- Christmas 2011 25 Dec 2011
We often take Christmas too much for granted, just as we take for granted our blessings of prosperity, peace and a good climate.
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- Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 13 Nov 2011
Today we have the parable of the talents, one of the most distinctive teachings of Our Lord. It is not important, according to Christian teaching, that we are champions or very good in any sphere of life.
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- Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 6 Nov 2011
When I was briefly in London in late October quite a few people were already wearing their red poppies for Remembrance Day on November 11, commemorating the end of the First World War.
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- The Blessing of the Altar 17 Oct 2011
This evening we conclude the retreat day of the Ad Limina visit with both Mass in this renovated chapel of St. Peter Chanel and the consecration of its new altar.
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- 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Oct 2011
Today we have one of the least remarkable parables of Jesus; unremarkable for us because we know Jesus' story, that he came among us, was bitterly opposed and then killed.
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- Annual Catechist Mass 25 Sep 2011
It is my privilege to welcome you to the Annual Catechist Mass, a cathedral full of people despite the bad weather and heavy rain.
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- Youth Mass 18 Sep 2011
Today we have one of the most provocative and disconcerting of Our Lord's parables, about the labourers in the vineyard.
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- Courage Conference 10 Sep 2011
It is more than 30 years ago that the late and great Father John Harvey founded the apostolate of Courage, to minister to men and women with same-sex attraction (SSA).
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- 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time 17 Jul 2011
Today's gospel about the weeds flourishing in the wheat until the harvest follow on from last week's gospel about the sower and the seed falling in different spots and often failing to grow.
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- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 10 Jul 2011
Flannery O'Connor who died in 1964 at the age of 39 after a life of illness is one of the finest novelists from the United States of America. ...
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- 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 3 Jul 2011
In a congregation such as we have here at St. Mary's Cathedral it might not be tactful to start with text that the Lord's teachings are in some sense hidden from the learned and clever. ...
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- Feast of Corpus Christi 26 Jun 2011
On this feast of Corpus Christi it is appropriate that we welcome here the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem gathered from across Australia for their biennial meeting. ...
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- Trinity Sunday 19 Jun 2011
Today's excerpt from St. Paul's second letter to the Christians of Corinth ends with a brief encapsulation of the Christian teaching on the Trinity, on the nature of the one true God. ...
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- Consecration of Bishop Bill Wright 15 Jun 2011
For some obscure reason I believed for a time that today, June 15, was the feast of St. Isidore, bishop of Seville in southern Spain who died in 636 A.D. ...
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- Pentecost Sunday 12 Jun 2011
Jesus had a divine as well as a human nature, because he was truly Mary's son and therefore our human brother as well as redeemer. ...
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- Priestly Ordinations 21 May 2011
Every priestly vocation is a mystery; a mystery where the grace of God, personal freedom, family and community interact under Divine providence. ...
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- 4th Sunday of Easter 15 May 2011
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and it also doubles, very appropriately, as Vocations Sunday, where we encourage young people to enter into adult lives of Christian leadership and service especially as priests, religious, members of the new communities. ...
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- Mass For Beatification of Pope John Paul II 1 May 2011
"Be not afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all who wish to serve Christ and with Christ's power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. ...
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- Easter Sunday 24 Apr 2011
Some European cultures who have suffered a lot and known Christian communities of bishops, priests and rulers for a thousand years or more, ...
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- Good Friday 22 Apr 2011
St. Paul never wrote a letter to the Christians of Athens, because he was unable to found a community there as he did in Corinth and Ephesus. ...
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- Chrism Mass 21 Apr 2011
This morning before we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper tonight, we gather to celebrate the Chrism Mass. ...
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- Palm Sunday 17 Apr 2011
The artistic props for Palm Sunday are not quite as eye-catching as those of Ash Wednesday, because wearing a daub of ash on your forehead for the remainder of a day is more note worthy than quietly carrying home a palm after the procession. ...
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- St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney 10 Apr 2011
As we approach closer to Holy Week with its commemoration of the suffering, death and resurrection of Our Lord, we have here John's account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, which is not recounted in any of the other three gospels. ...
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- ACU Graduation Mass 3 Apr 2011
The second reading from the epistle to the Ephesians tells them that they are "lights in the Lord", children of light who are "seen in complete goodness and right living and truth". ...
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- Second Sunday of Lent - Youth Mass 20 Mar 2011
Tonight I wish to do a couple of things: to preach on the gospel as usual and to speak on our annual Lenten obligations. ...
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- First Sunday of Lent 13 Mar 2011
If my memory serves me correctly, and sometimes it does not (I also remember more slowly than I used to in my "senior moments"), there are words of a hymn which run; "in the war against sin and the fight for the faith" where we are urged to do great things. ...
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- 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time 6 Mar 2011
This year it seems that the Feast of Easter is celebrated as late in the year as is possible. ...
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- 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time 27 Feb 2011
Unusually today my few words will move in three directions, rather than focus simply on the gospel, which has the important and challenging theme of God and money. ...
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- 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 23 Jan 2011
For nearly ten years now I have been writing a small weekly column for a secular newspaper. I am grateful for the opportunity to reach a wider audience and I usually write on religious themes. ...
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