Matthew has a concise response (emphasis added), encapsulated in a great section of his post:

[W]e can talk about catechesis and community and leadership and orthodoxy and the sacraments and the fullness of truth. We can complain about politics and how we need more preaching from the pulpit. But here is the core problem. Here is the practical reason why people are not convinced of the Catholic faith anymore:

We Catholics don’t look or act any different than non-catholics. It’s that simple.

The question we must answer is “if Catholicism offers a better way, why don’t Catholics’ lives seem any better?”

If we believe our faith and action in this life has eternal consequences, why don’t we act like it? If the God of our universe, the Creator of everything, is truly present in the Eucharist, why don’t our actions show this?

If our relationship with God is truly the most important relationship, why don’t our daily schedules reflect that? If our marriages and families are our greatest blessings, why do we sacrifice them for our careers?

If God has a plan for us, why do we make so many plans without him? And why are we not on our knees every morning thanking, praising and giving over to him every moment of our entire day?

If Catholicism is true, why isn’t everything we do ordered around this Truth?

Those are some fair — and confronting — questions for us to consider, especially those of us who profess to being practising/committed/devout Catholics.

The incongruity between what we claim to believe and the lives we live is revealing. Any honest outsider can surely tell that we can’t possibly believe what we say we believe. Not only is our religion a fraud, but so are we Christians.

That’s what Catholics as a whole communicate about Catholicism.

The Victorian process is well advanced, and the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, gave evidence to the inquiry earlier this week in one of the first of what will be many, many uncomfortable days for the Church over the next few years — on top of many, many uncomfortable days that it’s already been through. Needless to say, a little discomfort and rigorous questioning is a walk in the park in comparison with the abuse that many people suffered at the hands of clergy and other Church personnel, not to mention the ongoing anguish caused by a Church that was too slow to act or even dismissive of allegations.

Archbishop Hart acknowledged those gross failings during his appearance. He could hardly do any different, I know, but it’s all part of a process during which the Church is being far more transparent and ready — too late, obviously — to acknowledge the terrible mistakes that were made. Priests were moved to parishes where they would find new victims. Investigations were not carried out or carried out without any paper trail. The Church is living with the legacy of men who made poor decisions in some cases; evil and calculated decisions in other cases.

This from The Age:

Paedophile priests in Melbourne were moved from parish to parish in a culture of secrecy and cover-up in which the Catholic Church was slow to act, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said on Thursday.

A predecessor, Sir Frank Little, dealt with all complaints secretly, keeping no records. He moved paedophiles such as serial abusers Wilfred Baker and Kevin O’Donnell to “innocent parishes” where they blighted more lives, Archbishop Hart conceded at the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

“It was an awful blight on the church. I want to put my anger and pain and anguish about this to the committee.”

He said before 1996, when he became Vicar-General in Melbourne and Cardinal George Pell became Archbishop, the church was “too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to look after the terrible anguish of the victims. Since the 1990s, that has changed – slowly and with agony, but it has changed.”

In a public statement, Archbishop Hart said he took responsibility, but he told the inquiry the only person responsible was the archbishop at the time.

In his statement, at the end of the three-hour hearing, Archbishop Hart said: “I understand that the community is looking for someone to take responsibility for the terrible acts that occurred. I take responsibility.

“I am appalled by the actions of these criminals against the weakest and most defenceless in the community. I apologise unreservedly for one of the darkest periods in our church’s history.”

The Church will need to continue to prepare as well as possible those who will speak on its behalf in the coming years. Archbishop Hart handled himself quite well under the intense spotlight, but his response to allegations of the chain being dragged on the 18 years it took to defrock a priest — “Better late than never” — has been one of the headlines that has emerged since. Many Church officials will be put under pressure and scrutiny they’ve never before faced, and while truth is the most important requirement, composure will also be needed to respond thoughtfully to the grilling they’ll get.

Again from The Age:

He agreed that the church had been slow to defrock paedophile Desmond Gannon, writing to the Vatican 18 years later in 2012 warning that the Victorian inquiry and royal commission meant the faithful would be scandalised.

Committee chairwoman Georgie Crozier asked: “It took 18 years for you to contact Rome?” Archbishop Hart replied, to gasps from the crowded public gallery: “Better late than never. We did what we could. I wish it had been earlier.”

They’re just some of the lines of questioning the Church will have to respond to in the three investigations, along with allegations of cover-ups, silencing of victims through settlements and confidentiality clauses, and countless other accusations.

Buckle up. It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride. And it continues with Cardinal George Pell before the Victorian inquiry next week.

