Call me John, not ‘father’

John Drew, bishop of the Archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand was made a cardinal in 2015. This reflection on clericalism was written in his newsletter on April 4, 2019. 

Eric Hodgens

The fascinating Christian story

Eric Hodgens discusses how history has affected our Christian story and the need to reclaim its essence and original imagination and the role of good scholarship in doing so.

Some Canon Law is no longer fit for purpose

John Scanlon explores the restrictions Canon Law could place on a synodal Plenary Council in 2020 in Australia. Is it time to change Canon Law to match the dominant Vatican II image of church as the People of God, so this might be reflected in the Council and thus ensure a more effective outcome?

A spirituality of life as gift

This article by Rev Dr Gregory Moses is a follow on to his article published in the Autumn 2019 edition of The Swag. There he attempted to make sense of the kind of society and culture we seem to be in right now. In the last section of that article he mentioned some possibilities in the way of where we might go from here. This is the first of two articles, the second of which will be in the Autumn 2020 edition. This article looks at Process Theology. The next will follow up on this looking at what Eugene Stockton called the Aboriginal Gift, for our sake as church and for our sake as human beings living in this country.

How the Eucharist evolved

Frank O’Dea SSS looks at how the Eucharist developed and what it might mean for Eucharist today. This is the second article following on from the article in The Swag, Spring 2019. This article is based on a chapter from a book by Frank called Eucharist: the Basic Spirituality which can be found online.