Sin, Confession and Penance
As a sinner, I find myself confessing the same sins repeatedly. I have discovered that the priest gives a variety of penances for the same sin. This makes me wonder. Sin is an act...
Catechesis / Christian Living / Church / Confession / Shackleton / Sin in our Lives
by Michael Shackleton · Published November 19, 2019 · Last modified November 18, 2019
As a sinner, I find myself confessing the same sins repeatedly. I have discovered that the priest gives a variety of penances for the same sin. This makes me wonder. Sin is an act...
Editorials 2019 / Feast Days / Saints / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published November 3, 2019 · Last modified October 31, 2019
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...
by Michael Shackleton · Published October 27, 2019 · Last modified October 28, 2019
Guest Editorial by Michael Shackleton Saint Ambrose, the fourth-century bishop of Milan, coined the phrase “Ubi Petrus ibi Ecclesia” (Where Peter is, the Church is). He expressed it within the Church’s knowledge that...
Bible / Christian Living / Church / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published October 22, 2019 · Last modified October 21, 2019
Genesis 4:17 says that Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, had a wife. Where did she spring from, considering that up to that point there had been on earth only Cain, his slain...
Church / Feast Days / Shackleton / Sin in our Lives
by Michael Shackleton · Published September 24, 2019
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells me that the Precepts of the Church have an obligatory character (2041). I can understand that I am obligated to attend Sunday Mass because God commands me...
Church / Church Teaching / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published September 3, 2019 · Last modified September 4, 2019
The following two incidents indicate that the Catholic Church no longer regards homosexual acts as opposed to homosexual inclinations as sinful: the statement by Pope Francis when asked about this issue some time ago:...
Church / Saints / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published August 6, 2019 · Last modified August 2, 2019
As God is omniscient, I can understand that he would be able to “hear” prayers whether they are vocalised or not. However, does the same apply to Our Lady and the saints? Can they...
Church / Church Teaching / Shackleton / Theology
by Michael Shackleton · Published July 9, 2019 · Last modified July 12, 2019
In the Creed we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. I believe this, but I sometimes wonder if I am being silly in asking why we will need...
Church / Church History / Church Teaching / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 18, 2019 · Last modified June 17, 2019
What is the attitude of the Church with regard to Anglican Orders? Has this altered in view of ecumenical developments since Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical which in 1896 declared Anglican Orders to be null...
Church / Editorials 2019 / Holy Spirit / Pentecost / Shackleton
by Michael Shackleton · Published June 9, 2019 · Last modified June 3, 2019
Guest Editorial by Michael Shackleton – An archbishop from Australia has unwittingly provided us with something to think about on Pentecost Sunday. As president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of...
Guest editorial by Michael Shackleton – We are observing Communications Sunday again, a day that seems to penetrate little into the consciousness of Sunday Massgoers. Yet communicating is something we cannot do without. As...
by Michael Shackleton · Published May 26, 2019 · Last modified May 25, 2019
Guest editorial by Michael Shackleton – With South Africa’s 2019 general elections behind us, it would not be inappropriate to ponder again the Church’s expectations of the newly elected government. Our bishops have once...
More