David Timbs writes from Melbourne

2011 articles by David Timbs

June 30, 2011 - comment at this article:
Maybe Greg Craven's dream could be realised if concerned, articulate and cashed up Australian Catholic Laity started up a publication similar to The Tablet - independent of any kind of hierarchical links or control. At the moment, I think many 'intellectual' Catholics are employees of the Church or vulnerable in some way to pressures which might limit their ability or desire to speak their truth openly.

May 4, 2011 - comment at this article:
I think it should be noted that the largely lay Catholic 'Taliban' in the State of Queensland and in other States as well are relentless in their pursuit of Church leaders both Bishops and priests on matters of what they perceive to be of fundamental doctrinal and liturgical importance.

They are not strong on distinctions between core and ancilliary matters and tend to follow blindly the authoritarian spin and misinformation which comes out of the Roman Curia who have generated over the many years of the JPII era and even fostered by the then Card Ratzinger. It is self authenticating, self reinforcing and masquerades under the camouflage of 'creeping infallibility.'

The lay Apostles probably believe that they hold the local franchises.
They do not so much represent much in the way of organization but they are certainly 'en meme pensant.'

In the case of Bishop Morris of Toowoomba and also of emiritus Archbishop Faulkner of Adelaide the focus of their displeasure and rage was the 'unwillingess' of these two bishops to ban the 3rd Rite of Reconciliation - a sacramental policy that worked effectively and well but it was at variance with the penitential piety of JPII. How that has come to rule the seasons! Many older clergy who had nailed much of their ministerial identity to the mast of private auricular confession joined the hunt to have the 'aberrations' dealt with by Rome.

More immediately relevant and in reference to the women ordination issue, in his 2006 pastoral letter, +Bill Morris made it perfectly clear that he would not have any problems ordaining women or men, married or not, IF the Church changed its policy. This little 'conditional' has been picked up by quite a few commenters in NCR's other coverage of the issue. Apparently, the 'Super Apostles' are more than a little challenged when it come to plain English but they turn it into a strength when using distortion to target their man.

The best service we can do as Catholics right now is to expose these gutless ones, name their hubris and disempower them. They are wreckers of the Church and they are being used by those atop Vatican Hill who want to protect their power and privilege and who think that the Mystery of Christ finds definitive expression in the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

April 28, 2011: The white martyrdom of John Paul II

March 11, 2011: Rolling back Vatican II

Aug 23, 2012: Spirituality that appeals to Gen Y (CathBlog)
While Gen Y has little or no time for the institutional Church, its youth do relate very positively to the no-nonsense, down to earth and challenging figure of Jesus. Serendipity and dogma are lost on them but not the real Jesus of the Gospels who connects with their experience of being human. He can speak to them and for them with persuasion and intelligibility.

June 22, 2010: What believers share with atheists

Spring 2010: Comment re ICEL & Vox Clara - first comment at bottom of this article: