I’m grateful to be invited to appear before the Committee today on behalf of more than 20 Catholic and Orthodox Bishops of NSW, to express our concerns & those of our people in relation to this bill…
The Eucharistic procession through the streets of Punchbowl to welcome the installation of the St Charbel statue. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2026 Thousands of faithful gathered on Thursday
CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, DOMUS AUSTRALIA, 26 JANUARY 2026 The Australian national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, was written by Scotsman Peter Dodds McCormick under the pen name
More than a hundred men from across the country made the trek to Our Lady of Mercy Church in Penrose Park for the inaugural Australian Men’s Crusade Conference. Photo: Supplied
Claudio Coello, Holy Family. Photo: Picryl.com. This is the edited text of the Homily for a solemn Mass for the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
More than 500 people filled St Kevin’s Church, Eastwood, on a rain-sodden Saturday night for a moment of collective wonder about the deepest meaning of Christianity and what it means to be human. The
Men carrying a statue of St Joseph as they make their way through the overnight Camino. Photo: GIOVANNI PORTELLI 2025 Sydney’s annual Catholic men’s pilgrimage has gained international recognition, with the Camino
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP giving his Homily at Christmas Mass 2025. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 This is the edited text of the homily for the morning Mass
Mass to commemorate Eileen O’Connor on the 105th anniversary of her death. Photo: Supplied. Dozens of the faithful have braved Sydney’s heat to commemorate Eileen O’Connor on the 105th anniversary of her death. The
Premier of NSW Chris Minns. The government announced an inquiry by the lower house law and safety committee on 22 December, with comments due by 12 January, and recommendations submitted
Eileen’s tomb 10 January 2026. Photo: Supplied. Sometimes it’s taking a stroll in a client’s local surroundings, absorbing the environment, and having a conversation. Sometimes it’s a simple coffee catch-up. Sometimes it’s just presence. Eileen O’Connor’s Brown Nurses help disadvantaged
Bishop Daniel Meagher confirming the four children. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Four Aboriginal children were confirmed by Bishop Daniel Meagher at the Reconciliation Church in in La Perouse just before
Fr Chris de Sousa CRS leading the procession. Photo: Supplied. Hundreds of families from Sydney’s west made the trip to the shrine of Our Lady of Mercy in Penrose Park
Chris Meney with wife Mary Clare. Photo: Marilyn Rodrigues. Chris Meney has been a steady and trusted presence in the day-to-day life of Sydney’s Catholic community for more than a decade, serving as the
Santo Nino has become a focal point for devotion, bringing a centuries-old Filipino tradition to Revesby. Photo: Supplied For the third-year running, St Luke’s Parish in Sydney’s south-west has welcomed
Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness – painting by Annibale Carracci (MET, 2009.252). Photo: Wikimedia Commons. This is the edited text of the homily of the Lourdes day Mass for the Order of
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 28 DECEMBER 2025 In Rembrandt’s painting of the Holy Family with Angels (1645), now in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, we witness a thoroughly domestic
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 25 December 2025 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We all know the biblical story of creation (Gen chs 1 & 2),
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP blesses worshippers as he exits St Mary’s Cathedral following midnight Mass for Christmas 2022. The Mass is traditionally one of the most-attended in St Mary’s Cathedral
The series, called Eternal Rest: The Art of Dying Well, is a video program from the Augustine Institute and will be presented by Willow Tree Funerals funeral director Bruce Missen. Photo: Pexels.com. In an effort to help relieve
Members of the New South Wales Faith Affairs Council and faith leaders in a 15 December emergency meeting convened by Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper. Photo: Supplied. The New South Wales
Opening of Christmas at the Cathedral 2025. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Amidst one of the darkest weeks in Sydney’s history, the opening night of Christmas at the
Preaching of St John the Baptist by Domenico Ghirlandaio, between 1486 and 1490. Photo: Wikimedia Commons During the week before Christmas, as we celebrate with the Christmas at the Cathedral
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL FORECOURT, SYDNEY, 17 DECEMBER 2025 Dear friends, we gather this evening in what should be a season of joy, feeling a great weight of sadness; our celebration
More than 200 people took part in a torchlight procession from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Earlwood, to the Grotto of the Society of Our Lady of Lourdes. Photo: Supplied
Holy Family Maroubra’s 22nd annual Christmas Carols with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on 14 December. Photo: Giovanni Portelli Portelli In the lead up to the Nativity of the Lord, parishes
A Statement from the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP Monday, 15 December 2025 We all share in profound grief and righteous anger following last night’s terrorist attack
Founder of Lumen Verum Apologetics Arlette Bowen receives her Dempsey Medal in July 2018. PHOTO: PATRICK J LEE The parish of St Michael the Archangel, Belfield, formally farewells Mrs Arlette Bowen,
Police officers arrive at St. Vincent’s Hospital following a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney Dec. 14, 2025. Two gunmen targeted Jewish beachgoers at an event celebrating the first
Police officers arrive at St. Vincent’s Hospital following a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney Dec. 14, 2025. Two gunmen targeted Jewish beachgoers at an event celebrating the first
Danial at the Rite of Election Mass. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 In 2025, the Life, Marriage and Family (LMF) team witnessed a vibrant renewal of faith and commitment, as
Fr Paul Van Chi, Parish administrator of St Therese’s parish in Lakemba, with his parishioners. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. In this season of Advent, as we prepare our hearts for the
Participants of an Alpha coaching day held in February 2025 in Sydney. Tania Rimac is pictured third from left. Photo: Supplied In 2025 the Parish Renewal Team (PRT) of the Sydney
Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney director of public affairs and engagement Monica Doumit. Photo: Supplied. Religious freedoms and threats to the Christian faith are at the forefront of a new podcast which assesses upcoming
Across Sydney, something remarkable is happening. In the midst of Advent and as the year draws to a close, the archdiocese is experiencing a revival of faith, community, and mission.
