Author Archives: Schutz

We act differently when we think people aren’t looking… On our holiday in the King River Valley recently, my family was the last to leave. My wife had washing in the machine, and as the kids were getting restless, she … Continue reading →

SCM wishes Bishop Patrick Dougherty of Bathurst many happy and relaxed years of retirement. Given that his retirement was announced mere weeks after the Dresser case, one has to admire the fact that His Lordship did anything at all. I … Continue reading →

Isn’t he cute? Daniel is the offspring of Pastor Fraser Pearce at epistolae obscurorum virorum. I got a good loooong cuddle with him when visiting Fraser and his family last weekend. BTW, no-one has answered Fraser’s query about the “formal … Continue reading →

Compassion, I have heard it said, is the core of Christian ethics. But it is a devilishly dangerous foundation on which to build an ethical approach to law, precisely because it is allowing a feeling to sway a thought. It … Continue reading →

I have just read an excellent and, I think, important essay in the latest edition of First Things by Thomas Farr entitled “Islam’s Way to Freedom”. The author is described at the end of the article as a visiting associate … Continue reading →

As noted below, the Brumby government was getting very anxious that it might not be able to get its Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill 2008 through the upper house. As Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini writes below, it seems that the effects of … Continue reading →

Its not a pretty picture, but (courtesy of Reuters) it shows that ecumenism has some way to go yet – and that unity among our Orthodox sisters and brothers is not all that it could be… See this report by … Continue reading →

In a combox to one of my posts on Fr Peter Dresser, Sharon posted this very relevant snippet from C.S. Lewis: “It is your duty to fix the lines (of doctrine) clearly in your minds: and if you wish to … Continue reading →

Okay, so it’s law now – but that doesn’t mean we can’t tell ’em we are “not happy”. Support this online petition by passing it on to your friends via email or your blog. (Nb. you might smile at the … Continue reading →

I’ve just discovered Tom Heneghan’s Reuter’s blog “FaithWorld”, which appears to be a real gold mine of news and information. Check out his complete interview with Cardinal Tauran on the dialogue with A Common Word at http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/11/10/cardinal-sees-possible-favoured-channel-in-dialogue-with-islam/2/