Category Archives: Church and Society

The Marriage Act

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Quentin

I received a note this morning from a young friend of mine. He told me, rather sadly, that his lady friend – with whom he had lived for the last three years – had left him for another man. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Bio-ethics, Church and Society, Moral judgment | 41 Comments

Jesus and the apples

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Quentin

I note this morning that this blog had been operating since 2008. Since then it has carried over 130 articles of substance. That’s by no means a record but I think it tells us that Christians of intelligence are more … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries | 83 Comments

Francis in the New Year

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Quentin

Now that we are safely in December the time has come to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions for 2020 and we should be considering what they might be. But I am not asking you to do that here – … Continue reading →

Posted in Catholic Voices, Church and Society, Quentin queries | Tagged | 101 Comments

Out in the Open

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Quentin

It’s Summer and the sun is shining. So today I am allowing myself a little nostalgia. Imagine walking down the north side of Leicester Square in the 1950s. You come across a little court leading to Soho, and there is … Continue reading →

Posted in Catholic Voices, Church and Society | 8 Comments

The death of Christianity?

Posted on August 8, 2019 by Quentin

If we are to believe the British Social Attitudes surveys over many years, we may accept that Christianity is gradually dying in this country. Those who record themselves as Christian slowly but regularly decrease in numbers. The Anglican Church has … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Quentin queries | 63 Comments

A dangerous article?

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Quentin

We have all been aware of the fuss made about Pope Benedict’s recently published article on morality and the Church. Here I reproduce a comment written by Thomas Reece in the National Catholic Reporter. “Most of the media attention since … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries, Uncategorized | 28 Comments

Our future Church

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Quentin

There is no doubt that the Catholic Church is changing in many ways. Indeed it has changed in many ways within our lifetimes. And often in ways which, say, fifty years ago we would have thought impossible. So it might … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries, subsidiarity, Uncategorized | 36 Comments

Subsidiarity: Theory X versus Theory Y

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Quentin

Subsidiarity requires that what single individuals, using their own resources, can do of themselves, must not be removed and taken by higher authority.  We associate the development of the principle to the 1950s. It was realised that there were two … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries, subsidiarity, Uncategorized | 28 Comments

Democracy or Tyranny?

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Quentin

Perhaps we have all read, more than perhaps we wanted to, about clerical abuse and the summit of bishops led by Pope Francis , which ended on 24 February. So today I want to look at a more basic factor … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries | 42 Comments

Materialist morals

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Quentin

We have recently been discussing deep philosophical matters, such as the ‘uncaused cause’. Not surprisingly we do not arrive at satisfactory answers. Such questions have been explored over two thousand years, and I do not doubt they will still be … Continue reading →

Posted in Church and Society, Moral judgment, Quentin queries | Tagged , | 56 Comments