Choir Procession in the Town Hall. Photo: Supplied. A brand new Catholic Christmas Festival will bring together thousands of people this December at Sydney’s iconic Town Hall with two days of major
Purpose Fest was held on 2 July 2025 at Rosebank College in Sydney’s Five Dock. Photo: Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 By Julian Vieira “The church is not dead, it is not even tired!” (Benedict XVI). During the Jubilee Year
South Korean delegation at the return of the World Youth Day Cross and Icon at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney in preparation for World Youth Day in Seoul in 2027.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP announcing that the next ACYF will be held in Tandem with the International Eucharistic Congress in 2028. Photo: ACYF/Archdiocese of Melbourne. Addressing thousands at the conclusion
Christmas at the Cathedral as seen from Hyde Park. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2024 This year’s Christmas at the Cathedral takes audiences deeper into the spirit of Christmas
The two newly ordained priests, Fr Giovanni Julio Gonzalez and Fr Jorge Mairena Marquez. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. Two missionaries of the Neocatechumenal Way, Giovanni Julio Gonzalez and Jorge Mairena Marquez,
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 7 DECEMBER 2025 During the week before Christmas, as we celebrate with the Christmas at the Cathedral each night in Sydney, the Church sings a series
ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 6 DECEMBER 2025 (MOST REV.) ANTHONY FISHER OP, CHIEF CHAPLAIN OF THE ORDER OF MALTA IN AUSTRALIA A recent McCrindle report offers a fascinating snapshot of
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 5 DECEMBER 2025 Coffee: humanity’s love affair with it is remarkable. It’s estimated we consume over two and a quarter billion cups every day or 26,000
About 400 parishioners from the St Catherine Labouré Gymea parish packed Doltone House in Sylvania Waters to listen to Moira Kelly AO in this year’s 4th annual Laboure Lecture, Photo:
Fr Anthony Robbie hosting an Order of Malta dinner in Bondi. Photo: Supplied. Christmas is for some one of the most isolating times of the year, especially in a cost-of-living
2024 Christmas at the Cathedral with the Elachi family. Photo: Supplied. For Sydney families searching for a magical, affordable Christmas experience, ‘Christmas at the Cathedral’ offers the perfect night out.
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 4 DECEMBER 2025 The slang name for diamonds is ‘rocks’ as when someone remarks on ‘the size of the rock’ on someone’s finger. It’s an ironic
Student catechists with Bishop Daniel Meagher. Photo: Supplied. Some of the archdiocese’s dedicated special religious education (SRE) catechists have been recognised for their years of mission in the annual Archdiocesan Catechist Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
Sisters of life visiting St Joachim’s in Lidcombe to help run the Advent retreat. Photo: Patrick J Lee. Women from across Sydney gathered in their hundreds to spend the day
Sydney pilgrims getting ready for Day 2 of ACYF in Melbourne. Photo: Supplied. As Sydney pilgrims prepared for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne, the Sydney Catholic Youth Team
All liaisons for the International Eucharistic Congress 2028 at a retreat held at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney. Photo: Supplied. From across the country they came: Perth, Geraldton, Darwin, Adelaide, Rockhampton and
Melbourne Convention Centre, 2 December 2025 Over these days something powerful has been moving among you. The hunger for God, the courage to seek Him, the joy in finding Him
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH FESTIVAL (ACYF), MELBOURNE, 1 DECEMBER 2025 Doom scrolling. You’ll be familiar with the concept: going through your app of choice and being confronted with a seemingly endless
It is in ordinary deeds that we imitate the selfless love of Christ and are conformed to being like Him. It is there that we build up our families, community,
The World Youth Day cross and icon are carried through a crowd of pilgrims in Sydney, Australia, July 14. The two symbols of the international Catholic youth gathering were brought
Deacon Peter Van Khuơng Tran at his ordination. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. It’s not often that two men from a single parish are ordained as deacons in a single week. But 2025 was a lucky year
The Booklet for the ordination to the diaconate for Deacons Philip and Robert. Photo: Patrick J Lee. After years of prayerful discernment and study and with the loving support of
Fr John Iacono and Mark Kazzi. Photo: Supplied. St Charbel’s Maronite Catholic Parish in Punchbowl and a local kickboxing studio have hosted dozens of men seeking a morning of prayer,
Fr Michael McLean greets parishioners after Mass. Photo: Supplied. St Mark’s parish in Drummoyne said farewell to its long-serving parish priest, Fr Michael McLean, along with priest-in-residence Fr Denis Minns
A prayer vigil commemorating Red Wednesday. Photo: Supplied. By Staff writers and OSV News St Mary’s Cathedral and St Maroun’s Cathedral in Redfern joined 14 other cathedrals and churches across
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP with Hayden Ramsay. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. Significant contributors to Australian Catholic education in Sydney have been honoured with knighthoods in the Order of St Gregory the
This Christmas, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP warmly invites everyone to join him for Christmas at the Cathedral, an event that has grown to become Sydney’s ultimate free Christmas event.
Sr Miriam James Heidland SOLT in Sydney at the Catholic Women’s Network conference in September. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. When the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation first began connecting with international guests and collaborators
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL HOUSE, SYDNEY, 20 NOVEMBER 2025 Of all the Knights of the Round Table in the great Arthurian legends, Lancelot du Lac is probably the most famous. His
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 19 NOVEMBER 2025 Ours is a service economy. Over the last 25 years, services have grown so much that they now account for about 80% of
Twelve-year-old Eimear, second from left. Photo: Supplied. Twelve-year-old Eimear is preparing to make history at this year’s Carols at the Cathedral on 16 December, when she takes her place among
The founder of the St Merkorious Charity, Paula Nicolas, received the Archbishop of Sydney’s Dempsey Medal during the celebration, recognising her years of service to the disadvantaged. Photo: Alphonsus Fok.
