Church / Editorials 2018 / Holiness and Sanctification
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 24, 2018 · Last modified June 23, 2018
The grapevine in any big organisation, including the Church, is a rumour-mongering engine that tickles the ears of one and all. Because it does not contain formal or decisive statements from the top, it thrives on a handful of unverifiable “facts”.
Editorials 2018 / Shackleton / Youth
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 17, 2018 · Last modified June 16, 2018
By Michael Shackleton – Senior readers will remember the opening words of the old Latin Mass: “Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam”, meaning “I shall go to the altar of...
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 12, 2018 · Last modified June 14, 2018
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify (1084).
Editorials 2018 / Education 2018 / Schools
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 10, 2018 · Last modified June 8, 2018
By Michael Shackleton – Our special supplement on Catholic Education provided a reasonably comprehensive assessment of the state of education in South Africa, with special attention to our own schools. The positives and the...
Pope Gregory decreed Catholic priests and nuns should be celibate because he wanted to reduce the temptation of bending the law to favour blood relatives. Is this an accurate statement?
Church / Church Teaching / Heaven / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published May 9, 2018 · Last modified May 6, 2018
We are taught that heaven is a place where worthy souls remain in eternity in indescribable contentment in the presence of Almighty God, where no evil exists. If so, why was there a group of angels, led by the devil, who chose to rebel against God?
Church / Mass / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published April 10, 2018 · Last modified April 13, 2018
Why is it not considered simony when priests and religious organisations collect money for Masses and novenas to be offered for an intention, but it would be considered simony if I were to collect money for praying for people?
We Catholics can so easily forget that we are a more tightly knit community than we think. The Church asks us to be particularly mindful of this when a loved one dies.
Church / Eucharist / Sacraments / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published February 17, 2018 · Last modified February 13, 2018
Jesus taught that divorcees who marry a second time commit adultery (Mk 10:11). The Church has followed this teaching. Divorcees may not receive Communion. Yet Pope Francis, in his exhortation Amoris Laetitia, is accused by some of now letting them receive Communion.
Ash Wednesday / Jesus / Lent / Repentance
by Michael Shackleton · Published February 14, 2018 · Last modified February 9, 2018
Lent, the season of repentance is the time to reflect seriously on the words used when the ashes stain our foreheads, namely, that we come from the dust of the earth and will go back there
by Michael Shackleton · Published January 20, 2018 · Last modified January 15, 2018
Especially during the summer months, people come to church looking like they are going to the beach and women are baring their shoulders. Isn’t there some kind of official dress code for Mass in the Church?
Mass / Sacraments / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published December 28, 2017 · Last modified December 18, 2017
Before the consecration, the priest says: He took bread in his hands, thus imitating Jesus’ gesture, but at the word “broke” he does not break the bread.
