This article examines the contribution of Catholic political theology to contemporary
discussions about a lack of solidarity in liberal constitutional democracies particularly
in Europe. John Milbank’s interpretation of this lack as indicating that secular liberalism
has seen its day and should be replaced by a Catholic political order is presented as
a viable alternative to attempts at strengthening the secular constitutional state at
the pre-political level, as well as to Habermas’s deliberative democratic solution. Yet,
reading Milbank against himself, the author argues that a Catholic political theology,
precisely because it should follow Milbank’s suggestions, cannot seek to replace the
present sociopolitical order. Instead, Catholic political theologians should discern
where the truth breaks through in this order, where people can act in surprising
solidarity with each other even if this conflicts with their political views.

How does political theology, with its eschatologically themed commitment to both
critique and constructive transformation of the social, economic, and political in the
light of the Gospel, break through to a distressed Western polis focused on the
immediate and the short-term, with almost no sense of a “future”? I suggest discipleshipas-performance and a temporal and sacramental “natural theology of desire,” in tune
with the revelation of the grace of God in Christ in time, as ways of addressing this
conundrum and seconding Pope Francis’s insight that “time is greater than space.

How does political theology, with its eschatologically themed commitment to both
critique and constructive transformation of the social, economic, and political in the
light of the Gospel, break through to a distressed Western polis focused on the
immediate and the short-term, with almost no sense of a “future”? I suggest discipleshipas-performance and a temporal and sacramental “natural theology of desire,” in tune
with the revelation of the grace of God in Christ in time, as ways of addressing this
conundrum and seconding Pope Francis’s insight that “time is greater than space.”

The author underscores the ethical imperatives incumbent on the community called
church in light of the needs and experiences of children. The immediate circumstance
relates to ongoing revelation of widespread clergy sexual abuse of children and
vulnerable adults and the moral duty of the community called church to care for
and protect them. This approach unfolds within two overlapping and overarching
contexts: first, the ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church and, second, African
cultural beliefs and religious traditions. A particular focus is placed on the paucity of
Catholic theological or ethical reflection on the dignity of the child, and remedies for
this lacuna, particularly with respect to the African Catholic Church.

This article offers theological reflection on the sexual abuse crisis in the Latin American
church, focusing on the child victim. Beginning with a summary of the scandal as it has
hit the Latin American church, the author shows how the clerical sexual abuse crisis
engages with the particular sociopolitical contexts of children in Latin America. The
article then contextualizes a theology of childhood in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s
care for the young and vulnerable children. Finally, the author offers some fundamental
theological reflections for an ecclesial response to the crisis, focusing on a theology
of the child.

Despite recent signs of change, the Indian church was rather reluctant to acknowledge
the clerical sexual abuse scandal as its own problem. In the Indian context, the scandal
entails not only the abuse of minors, but also the abuse of women and other vulnerable
adults by church personnel. The hierarchical structure of Indian society, gender
relations based on patriarchy, and postcolonial attitudes provide a fertile ground for
abuse. Clericalism, centralization of power in the church, and continuing negative
attitudes to sexuality are further contributing factors. The clerical sexual abuse scandal
calls for developing new ethical horizons based on a theology of a participatory church,
and a reconsideration of the church’s attitude to sexuality and gender relations.

The sexual abuse crisis and subsequent Royal Commission investigation raised
important ecclesiological and ecclesial issues for the Australian Catholic Church. This
article provides background to the work of the Commission and explores four issues:
the seal of the confessional; the notion of ontological change in ordination; the place
of women in the church; and the authority of bishops. While no direct theological
resolution of these is possible, these issues have been raised with pressing urgency.

Pre-Vatican II theological anthropology focused attention on the exercise of human
freedom as embodied in time and oriented to community. Post-Vatican II theology has
deepened this trajectory by reflecting on the specific conditions and experiences of
human embodiment, as well as the cultural and historical contexts that ground efforts
to realize the ideal of persons-in-community. This article explores the contributions
of theological anthropologies that take seriously gender, race, history, and culture
in theology, and argues for further contemporary, enculturated, and embodied
reflections on sin and grace.

In an age when rhetoric about alleviating conditions of poverty is rightly suspect, this
study offers a reassessment of the power of non-modern, christological rhetoric through
parallel examples of the preaching of Augustine and Pope Francis. Demonstrating how
both practice a version of prosopopeia, this study shows how Augustine’s “exchange”
and Francis’s “encounter” function as performative Christologies by which rhetoric
is meant to effect reality concerning the poor. The study suggests revision of
binary formulations of the relation of rhetoric to reality and proposes a non-binary,
incarnational method.

Chronic and recurring depression presents challenges to theologians working on the
doctrine of grace. First, its frequent misrepresentation inhibits accurate perceptions
of God’s loving presence in this context. Second, like all suffering, it threatens the
affirmation of divine benevolence upon which the doctrine is predicated. Third, the
moral complexities of depression obfuscate grace’s healing effects. To meet these
challenges and clarify the contextual work of grace, the author draws on depression
narratives to identify the effects of grace as gratuitous, elevating, and healing
expansions of possibility that many sufferers experience as depression persists.