Crowds enjoy the opening night of the Lights of Christmas at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral. PHOTO: Giovanni Portelli This Christmas will not only see St Mary’s Cathedral transformed by a breathtaking light spectacular, but Sydney’s iconic mother
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 16 NOVEMBER 2025 A flutter on the Melbourne Cup is all very well, but these days you can bet on rather more consequential things. You can
For Catholics it’s a unique experience: Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP carries the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Sydney. Photo: Giovanni Portelli By Rob Snell, Evangelisation Officer University Chaplaincies Central to our
Sr Mary Grace SV shares her hopes for the Sydney tour of the Sisters of Life. Photo: Sisters of Life, Martin Jernberg Photography As Christmas fast approaches, Catholic women across
Soon to be permanent Deacon, Robert Tonkli as he was walking the Camino. Photo: Supplied. Two permanent deacons will be ordained by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on 19 November. This
Visitors pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in pilgrimage Feb. 8, 2025, as part of the Jubilee of the Armed Services, Police and Security
Christmas at the Cathedral will be on this year from 17 – 25 December. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2024 The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney invites one and all
Over two inspiring days, the Alpha Catholic Conference ignited the faith of more than 200 Catholics from across Australia, providing a powerful celebration of formation, fellowship, and expert guidance. Attendees were equipped and
The Sisters of Life. Photo: Supplied. For most women, Christmas is an annual exercise in chaos management and seasonal survival. Hope and renewal might be the last two gifts on
Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR passed away age 85. Photo: Miracle Prayers Facebook page. Sydney Catholics are mourning the loss of four community stalwarts after the death of Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR due
St Marys Cathedral choir. Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2022 Musical and spiritual history will be made this Christmas at the annual Carols at the Cathedral concert. The St Mary’s Cathedral
Parish of the Holy Martyrs Andrew and Agnes, Malabar–Matraville, celebrating their first parish annual dinner. Photo: Patrick J Lee. Catholics of the Parish of the Holy Martyrs Andrew and Agnes,
St Mary’s Cathedral, 2 November 2025 It’s been voted the greatest of all movie songs. Yet Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” nearly didn’t make it into the Final Cut
Heavenly treasure is what our hearts most deeply crave: the riches of grace, mercy, love. Photo: Pexels.com. This is the edited text of the homily for Monday of the 19th week of ordinary
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART CATHOLIC CHURCH, RANDWICK, 26 OCTOBER 2025 Preachers have observed that the letter “I” sits squarely in the middle of the words “pride”, “sin” and
In an historic moment for the church in Sydney, the third and final of the regional Synod consultations saw hundreds of Sydney faithful gather to offer their ideas for the
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP delivering a bioethical “state of the nation” address in Melbourne. Photo: Michael Wong, courtesy of Melbourne Catholic. Bioethics might seem a niche interest for physicians
If you were to interview the nearly 60 couples celebrating marriage milestones at Life Marriage and Family Sunday, and ask them the secret to their successful unions, two words would
Life, Marriage and Family Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. Photo: Giovanni Portelli 2025. This is the edited text of the homily given by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on the
REDEMPTORIS MATER SEMINARY, CHESTER HILL, 20 OCTOBER 2025 The idea of a treasure hunt might seem a vestige of the old world—a throwback to childhood stories of pirates’ maps, secret
CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP CENTRE, EAST MELBOURNE, 17 OCTOBER 2025 1. If only we still had Nick… In the last month alone, there have been news reports of campaigns here in Victoria
Renewed for Mission Day attendees from Our Lady of Mt Carmel Mt Pritchard 2025. Photo: Supplied. The parish community of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Mt Pritchard gathered for
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP giving his talk, ‘God-Obsessed’ to those present at the Thomistic Institute Sydney chapter at the University of Sydney. Photo: University Catholic Chaplaincy/Supplied The Thomistic Institute Sydney
Bishop Michael Gielen on a recent trip to Europe. Photo: Supplied. Excitement is building across Sydney as parishioners prepare to step into their calling at “The Way of Hope”, the
The statue of St Luke. Photo: Supplied. St Luke’s parish in Revesby, in Sydney’s south, has unveiled six new statues to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the primary school. Four
Christopher West speaking at Seymour Centre in Chippendale in 2016. Photo: Giovanni Portelli In a world with over 80 gender options, where parents can often feel like they’re paddling against
Pets receiving a blessing at St Patrick’s in Mortlake. Photo: Supplied. Sydney’s furry friends have made a welcome addition at parishes across the city as pet owners line up for
Marvin Do’s path to Catholicism began in an unlikely place – his home gym in Western Sydney. Born into a Buddhist family in New Caledonia and raised in Australia, Marvin
Conference on “Aquinas and the Vita Contemplativa” Campion College Toongabbie, 11 October 2025 Introduction: St John XXIII on the authority of St Thomas Even if St Thomas Aquinas thought we
Stunning View of Interstellar Nebula in Deep Space. Photo: Pexels.com/Yihan Wang. This is the edited text of the Homily for Mass at the ARC Conference, Tuesday of the 6th Week
Annual Père Laval Mass at St Joseph’s Catholic parish in Moorebank. Photo: Supplied. Amidst joyful songs of devotion, the Mauritian Catholic community gathered to celebrate the annual Père Laval Mass
Fr Corrado Maggioni SMM, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, with Bishop Richard Umbers. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. “This is My Body, Given for You” has been chosen
Fr Yacub Barkat with parishioners at St Gabriel’s church in Bexley, part of St Mary MacKillop Parish, Rockdale City. Photo: Alphonsus Fok St Gabriel’s church in Bexley is one of
Sr Elena Marie Piteo OP will be delivering the keynote address at the upcoming ‘Way of Hope’ Alpha Catholic conference. Photo: Supplied. As the ‘Way of Hope’ Alpha Catholic Conference
Nearly 20 years after people filled Royal Randwick Racecourse for Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, nearly 1000 Catholic women met there again to be refreshed in their work of transforming
Fr Chris Ryan MGL, parish priest at St Declan’s in Penshurst. Photo: Supplied. As the parish priest at St Declan’s in Penshurst, Fr Chris Ryan MGL has been more than
St Pier Giorgio Frassati. Photo: Luciana Frassati/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain This is the edited text for the Homily for the Solemn Mass of Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)
Fr John Burns and Sr Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, leading the day of renewal for religious sisters. Photo: Supplied. The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has hosted religious from across the
Parish priest of Ryde-Gladesville Parish Fr Greg Morgan with the Herring family. Their son’s terminal condition has united the parish in faith and service while a food van on the
Gymea parishioners experience how food and faith come together at Alpha. Photo: Supplied. Fr Greg Morgan from St Catherine Labouré Gymea is candid when he speaks about his relationship with
