Peter Maher, retired Sydney Catholic priest, has worked in ministry with LGBT Catholics for over 25 years. He has seen the pain and depression many have experienced at the poor pastoral care and explanation of Church teaching. He argues that the practices that produce such outcomes must stop and we must return to the gospel and Catholic social teaching for guidance.
Dr Murray Heasley, PhD (Otago University), is the spokesperson for the Network of Survivors in Faith-based Institutions and Their Supporters in New Zealand. The New Zealand Royal Commission into Historical Abuse of Children in State Care was announced in February 2018 and extended in November 2018 to include abuse within faith-based care institutions. Will this expansion be reason for celebration or will it be the most pyrrhic of victories?
Forrest Chambers, a parent of four children, is a long-time member of the Catholic Worker community in New Zealand and a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Palmerston North. He asks the gospel question from the offender’s side of child sexual abuse. Reprinted with permission: The Common Good, No 87, Advent 2018. This journal is available online free at www.catholicworker.org.nz. In the box at the end of this article is a comment on Denise Cullen’s recent article in the Courier Mail on another approach to rehabilitation.
Peter Day, Canberra priest, offered this homily at the funeral of Fr Tony Ruhan SJ on 3 January 2019. Tony who lived in Redfern for many years was a priest dedicated to the poor.
Frank O’Dea SSS has written an online book, Eucharist the Basic Spirituality, of which this is an abridged chapter. The book can be found at theeucharist.wordpress.com