Last week, using that equipment and the joys of Skype, we recorded the 68th episode of The 15th Station; as always, sitting around and chatting about the big Catholic stories of the past month. It was gay marriage in New Zealand, a growing international Church, WYD 2013 in Rio and the Catholic view of work and poverty that dominated the show, but we got the chance to share the feelgood story of the month as well — the three-year-old Colombian boy who is “celebrating Mass”, as I blogged about last week.

Head over to The 15th Station website, and check out the latest show — and any number of back episodes as well

One of those friends is Tim Kroenert, assistant editor at Eureka Street, and their resident film reviewer. I’ve always enjoyed Tim’s reviews and while we don’t have exactly the same taste in movies, I often use his reviews as one of my yardsticks on whether or not to see a movie. I told Tim last week that I was on the lookout for a good movie (or two) to see before The Great Gatsby comes out at the end of this month in Australia, and he immediately mentioned The Hunt, a Danish film that came out last year, but has only made it to this part of the world in the past few weeks, and only in selected theatres — as is often the case for foreign films.

So why am I writing about The Hunt on a Catholic blog? Well, the subject matter is such that it hits close to home for the Church, especially in Australia at this time. Without spoiling anything whatsoever, the story revolves around a teacher who has lost his job at a now-closed school, and is working at the local kindergarten in a small town. He is loved by the kids, and he’s often having playfights and chasing kids (and being chased) around the playground. He also has a close relationship with a young girl, who is his best friend’s daughter. Early in the movie, he is accused of sexually assaulting one of the children, who tells the head teacher, who then tries to investigate the crime.

It doesn’t take long for the child’s story to be considered Gospel, and despite his best efforts to defend himself against accusations he’s not even certain of, the staff at the kindergarten, the parents and the students have all turned against him, assuming him guilty before any serious investigation has been carried out. It’s a very disturbing story and one that would be familiar to a small but significant number of priests and male teachers around the world who have been accused of something they say never happened, but the allegations and rumours damage a reputation irreparably. There have been some high-profile cases of priests being accused of impropriety of one form or another who have later been exonerated, but their lives will never be the same. That’s the risk that the main character in The Hunt faces as well. And we sometimes wonder why there are so few male school teachers, especially in primary/grade schools.

Oh, and on a tenuous religious connection, one of the pivotal scenes in the movie takes place in a church on Christmas Eve.

So, all in all, The Hunt is a challenging story that certainly won’t have you leaving the cinema full of joy and excitement and enthusiasm. It will leave you considering how justice is and isn’t afforded various people in a society that can be very quick to judge.

I’m sure the late Siskel and Ebert would’ve given the movie Two Thumbs Up. So do Tim and Gavin

I’ve had a busy day at work, then recorded a podcast and then chatted with Father Roderick Vonhogen about CNMC Melbourne, so I’ve only got a short time to duck in and put up a quick post.

And so I share three of my favourites from the Eye of the Tiber in recent weeks. In fact, the third one is months old, but I’d missed it the first time. Thankfully a friend posted it on Facebook last week, so I’ve been able to enjoy it. I hope you enjoy these, too.

Pope Francis to investigate Roman Curia on TV show Undercover Boss

Catholic Answers runs out of questions; to close its doors in May

SSPX acolyte stumbles during Offertory; Mass deemed invalid

That’s gold, Jerry.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Perth working on my six-weekly (or so) column for NZ Catholic, the newspaper I worked at for five years until 2010. It was not long after my friend James Bergin had given a stellar performance on national television talking about the election of Pope Francis, and I’d also been observing the work of a group of young Catholics in Australia also being asked to comment on the conclave, the papal election, the choice of Pope Francis and so on.

And so I wrote this column:

Did anyone else catch James Bergin on Q&A a few weeks back, talking about the election of Pope Francis?

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, James Bergin is a good friend of mine and someone I work with on a regular basis on Church projects, so I am biased. But I thought he did an outstanding job when being interrogated by a woman who would now be considered one of New Zealand’s leading interviewers.

Internationally, this phenomenon of young Catholic professionals speaking about the Church in the media is taking off. My first observation of this effort was during World Youth Day in Sydney, when a small group of young Catholics were part of the Sky News coverage of the event. Rather than having professional reporters trying to explain something they knew nothing about, young Catholics were part of the massive crowds, shared their experiences and, when necessary, explained what was happening during Mass or the Stations of the Cross.

Catholic Voices is a new movement that is emerging around the world and the latest incarnation of the group launched ahead of schedule a few weeks ago in Australia. With work under way to establish a network of young – by Catholic standards – people to speak in the mainstrea media about Catholic issues, Pope Benedict’s resignation meant Catholic Voices Australia simply couldn’t wait. The small founding group sprung into action, and were interviewed on TV and radio, as well as for print publications. Another Catholic perspective, and a perspective with knowledge and with a youthful exuberance, was being presented to the world, and it’s hard to see a down side to such an initiative if the young people have been prepared for their difficult task.