Jacinta with her daughter Madison Blake and grandaughter Sophia Crewther. Photo: Supplied. The National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) is on the search for Jacinta Collins’ successor after almost a decade of leading Australian Catholic education through a period of uncertainty to
Fr Paul Van Chi, Parish administrator of St Therese’s parish in Lakemba. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. The Little Flower has got her mojo back. After many humdrum years, St Therese’s parish
Fr John Burns speaking at the Fidelis event at Canterbury Leagues Club. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Beloved Catholic author and speaker Fr John Burns, from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2025 67 episodes were screened of the reality TV series The Secret Millionaire in the UK (2006-12), 25 in America, 8 in Ireland and
On 20 September, the Cathedral Hall at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney echoed with the sound of more than 300 men reciting the rosary at the opening of the third
As many of the 2.5 million men who live in Sydney settled in for a night of footy, beers and the couch, more than 1200 Catholic men chose something totally
The Synod consultation for All Saints, Liverpool will be on Thursday, 16 October 2025. Photo: Supplied/Dani. Douglas Colbran, the newly-appointed youth and young adults coordinator at All Saints Liverpool, is
Joan and Declan with Dr Christopher West. Photo: Supplied. For Joan and Declan Sally, Theology of the Body is more than a course – it’s been a wellspring of truth
A portrait of Jiddu Krishnamurti. Photo: Picryl.com. This is the edited text of the Homily for Evening Mass of the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), St Mary’s Cathedral,
On 20 September, the Cathedral Hall at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney echoed with the sound of more than 300 men reciting the rosary at the opening of the third
Bishop Michael Gielen with his parish family in Christchurch. Photo: Supplied. Bishop Michael Gielen from Christchurch, New Zealand, is bringing a message of hope and practical evangelisation when he speaks
Former parish council chairman Hugh De Lapp and his wife Lorraine, of St Christopher’s, were honoured for their extensive catechetical and evangelisation support. Photo: Mat De Sousa Within the two
Construction for the Sydney Archdiocese’s new archives building has officially begun. L-R: Chris Meney, Chancellor, CAS; Jobelle Magno, Digital Records Specialist; Eliza Tome, Digital and Archival Information Assistant; Theresa Schaefer,
St Pier Giorgio Frassati. Photo: Picryl.com. This is the edited text of the Homily for Mass of the Memorial of St John Vianney — in the Company of St Catherine
Antonella and Daniel Mifsud on their wedding day. Photo: Supplied. For Antonella and Daniel Mifsud, Life Marriage and Family (LMF) Sunday is a chance to remember what matters most. “It’s
Amanda (far left), Joanna (third from right) and Lisa (far right) with friends who attended the retreat. Photo: Supplied. Anticipation is building for the Anointed Women’s Conference on 27 September,
Throughout August and September, the Parish Renewal Team within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation held workshops to help parish pastoral councils in their vital work supporting Sydney parishes. With the
The funeral Mass held in Our Lady of Fatima Church where Monsignor Kerry Bayada was farewelled. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Monsignor Kerry Bayada was farewelled on Tuesday,
IMAGE: Freepik Labor is favoured to win Saturday’s by-election for the NSW State seat of Kiama. But the crowded field of 13 candidates, its turbulent recent history, and changing demographics
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from the popemobile after celebrating the canonization Mass of Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 7,
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 31 AUGUST 2025 “Selfie museums” are a curious invention of our age. Carefully staged spaces, filled with colour, mirrors, artworks, monumental or scenic backdrops, they are
Archbishop Christopher Prowse, pictured earlier this year. Photo: Paul Osborne ACBC. In 1950, Catholic bishops issued On Immigration, a landmark pastoral letter urging the community to offer generosity to those
This is “Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene After the Resurrection” by the Russian painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov. Because Mary’s heart has been turned toward Christ through conversion and repentance, she
Bede Alexander, founder of Fit for the Kingdom. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 For Bede Alexander, the 23-year-old founder of “Fit for the Kingdom,” the Camino of St
St Peter Chanel Primary School celebrated 100 years of education. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 St Peter Chanel Primary School in Regents Park recently celebrated (8 August) its
Bishop Tony shared both his vocational journey and his passion for making St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (TOB) accessible to all. Photo: Supplied. On Saturday 9 August, many
Five Dock was transported to Italy on 17 August as the street turned out for celebrations of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Photo: GIOVANNI PORTELLI 2025 If the Sydney
SEMINARY OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, HOMEBUSH, 15 AUGUST 2025 The Church has just been celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea which ran from May to July 325.
Pope Francis has invited the whole church to reflect on the path of synodality, which is both the way of life and the fundamental action of the church. “It is
Farewell Mass for the Marist Fathers who have looked after St Patrick’s Church Hill for 157 years. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 St Patrick’s Church Hill is everyone’s
The Virgin in Prayer by Sassoferrato. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. This is the edited text for the homily for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary-Youth Pilgrimage for the Jubilee
In an age where young men can struggle to find authentic role models and meaningful community, the Camino of St Joseph offers something different—a call for the ordinary to become
Sr Miriam James Heidland SOLT will be the guest keynote speaker at the inaugural Women’s Conference. Photo: Supplied. She is one of the most prominent female voices in Catholic media
Fr Benjamin Saliba with Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the Vatican. Photo: Vatican Media. Fr Ben Saliba, master of ceremonies for Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, was
Archbishop W. Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kan., displays his pallium at the Pontifical North American College in Rome after receiving it from Pope Leo XIV during a Mass for
Mateo and Katerina with their children. Photo: Supplied. When Katerina Poljak encouraged her husband Mateo to join the Camino of St Joseph pilgrimage last year, she could never have imagined
SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER 2025 Life. Marriage & Family Sunday Married couples are invited to come to the 10:30am Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday 19 October, with an opportunity
Vlado with his companions team he established in his parish. Photo: Supplied. For decades, Vlado Kevric thrived in the corporate world, managing teams of over 100 people across insurance branches
BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA, ROME, 4 AUGUST 2025 Male and female, tall and short, young and old, clerical and lay, alive or dead at the moment: sainthood comes
Armed with their ideas and a vision for the future church in Sydney, families are ready to seize this rare opportunity to help steer the future of their faith at
Tomasz delivers an introduction to a fortnightly course based on St John Paul II’s Love and Responsibility at St Joseph’s Catholic church, Moorebank. Photo: Supplied. Every Catholic revert has a
Domus Australia, Rome, 1 August 2025 I. Winter for the Church Yesterday it was announced that Pope Leo will soon declare St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church.
