ST MARY’S BASILICA, SYDNEY, 22 APRIL 2025 “Woman, why are you weeping?” the angels ask Mary Magdalene on Easter day (Jn 20:11-18). Her grief is profound, her tears sincere. With the execution of her Master and Friend, her world had been turned upside down. Now she has come to tend His corpse and her grief […]
A Statement from the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP The Church in Sydney and Australia joins with people throughout the world in mourning the passing of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. As priest, bishop and pope, he embodied Christ’s command to care for all people, especially the most vulnerable. He was a […]
ST MARY’S BASILICA, SYDNEY, 20 APRIL 2025 “I wonder if I am dreaming?” she asks after falling down a rabbit hole. In Lewis Carroll’s 1865 masterpiece, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the girl finds herself in a bizarre world where nothing makes sense anymore. Rabbits carry pocket watches, playing cards serve as soldiers, Cheshire cats disappear […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 17 APRIL 2025 Recently released, The Return recounts the final events in Homer’s epic The Odyssey. Odysseus, played by Ralph Fiennes, washes up naked on the shores of Ithaca after two decades away. He’d been a great success in the Trojan War, being the one who proposed the Trojan Horse and […]
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Maundy Thursday, 17 April 2025 “Naked and unashamed”—that’s how the Book of Genesis describes our first parents in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:25). Yet after the Fall and through the rest of the Bible, nakedness is shameful. Gyms and nude beaches might be all very well in Australia, as in […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 13 APRIL 2025 In the fourth century AD a young Spanish woman named Egeria made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She recorded that on the Sunday before Easter the faithful gathered on the Mount of Olives and read the Gospel account of Christ’s entry. Then they accompanied the bishop in […]
Dharawal Elders Uncle Edward and Auntie Lisa; Excellent Bishops of the Maronite and Latin Catholics, of the Greek and Antiochean Orthodox, and leaders of the other Christian churches; Rabbis and other Jewish leaders; Grand Mufti, Sheikhs and other Islamic leaders; and leaders of other faith traditions; Premier Minns, Minister Kamper, with Honorable MPs; Mayor Lound; […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 6 APRIL 2025 To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and […]
ST BENEDICT’S SHRINE, SMITHFIELD, 30 MARCH 2025 Reality TV is now the staple of Aussie television.[1] More than half the top-rating programmes are of this genre. Whether it’s the 21 series of the home restorations on The Block, the 14 cookoffs of My Kitchen Rules, the 15 rounds of housemates’ shenanigans on Big Brother, the […]
ST THERESE’S CHURCH, FAIRFIELD WEST, 28 MARCH 2025 Last week it was announced that the legendary Kenyan runner, Eliud Kipchoge, will compete in the Sydney Marathon this year. Kipchoge is a two-time Olympic gold medallist (2016 & 2021) and the only runner to have completed a marathon in under two hours, making him arguably the […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL CHAPTER HALL, 21 MARCH 2025 On this day one hundred years ago, the Butler Act was signed into law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools in the state of Tennessee. Its author, Democrat John Washington Butler, sprung into action after hearing a Baptist sermon about a woman who had lost […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, 18 MARCH 2025 عَلَيْ As-salamu alaykum, Peace up upon you. Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral House for our 14th annual Iftar dinner, honouring especially the Muslim community, but bringing together people of many faiths. I’m glad to be with you in person this year, after Covid forced me to Zoom in last […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 16 MARCH 2025 When it comes to the nuts and bolts of learning, there’s no shortage of opinions. Beginning in the mid-20th century, educationalists began to theorise and test different approaches, some very traditional, others highly experimental, and there are people who swear by each. Some approaches are clearly effective, but […]
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 13 MARCH 2025 Recent research led by the University of Sydney, UCLA and other tertiary institutions found that human beings say Yes to requests for help up to seven times more than they say No.[1] Their study, based on video recordings of everyday social interactions in various cultural contexts, show that […]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The idea of a ‘synod’ has a long and rich history in the life of the Church. Since earliest times, there have been diocesan, regional or universal gatherings of the pastors of the Church, often with some lead-ing lay faithful, to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit […]
