In 1967 a rather precocious young Anthony Fisher complained to Sr Mary Eucharia RSM that the new hymn she was teaching us—Sr Miriam Therese Winter’s “I saw raindrops on my window: joy is like the rain”—seemed barely to mention God. In response Sister offered us a better hymn: she taught us Richard Connolly and James McAuley’s ♪♪ Seek, O seek the Lord, while He is near, Trust …

In the feature article in today’s Sydney Morning Herard Lauren Ironmonger asks whether monogamy is dead and we are destined for multiple contemporaneous and successive primary loves?[1] She says it is the question on the mind of millennials as they navigate the perennial human …

The great Renaissance art historian, Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), was an advocate of Graeco-Roman, Romanesque and neo-classical architecture, but no fan of the ‘French’ mediaeval aesthetic with its pointed arches, vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses …

Feast of the Holy Apostles Philip and James, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 3 May, 2022 Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success was a non-fiction smash hit.[i] It debuted at no.1 on the New York Times bestseller list, remained there for 11 weeks straight, and went on to feature on the paperback bestseller list […]

Two years before he was catapulted to stardom as “Crocodile Dundee,” Paul Hogan graced American TV with an advertisement for Australian Tourism (1984).[i] He demonstrated the cheerful, laid-back demeanour of Aussies, while showcasing some of our beautiful landscapes including Sydney Harbour.

Welcome to the Church of St. Anne, Strathfield South, for the Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial for Fr Raymond John Weaver, a Priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney. Fr Ray was born in 1937, was a seminarian at St Patrick’s College Manly and was ordained to the priesthood by …

In a world with striking parallels to our own, a young woman named Caterina di Benincasa (1347-80) from Siena was called to apply her gifts in …

n the extreme sport of free-diving, competitors hold their breath unaided for as long as they can and drop to a depth of water as low as they can before resurfacing: some of you here tonight may have tried this as kids and given your mothers a fright! The king of this sport is Viennese-born Herbert Nitsch…

Just across the way from us, at the heart of the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, stands what some consider to be Australia’s greatest sculpture.1 Rayner Hoff’s bronze of ‘Sacrifice’ (1930-34) is in the Hall of Silence amidst many other features created by him. At remembrance services and other times, the sculpture is the object of contemplation for staff, pilgrims and tourists.

Simon Peter and John come running to the tomb (Jn 20:1-9). In Eugène Burnand’s impressionist painting of the incident (1898, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), it is a glorious dawn and Peter is staring ahead, hand-on-heart, finger pointing forward, face confused like a rabbit in headlights.

When people come to church on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, All Souls Day or even Easter, most don’t do so out of sentimentality or habit as they might at Christmas, but rather because the feast itself and the ritual speaks to some challenge in their lives. This year’s Triduum has come in dark times …

Last Sunday’s Passion of St Luke and today’s of St John are in different keys. At Luke’s Passover-turned-Eucharist Jesus spoke ominously of betrayal to come and communing in His broken body. He told His men to bring swords to Compline in the Garden. He sweated blood while begging the Father to relieve Him of what was coming.