Vatican Obelisk St Peter’s Square. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. This is the edited text of the Homily during the Mass of the Apostles Peter and Paul Youth Pilgrimage for the Jubilee
For parishes without existing councils, these workshops offer an ideal starting point. For those with established councils, the sessions provide concrete direction and strengthening of existing efforts. Photo: Supplied. In
SFORZA CHAPEL, BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE, 30 JULY 2025 Many years ago I saw a very beautiful image of The Virgin at Prayer in the Dominican church of St
Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2024 The Sutherland Shire will witness something extraordinary on 5 September as a thousand Catholic men walk on the Camino of St Joseph, an
As Catholics across Sydney prepare to share their practical ideas for the church’s growth at three upcoming Synod consultations—beginning on 30 August in Menai—parish communities are already actively exploring ways
ALTAR OF THE CHAIR, ST PETER’S BASILICA, ROME, 28 JULY 2025 You’ll have noticed the granite obelisk, reaching 41 metres up to the skies, in the middle of St Peter’s
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP giving his homily for the Solemn Mass of the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Dempsey Medal awards. Photo: Patrick J Lee. This is the edited
Sydney pilgrims bound for the Jubilee of Youth take one last photo before boarding their flight to Rome via Poland on 20 July. Photo: Moments with Jazz Photography. Teary farewells
BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE, 23 JULY 2025 This Tempio dell’Itale Glorie (Temple of Italian Glories) boasts tombs and monuments of including the humanist-architect of Sta Maria Novella Alberti, the
St Charbel Statue at St Luke’s Parish in Revesby. Photo: Patrick Tadros. Modern life is abuzz with 24/7 distractions. Perhaps the 19th century Maronite hermit, St Charbel, has the answer
Marun and two of his sons. Photo: Supplied. No other event in the Catholic calendar offers a more profound opportunity for fathers and sons to walk together in faith than
METROPOLITAN DUOMO OF THE NATIVITY OF ST MARY, MILAN, 22 JULY 2025 We don’t know for sure which parts of the Mary-Mag Myth are really hers, but she got a
Members of the Chinese Catholic Pastoral Community with Tania Rimac from the Parish Renewal Team for a leadership renewal conference. Photo: Supplied. Members of the Chinese Catholic Pastoral Community gathered
Fr Laurie Foote OP speaking with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the latest Grace and Truth night. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. St Mary’s Cathedral hall was transformed into a classroom in
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
MEN’S BREAKFAST is on the third Saturday of each month. It is a great opportunity for men to catch up over a hot breakfast before hearing an inspirational talk on
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
Meeting on the third Friday each month from 7.30pm in Parish Hall Contact: jbmg@johnthebaptist.org.au https://www.johnthebaptist.org.au/john-the-baptist-mens-group
The Furnace occurs every third Friday of the Month at Cafe Valerio which is at St Christopher Holsworthy parish. This is open to all men from 18 years and above.
The Furnace occurs every third Friday of the Month at Cafe Valerio which is at St Christopher Holsworthy parish. This is open to all men from 18 years and above.
The Furnace occurs every third Friday of the Month at Cafe Valerio which is at St Christopher Holsworthy parish. This is open to all men from 18 years and above.
The Furnace occurs every third Friday of the Month at Cafe Valerio which is at St Christopher Holsworthy parish. This is open to all men from 18 years and above.
The Furnace occurs every third Friday of the Month at Cafe Valerio which is at St Christopher Holsworthy parish. This is open to all men from 18 years and above.
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
Catholic men and their sons from Merrylands and surrounding suburbs are invited to St Margaret Mary’s Men’s Rosary Crusade devotion on the first Saturday of each month on the church
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
*6.00AM* Recitation of the Holy Rosary before the Grotto of Our Lady at St Christopher Holsworthy, followed by *Cafe Valerio* breakfast and fellowship Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! God
As we contemplate our Faith on this sacred journey during the Holy Year 2025 as Pilgrims of Hope, let us deepen our trust in Divine Providence, surrender to the will of our
As we contemplate our Faith on this sacred journey during the Holy Year 2025 as Pilgrims of Hope, let us deepen our trust in Divine Providence, surrender to the will of our
As we contemplate our Faith on this sacred journey during the Holy Year 2025 as Pilgrims of Hope, let us deepen our trust in Divine Providence, surrender to the will of our
(L-R) Sean Rahilly, Dr Renee Kohler-Ryan, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, Mary Anne Carroll OAM and Michael Digges. These four Sydney laypeople were among the last Catholics worldwide to receive papal
Head coach Fr David Romero CRS coaches the children as they go through their basketball drills at St Christopher’s Primary School Hall in Holsworthy. Photo: Alison De Sousa Worried about
As a young Islander growing up in Sydney’s outer western suburbs, seeking to escape the relentless cycle of poverty, gangs, and alcohol abuse, Josh Mokoroa called out for Jesus. The
PURPOSE FESTIVAL 2025 – Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 This is the edited text for the homily for Votive Mass of the Holy Eucharist, Sydney Catholic Youth “Purpose
Marini Logarti and her volunteers. Photo: Supplied. What happens when a trained nurse discovers that God has gifted her in ways she never imagined? For Marini Logarti, “Called and Gifted”
(L-R) Nathanael, Matthew, Marcus, Marius, Natalie, and Hanita Adhi Hiu. Photo: Patrick J Lee. Serving God is a family affair for the Hiu family. All five members are involved in
The 2025 St Joseph Camino Walk will take place on 5-6 September. Photo credit: Giovanni Portelli As the St Joseph Camino Walk approaches on 5-6 September, Michael Jaksic, Life, Marriage
Bishop Daniel Meagher. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Bishop Daniel Meagher says the Archdiocese of Sydney is well on track to follow the Vatican’s guidelines for the implementation
Michael Harvey. Photo: Supplied. In a time when many parishes are seeking renewed vitality and deeper engagement, the role of hospitality and invitation has never been more critical. Recognising this
Fr Peter Smith of St Augustine’s Church in Balmain. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. Fr Peter Smith of St Augustine’s Church in Balmain has a vision for the parish as a visible,
OUR LADY OF MT CARMEL PARISH, MT PRITCHARD, 13 JULY 2025 Today I am wearing the pallium, a three-finger-wide band of lambs’ wool, intimating the Good Shepherd carrying the lost
The experience begins with a luminous church window framing a radiant image of Blessed Carlo Acutis, hovering inches before your face. As angelic music plays and hues of blue transform
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 6 JULY 2025 The first Hobbit film was released in 2012 and grossed over $1b at the box office. Gandalf the wizard tricks Bilbo the hobbit
Few events seamlessly blend cutting-edge VR technology with the timeless thrill of door prize giveaways—yet that was Purpose Fest, a vibrant celebration of young Catholic life held on 2 July
Stanmore Annandale Curious Grace event 2 July. Photo: Supplied. A Sydney parish in the inner west has launched a monthly drop-in centre aimed at reducing isolation and stigma for people
The Holy Trintiy. Image: rawpixel.com This is the edited text of the homily given by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP for the Homily for Mass For the Solemnity of the Most
ROSEBANK COLLEGE, 2 JULY 2025 The Guardian recently ran an article on ‘aura farming’—curating the coolest, most confident or most mysterious version of yourself.[1] Popularised by video games, TikTok and
It’s an image wrapped up in a mystery, woven into the fabric of faith and now, increasingly, supported by science. The Shroud of Turin, believed by many to bear the
Frances Watton. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 St Declan’s Church in Penshurst has created a guide to help neurodivergent children and adults better understand and participate in the
An icon of Sts Peter and Paul. Photo: Pexels.com. This Sunday we celebrate the great feast of Saints Peter and Paul. While many aspects of their saintly lives and journeys
Jubilate Deo Choir singing at the Mass for the Jubilate Deo Program on the Memorial of St Anthony of Padua. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 This is the
New exhibit Carlo Acutis: A Light in the Digital World marks a bold new chapter in digital evangelisation. Photo: Supplied. See the world through his eyes, experience his unwavering faith,
Celebrating the life of St Josemaria Escriva. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 St Mary’s Cathedral was packed this week for a Mass to mark the 50th anniversary of
Corpus Christi Procession for 2025 with St Charbel Maronite Church, St John the Beloved Melkite Church and St Jerome’s Punchbowl. Photos: Giovanni Portelli Photography 2025. A record number of parishioners
Akos Hollai and the lectern he crafted for St Michael’s Parish in Meadowbank. Photo: Supplied. The new lectern that sits on the altar of St Michael’s Parish at Meadowbank is
The retreat was organised by the Parish Renewal Team (PRT), within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation to assist Parish priests and Administrators, Assistant priests, Members of Parish Pastoral Council (PPC), PPC
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 22 JUNE 2025 There was great joy last week when Pope Leo announced that the first ‘millennial’ saint, Carlo Acutis, will be canonised on 7th September.