All this work, and James’s appearance on Q&A, got me thinking. Is it time for Catholic Voices NZ? The Catholic Voices model has been incredibly successful, and I have no doubt there is a pool of young Catholic Kiwis who can be given a little bit of assistance in becoming people who provide a perspective on the Church that others don’t or can’t.

When a well presented, obviously intelligent, undeniably rational young person like James Bergin – or another young Catholic we might be able to find – goes in to bat for the Church they love, it sends a different message from the message that might come from a bishop.

This isn’t an either/or predicament. Our bishops and spokespeople need to present the official Catholic understanding of a range of issues. But bishops don’t have a monopoly on the truth, and a young, married, female Catholic accountant with two children might seem more relatable to some people than a celibate man in his 50s or 60s.

The era of a 24/7 news cycle leaves journalists and producers wondering how they’ll fill the next segment. Is the Church doing enough to help fill the news media vacuum?

At about the same time (hindsight reveals), my predecessor at NZ Catholic, Pat McCarthy, was having some similar thoughts and putting them into his own column for the CathNews New Zealand website. You can read the full article here, but I share some of the highlights below:

The revolution in communications media presents a wonderful opportunity that the Church has been slow to grasp.

Until the 1990s, access to the general population through the media was controlled by the gatekeepers of newspapers, radio and television. Now this barrier has been bypassed by the new media — Internet-based, available to everyone, faster and cheaper than anything we had before.

Ironically, the Church, whose reason for existence involves communicating, doesn’t seem to understand communications very well (at least in New Zealand).

[...]

But, as a writer in the United States National Catholic Register pointed out a couple of years ago, “The problem right now is that the Church is largely not part of the conversation — because it chooses not to be. So whatever control it could have, it foregoes.”

To quote Angela Salt, director of communications for Britain’s Millennium Commission, “If the Church isn’t in the media more — in soaps, dramas and documentaries — then, for many people, it doesn’t exist. If it’s not in your personal experience and not in the TV you watch, on the radio you listen to, or the papers you read, it’s as though it’s not there. That’s why the Church should seek to be in the media — to remind people that it exists and that God is a good option for them.”

[...]

However I wonder whether a proposal for such a ministry, with a precisely-drafted statement of purpose and a realistic business plan, might obtain private funding and a contractual relationship with the bishops’ conference.

Assuming that evangelisation is considered to be a priority — as the Great Commission (Matthew: 28:19) indicates it should be — we should expect the Church in New Zealand to devote more personnel and much greater resources to this purpose than at present.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that Pat and I are the leading authorities on this subject, but I think we have something to add to the discussion. My question would be, is anyone listening?

Well, I suppose if a friend of mine is visiting Medellin, Colombia, they could see it. But it wouldn’t be taking place in the parish church.

Soapbox readers who are firmly ensconced in the social media space, which is likely if you’re reading a blog, may have seen the story that emerged in earnest this weekend of a three-year-old Colombian boy who seems to be getting in some very early preparation for a possible vocation to the priesthood.

Catholic News Agency reports:

Bogotá, Colombia, May 9, 2013 / 12:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A three-year-old Colombian boy has garnered attention across the internet for a video in which he dons priestly garments and “celebrates” Mass, reciting the liturgy from memory.

Samuel Jaramillo, who is an orphan, lives with his grandmother and an aunt in the city of Medellin. When family members posted a video of the boy pretending to celebrate Mass on YouTube, it gained rapid popularity, attracting nearly 300,000 views in just over a week.

His relatives told reporters that last Christmas, Jaramillo did not ask for toys like most kids his age. Instead, he wanted “priest’s clothes” and the objects necessary to “celebrate” Mass.

He has learned to recite the Mass from memory with the corresponding pauses, intonations and gestures of an experienced priest.

[...]

Jaramillo’s aunt, Elizabeth Rojas Arango, said, “This isn’t something we taught him, and we don’t even attend church,” but Jaramillo goes to Mass every Sunday and on Tuesdays with his grandmother, Rosa Eva Arango.

Rojas Arango said the decision to post the videos of Samuel online was not “to try to make him popular, but because they are moving.”

Jaramillo knows the Creed by heart and even preaches his own homilies.

In an interview with RCN television, Jaramillo said he wants to be a priest when he grows up.

What a neat story to end one week and start another; you can watch the video here. Have a great week

But I’m not one to avoid the topic of science fiction entirely. Especially when my online friend Sean McCarney, the man behind the Just a Catholic Dad podcast, posts a link on Facebook claiming Star Trek, possibly the pinnacle of my tower of “mustn’t see TV”, is the most consistently pro-Christian, and even pro-Catholic, television show in history.

