and I will continue to do so in the weeks ahead. On the other side of the political aisle, Catholics’ perceptions of President Barack Obama seem to be changing. Back in 2008, when Obama took on John McCain, he won the Catholic vote quite handily — at a higher percentage than the general population, in fact. That despite some very outspoken comments from prominent Catholics … Continue reading →

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Having worked in the media for more than a dozen years and in Catholic media for the past seven, I watch media coverage of the Church closely. I am one of many who are of the firm belief that most mainstream media outlets are inherently suspicious about religion as a result of the people who inhabit the senior roles in most newsrooms. It is a widely known fact that journalists are among the more progressive groups in society, so it’s … Continue reading →

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I don’t often post about abortion — not because I don’t feel very strongly about it, but because I know there are lot of people who have a strong focus on that topic. A friend of mine posted this photo on Facebook today, though, and I…

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Now, I didn’t live through the Second Vatican Council, so I can’t speak with any authority about what the hopes and dreams were for Catholics in the mid 1960s. I have read more of the Vatican II documents that most people under 50, I suspect, so I don’t bring no knowledge to this discussion. It is obvious that many Catholics truly believed that the Council was going to radically change a lot of things in the Church. There were a … Continue reading →

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Last year, the Catholic bishops in New Zealand, after a couple of decades of resistance (barring the diocese of Christchurch), had to relent on their long-standing experiment of using the “new” Our Father. You New Zealanders know the one: sins, not trespasses; you, not thy; save us from the time of trial etc. Around the middle of last year, in conjunction with the introduction of the new translation of the Roman Missal, the Our Father that most English-speaking Catholics have … Continue reading →

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Back in 2006 or 2007, when I was working at NZ Catholic, we were lucky enough to break a story on the fact that Masses in Mt Eden Prison, one of the country’s highest security corrections facilities, had come to an end. “Lucky” is probably a strange word, but I use it because the fact we found out about was a tad lucky and when we were able to report that fact, it led to a change in legislation. To … Continue reading →

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No, New Zealand political junkies, I’m not talking about Brian Neeson, the former MP and councillor. I’m talking about Liam Neeson — y’know, the guy who provided to voice of Aslan in C.S. Lewis Narnia films. Neeson, being an Irishman, is not surprisingly a Catholic. His religious views have raised eyebrows in the past, though, including when he was interviewed about his lending his voice to the character of Aslan. He said the Aslan didn’t simply represent Christ, but all … Continue reading →

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A couple of months back, I made my first visit to what most Catholics would call a “happy-clappy” church. In fact, it was the most famous church of its type in Australia. One of the things that struck me — and I still plan to write a more in-depth post on the appeal of Hillsong and similar congregations — was how well they did what would probably be described as fellowship. They were very good at welcoming people and even … Continue reading →

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