The Walk with Christ procession drew an unprecedented crowd of Catholics celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. Under blue skies and despite a winter chill, Sydney witnessed an
UNSW students, staff and visitors came together to celebrate Corpus Christi with a Eucharistic procession. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. On a chilly Thursday morning, UNSW students, staff and visitors came together
The Urdu-Hindi community celebrated the one-year anniversary of their inaugural Mass. Photo: Supplied/Elliot. Sydney’s Urdu-Hindi community celebrated the one-year anniversary of Mass celebrated in its native language, capping a remarkable
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the ordination of his Dominican brothers in Washington DC. Photo: Supplied. Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Brs Louis Mary Bethea,
At the recent Paschal Eucharist Mass, as the church in Sydney welcomed a cathedral full of proud new Catholics, one Campbelltown father of three stood proudest. Danial Fardon’s conversion to
Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2023 When asked what message he would share with the young Catholics gearing up for his appearance at Purpose Fest, Fr Gregory Pine OP,
The Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia’s newly renovated chapel. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 At St Joseph’s Convent in Regents Park, the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia come
ST MARTHA’S CHAPEL, LEICHHARDT, 17 JUNE 2025 ‘Demanding,’ ‘a perfectionist,’ ‘hard to work for’—these were the descriptions recently given by those who work for Jensen Huang, the Taiwanese-American CEO of
On 6 July, Maggie Cranney of St Joseph’s Church Como/Oyster Bay for 40 years will be presented with a Dempsey medal by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at St Mary’s Cathedral
The Urdu-Hindi community celebrated the one-year anniversary of their inaugural Mass. Photo: Supplied/Elliot. The Urdu-Hindi community celebrated the one-year anniversary of their inaugural Mass, performed in their native language, early
About Sacramental and RCIA ministries are at the very heart of parish life. Whether journeying with families to the sacraments or accompanying adults into the Catholic Church, your ministries are
By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to share Christ’s love and mercy with a sad and confused world, individually and as parish communities. This workshop series will
By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to share Christ’s love and mercy with a sad and confused world, individually and as parish communities. This workshop series will
All Saints Catholic Parish hosted Australia’s biggest morning Tea. Photo: Alex Woolnough Parishioners and dignitaries flocked to All Saints Catholic Parish in Liverpool to help raise crucial funds for cancer
Jubilate Deo choir singing for the Jubilate Deo Mass. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 The outlook for an inspiring choral experience on the feast of St Anthony of
ST ANTHONY OF PADUA CATHOLIC CHURCH, AUSTRAL, 15 JUNE 2025 Some years ago, a friend of mine was discussing the Holy Trinity with his Jehovah’s Witness sister and others who
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, MEMORIAL OF ST ANTHONY OF PADUA, 13 JUNE 2025 Human beings have been described as ‘rational animals’, ‘joking animals’, ‘linguistic animals’ and ‘religious animals’. But we
Jesus ascending to heaven. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. This is the edited text for the Homily for Mass of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Year C St Mary’s
The Mifsud Family. Photo: Suplied. There was a time when mother of nine, Yvonne Muller’s would bring her youngest, Tione, then aged one, to the Walk with Christ Procession to
THE BASILICA OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, WASHINGTON D.C. FEAST OF ST BONIFACE, JUNE 5, 2025 Unparalleled in wisdom about our origins, lives and destinies, about the
Catholics across the Archdiocese of Sydney are being called to take an active role in shaping the future of their church through the upcoming Sydney Synod 2026. A new video
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the Paschal Eucharist Mass. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. This is the edited text of the Homily for the Paschal Eucharist, Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year C),
Hundreds of teenagers walking in solemn silence. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2024 In a sea of remarkable scenes at the annual Walk with Christ procession, it could be
Michael Digges meeting Pope Leo XIV. Photo: Supplied, A morning at a Wednesday papal audience turned into an “unforgettable” moment for the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Michael Digges who was pleasantly
Speaking to a packed audience at the Four Seasons Hotel on 30 May, Archbishop Fisher highlighted several encouraging trends that point to a resurgence in faith engagement, particularly among young
Fr Tai’s ordination was held on 31 May and presided over by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at St Mary’s Cathedral. Photo: Alphonsus Fok After a long journey beginning as a
The Eileen O’Connor Centre has now opened in Coogee. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 The Eileen O’Connor Centre has opened in Coogee in Sydney’s east honouring the life’s
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 1 JUNE 2025 There are many stories from the Middle Ages about court jesters teaching their masters a thing or two. In one, a king is
ST MARY’S BASILICA SYDNEY, 31 MAY 2025 Unparalleled in wisdom about our origins, lives and destinies, about the perennial battle between good and evil, and about the possibility of redemption…
Four Seasons Hotel, The Rocks, 30 May 2025 Bishops, Fathers, Sisters, Sponsors, Business Networkers, Friends all, I. Winter for the Church 173 years ago, St John Henry Newman began a
Our term “digger” has a contested history. Some date it back to the gold rushes, others to the Aussie miners in South Africa around the time of the Boer War.