I know! Who knew?

Angelo Stagnaro, a lifelong fan of the show, has written a piece in The Catholic Herald to support his claims.

And then the fateful and faith-filled moment memorialised in the hearts of all Christian Trekkers, Lt Uhura pipes up from her communications console to correct her superior officers: “I’m afraid you have it all wrong, all of you,” she says. “I’ve been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion, but he couldn’t. Well, don’t you understand? It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the Son of God.”

I wonder what it must have been like in all of those living rooms across America that evening. Probably the same stunned silence that permeated my family’s living room. My parents, very much non-Trekkers, asked me to repeat Uhura’s last line. When I did, they stared at each other and raised a surprised, Spock-like eyebrow.

At that, Kirk addresses his bridge crew: “Christ and Caesar. Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again?” It wasn’t until years later when I saw the episode again when I realised the importance of those lines. This might seem only of minor interest to most people but to a connoisseur of fine science fiction, this is altogether remarkable. It’s very common for a science fiction writer to use religion as a theme but, inevitably, as a reference to violence, zealotry or primitive thinking. What Gene Roddenberry did was raise Christianity and its spirituality to a new level in the genre. After that, I started concentrating on all of the Christian references, and the Catholic ones in particular, in the original series and all of Star Trek’s later permutations.

There are specific references to Catholicism in the most recent Trek series, Star Trek: Enterprise. Specifically, in AD 2150, Dr Phlox, an alien physician serving aboard the ship, recalled attending Mass at St Peter’s Basilica. It is also interesting to note that, other than a single passing reference to the Hindu festival of Diwali, no other earth religion other than Christianity was ever mentioned in the series. Several weddings have taken place aboard the Enterprise but the very first one included the bride, a young engineering officer, genuflecting toward the ship’s chapel’s altar. The chapel probably served several religions, as do the chapels aboard all the US Navy’s ships but the Enterprise’s chapel had a prominently displayed cross.

And the analysis continues on from there. Reading the article — or as much of the science fiction discussion as I could handle — reminded me of the great work my good friend Father Roderick Vonhogen does on his “Secrets” shows (look under the Shows/Entertainment tab), in which he examines popular TV shows and movies and explores the Christian themes that are contained in those pieces of work.

So, for all the Trekkies out there, rejoice in the positive portrayal of Christianity and Catholicism in your favourite show. For the rest of us, we can take comfort in the fact that unlike most of what we see on TV these days, there have been shows to present Christanity in a positive light, rather than a cause of all sorts of problems.

A woman by the name of Maria Margherita Lochi was a daily Massgoer in Italy; that’s surely not anything unique. What was a bit more unusual about Maria is that she was accompanied to Mass by a German shepherd dog each day, with the dog allowed to sit at her feet. But the story gets better — although not for Maria, unfortunately.

Yahoo tells us what’s causing people to say “Awwwwwwwwww”:

A loyal dog whose owner died late last year has apparently been showing up for Mass every day for the last two months at the church where the funeral was held.

Tommy, a 7-year-old German shepherd, used to accompany his owner, Maria Margherita Lochi, to services at Santa Maria Assunta church in San Donaci, Italy, according to the Daily Mail, and was allowed to sit at her feet.

After Lochi died, the dog “joined mourners at her funeral service” according to locals and “followed after Maria’s coffin” as it was carried into the church.

Tommy, a stray who was adopted by Lochi, has been showing up “when the bell rings out to mark the beginning of services” ever since.

“He’s there every time I celebrate mass and is very well behaved,” Father Donato Panna told the paper. “He doesn’t make a sound.”

None of the other parishioners has complained, Panna said, and villagers give the dog food and water and allow him to sleep nearby.

“I’ve not heard one bark from him in all the time he has been coming in,” Panna added. “He waits patiently by the side of the altar and just sits there quietly. I didn’t have the heart to throw him out—I’ve just recently lost my own dog, so I leave him there until Mass finishes and then I let him out.”

This isn’t all that uncommon, the report suggests, citing other examples of similar canine fidelity to former owners and their practices. This one is pretty neat, though.

Well, an interview has surfaced (a few days ago now) that offers a little glimpse into the mind of Cardinal Bergoglio. It was recorded a few months ago, and in it he shares his thoughts on some interesting topics.

As EWTN, the network that recorded the video, describes it: In EWTN’s exclusive 15-minute interview, conducted just six months ago, the future pope discusses His Holiness Benedict XVI’s call for a Year of Faith, Latin America as a spiritual resource for the universal Church, the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, and much more.

Warning, the video has a voiceover because the Cardinal’s English has never been very strong, but it’s interesting to see  and hear this thoughtful man responding to some interesting questions.

Watch the interview here.