The Church in Public
One of the areas of tension between secularising societies and religion, especially Catholicism, is the secularist determination to drive religion out of the public discourse and into the margins of society, with the demand...
Category: Editorials
Commandments for the Road
This week the news will again report frightening statistics of road fatalities on South Africa’s highways as convoys of holiday-makers return home. South African drivers have a deserved reputation of being among the worst...
Jesus the Refugee
The feast of the Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of the divine nature of the human Jesus, the newborn King. But as we celebrate the visit of the magi, and with them pay homage to...
Our Prayers for 2020
Every year we issue our prayer intentions for the coming year. Usually, we include both local and global issues, but this past year has thrown up so many challenges for South Africa that...
Who Will Save us From the State We’re In?
Guest Editorial by Bishop Sylvester David OMI, auxiliary bishop of Cape Town In 1966 the famed duo Simon & Garfunkel recorded a song entitled “Silent Night/7 O’Clock News”. The hymn “Silent Night” is sung...
Debunking the Myth of ‘Pagan’ Christmas
At this time of the year, Catholics are liable to be lectured with the inaccurate notion that the celebration of Christmas on December 25 derives from an appropriation of pagan feasts. Some Catholics have...
Teaching About Sex
The two areas where the teachings of the Church are most at odds with mainstream secular society are those of sexual ethics and reproduction. While the Church is unyielding in its firm opposition to...
Peace Amid the Noise
For Catholics, the Advent season should create a tension in reconciling the secular and the holy elements of the weeks leading up to Christmas. More scrupulous Catholics may even be concerned about whether it...
The Diversity in Catholicism
Some of the protests against the recent Synod of Bishops on the Amazon seemed to insist that there can be only one valid expression of Catholicism: the Western European model. There were several points...
To Be Waterwise
In the face of climate change we will have to get used to increasingly frequent droughts in South Africa, a country in which many regions are already under pressure from water shortages. It...
The Tensions of Art
The blistering outrage over a school art project that was considered by some to be blasphemous holds lessons for all involved, including those who registered their anger on social media. To be sure,...
We Are Saints
Guest Editorial by Michael Shackleton Celebrating the memory of the great saints of the Church is an annual time to be happy, as it is on All Saints Day, which in South Africa is...