Streetscape view of St Brigid’s Church-School. Photo: Supplied. The weekend of 24-25 May brought to a close a series of special events to celebrate the 190th anniversary of St Brigid’s
Music at the Walk with Christ serves a crucial purpose. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2024 If an army marches to a beat, then the 20,000 strong Walk with
It was a day of celebration for the new Catholics of Sydney, as they were welcomed into the fullness of the faith by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at a solemn
Fr Paul Monkerud formally unveiled the parish’s new mission and vision on 25 May, Photo: Patrick J Lee. It was an historic and joyful occasion for All Saints Parish in
Associate Professor Philip Kariatlis of St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. In a world of military conflict and social polarisation, the Nicene Creed and ecumenical dialogue can
Giovanni Julio and Jorge Luis Mairena as they prepare for their diaconate ordination. Photo: Alphonsus Fok A soggy Wednesday, 21 May, saw the worst traffic jams and public transport chaos
Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass for Pope Francis. Photo: Giovanni Portelli. This is the edited text of the Homily for the Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass for Pope Francis, St Mary’s Basilica,
Archbishop Fisher OP hosts student leaders in Cathedral House. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025. Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP has held a school leaders’ lunch in Cathedral House, giving
Best-selling author and literary scholar Joseph Pearce. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 Best-selling author and literary scholar Joseph Pearce looks for beauty in places as diverse as the
NSW Premier Chris Minns popped in early, collecting a coffee from the van just as it opened at 7am. Images by Giovanni Portelli Photography © 2025 CatholicCare has held the grand
It’s this unification of joy, faith, strength and pride through the streets of Sydney’s CBD, that has a profound impact on its participants every year. Photo: Alphonsus Fok. Every year,
Bishop Peter Murphy as the 11th Bishop of Armidale. Photo: Supplied. The is the edited text for the homily for the Mass of ordination to the episcopate of Most Reverend
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who has chosen the papal name Leo XIV, appears on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican May 8, 2025, following his election
CATHEDRAL OF STS MARY AND JOSEPH, ARMIDALE, FEAST OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF POMPEI, 8 MAY 2025 Patrick White’s 1955 novel, The Tree of Man, chronicles the lives
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 2 MAY 2025 Alexander, the fourth century Bishop of Alexandria, once saw some kids playing by the sea, mimicking the ritual of Baptism. He asked who
ST MARY’S BASILICA, SYDNEY, 1 MAY 2025 “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and learned, and revealing them to mere
St Mary’s Catholic Church, Concord, 30 April 2025 Welcome to St Mary’s Church in Concord for the Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial for Fr David Coffey, a priest of the
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 24 APRIL 2025 Formerly known as the Glebe Island Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in Australia was completed in 1995. In a ceremony in 1998 it
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
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
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
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,
GLADESVILLE, 9 MARCH 2025 Rob Parsons is an author, speaker and founder of Care for the Family, a UK-based charity that focuses on marriage, parenting and bereavement. His great contribution,
DOMUS AUSTRALIA, ROME, 5 MARCH 2025 Is the human attention span shrinking? The question is much discussed by psychologists, educators, tech gurus and social commentators.[i] Many students read only chapters
ST MARGARET’S AND ALL SAINTS LONDON, 18 FEBRUARY 2025 (FEAST OF BLESSED FRA ANGELICO) In December of last year, NASA telescopes in Chile identified a 100m wide asteroid, with the
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES, 11 FEBRUARY 2025 Most of you will be familiar with that great classic of English literature, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
ST JEROME’S CHURCH, PUNCHBOWL, 10 FEBRUARY 2025 My beloved Dominican brother, Fr Dominic Murphy, once gave a series on the Theology of the Body in which he proposed that all
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL SYDNEY, 9 FEBRUARY 2025 It’s an old fishing trick. In the days leading up to an expedition, experienced anglers cast a handful of bran or other roughage
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 3 FEBRUARY 2025 Antoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville, was the notorious Public Prosecutor during France’s ‘Reign of Terror’. For his outsized role in delivering thousands to
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 2 FEBRUARY 2025 A few days ago, the Church celebrated the memorial of St Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th-century Dominican friar who was arguably the greatest
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 29 DECEMBER 2024 It’s the original Home Alone story. Like many pious Jews, Joseph, Mary and the kid had their holidays in Jerusalem during the weeklong
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 15 December 2024 Can we measure happiness? One way might simply be to ask people how happy they feel on a scale of 1 to 10.
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one.
Take honour from me and my life is done.
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try.
In that I live, and for will I die.
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, Thursday 2nd Week of Advent, 12 December 2024 Sometimes in life we feel besieged, as though, in the words of our Gospel, the violent were taking
St Ambrose Catholic Primary School, 8 December 2024 Today the Parish of St Ambrose has celebrated a century of service to the district. It began as a few dozen Catholic
St Ambrose’s Parish, 8 December 2024 Last week (Lk 21:25-28,34-36) and this (Lk 3:1-6) we read from the Gospel of St Luke and will continue to do so every Sunday
Holy Innocents Croydon, 1 December 2024 Reading the tea leaves is a common expression for attending to signs and being prescient in interpreting them with a view to knowing the
Feast of the Holy Apostle Andrew, St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney, 30 November 2024 At first there was one. Andrew Johnson, fisherman from Capernaum, was a seeker. He had followed the
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 24 November 2024 Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper follows the lives of two young boys, Tom Canty and Edward Tudor, born on the same
As a genre, prison literature comes in many forms: narrative, poetry, journal entries, spiritual meditations, philosophical dialogue, just to name a few. Its popularity is understandable given the raw emotions that the thought of imprisonment evokes. Whether just or unjust, to be deprived of liberty…
Last week, much of the world watched on in anticipation for the results of the US Presidential Election. Broadcasters ran non-stop coverage of the count in real time, with panels of ‘experts’ analysing the results as they trickled in with fancy…
Sir Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, the 19th century Persian-Indian industrialist, founded India’s largest business conglomerate, the Tata Group, and established the eponymous city of Jamshedpur. In his lifetime he gave away more than $US100 billion in today’s values, far more than big…
In 2015, tech-giant Microsoft set out to build the world’s quietest room for testing headphones, microphones and the like.[1] After more than two years they had constructed a room of six layers of concrete and steel, sitting on vibration-damping springs. The floor is a grid of suspended cables and the walls…
Padraic Colum’s 1920 collection of Norse myths, The Children of Odin, was an example of the Celtic Literary Revival led by William Butler Yates Yeats, and including luminaries such as Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn. Odin was the Norse…
Greetings Hello brothers! My name is Michael Jaksic, and I’m humbled and honoured to be succeeding Ivica Kovac in this very important role as Life, Marriage, and Family Officer with
At the end of the Great Depression, social scientists enlisted a group of 268 sophomore students at Harvard, including the young John F. Kennedy, to be part of a longitudinal study aimed at better understanding happiness. The researchers traced the lives of the participants…
The British rock band Oasis recently sent the music world into a spin by announcing their reunion after a 15-year hiatus and proposing a 2025 world tour. One the most successful British bands of all time, Oasis dominated the 1990s pop scene, selling 70 million albums worldwide, until bandmates and blood brothers…
SEÑOR DE LA ASCENSIÓN CONCEPCIÓN PARISH, LA PRIMAVERA, CUMBAYÁ, QUITO “Stretch out your hand.” Simple words spoken to a man suffering from a withered hand—Luke tells us (Lk 6:6-11) it
QUITO ECUADOR, 6 SEPTEMBER 2024(MOST REV.) ANTHONY FISHER O.P. Excelencias, padres, hermanas y queridos amigos, en primer lugar, deseo felicitar a los organizadores del Simposio Teológico y del Congreso Eucarístico
The term ‘lawfare’ first came to prominence in 2001, when an American Air Force Colonel (now Major General and Professor of Law), Charles J. Dunlap Jnr, delivered a speech at Harvard University. He challenged what he saw as the weaponising of the legal system against the defence forces…
“Don’t shoot the messenger” is a popular saying, said to go all the way back to 441 BC when the great Sophocles wrote his tragedy Antigone. In one scene, a guard…
A distraught mother wails inconsolably as the corpse of her son is carried out for burial (Lk 7:11-17). We don’t know the cause of death, age of the deceased, or the family circumstances, but Luke the Beloved Physician is meticulous, as a health professional should be, in his observations and charting…
Stanislav Petrov: he’s been called “the man who saved the world”—a rather provocative title, since we know that Man and His Name wasn’t Stan…
The motto of the Olympics is ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’, Latin for ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’. It was proposed in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, the French educationalist, historian, and founder of the modern Olympic movement…
Parapraxis, according to Sigmund Freud, is an error of speech due to an unconscious wish or internal train of thought.[1] More than moments of humour and humiliation, these ‘Freudian slips’ (as they came to be called) are supposedly windows into our true thoughts and feelings…
The British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has an illustrious CV. For 13 years he held the University of Oxford’s Chair in the Public Understanding of Science and in 2001 was made a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society. He’s authored nineteen books and countless articles and received numerous honours. His most important work has been on the role of genes and DNA in evolution, culminating in his…
Jesus mostly eschewed the limelight, preferring to preach and heal through small gestures that encouraged and persuaded, rather than big ones that wowed and overwhelmed. But sometimes He “let rip”, as it were, and today was such a day. He goes up a mountain as if He were the new Moses. But where the first Moses went to converse with God, this One is revealed to be the very conversation of God, the Logos, communication…
I’m so grateful for the literary diet served me in my Catholic secondary school, named for St Ignatius whose feast it is today. We read Austen, Beckett, Blake, Bolt, Bronte, Chaucer, Chekhov, Conrad, Dickens, Donne, Dostoevsky…
In 1955, Life magazine published an article on a new trend sweeping through households known as ‘throwaway living’.[1] There was an image of a family tossing household items like crockery and cutlery into the air, delighting in the freedom that was said to come from disposability. By getting rid of things after one use…
The adventure film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, was released in the year 2000. It tells the story of Chuck Noland, a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on a desert island following a plane crash. As the sole survivor, he must fend for himself, finding food, water and shelter, and try to find a way back to civilisation…
The term ‘quiet quitting’ first appeared in the social media a little over two years ago. A 17-second video clip that went viral on TikTok sparked a global debate about work especially amongst young, disaffected professionals. The online trend quickly morphed into a broader social phenomenon, with countless articles appearing in the mainstream media…
A recent article in Seek.com outlined the importance of a well-crafted job description for attracting suitable candidates and establishing expectations for the role.[i] According to the experts, a good j.d. must showcase the company, describe the critical functions and core responsibilities of the position, and specify qualifications and rewards.
Your Beatitude, Ignatius Yousef III Cardinal Yonan, Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East; Your Graces of the Syriac Catholic Church, Mor Basilius Georges Casmoussa, Apostolic Visitor in Australia & New Zealand, Mor Ephrem Yousif Abba, Archeparch of Baghdad and Mor Barnaba Yousif Habash, Eparch of the USA…
Good evening and thank you Rabbi Elton for the kind introduction. It is a delight to be among friends at the Great Synagogue and a real honour to be invited to offer this address in memory of Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple and his contribution to Jewish-Christian relations. He truly was a trailblazer…
The term “communion” translates the Greek word κοινωνίᾳ koinonia and the Hebrew word חַבּוּרָה chavurah. Both indicated an association or cooperative, such as Jonah and Sons, and Zebedee and Sons, who were in partnership in the fishing business at Lake Galilee, until the boys ran away from home to join Jesus and fish instead for people. Already at the time of Jesus, as today, a chavurah or minyan of at least ten men was required to represent the community of Israel at a synagogue service, wedding or funeral…
It was probably the largest gathering ever held in Sydney. Half a million people packed the streets for a week. The opening and closing ceremonies gathered people of every stripe from all around our city, country and globe, ordinary people both young and old, and a Who’s Who of celebrities. Despite adverse publicity in the lead up, Sydney was a joyful host, and in the end almost everyone judged it a great success…
The year is 2035, hopefully my last as archbishop. I’ve just emailed my draft homily for Sunday to the Religious Safety Commissioner for her approval. She’s the independent regulator charged with ensuring that faith groups spread no discriminatory and otherwise harmful messages. With the help of AI, she vets all planned sermons and spiritual talks to be given in Australia each week, catching any inappropriate words or themes before they are spoken…
There’s a million dollar purse just waiting for you. All you have to do is be the first person to solve one of seven extremely complex maths problems.[1] Some of the conundrums are centuries old and have been attempted by some of the most brilliant minds in history. But in the 24 years since the Millennium Prize Problems were set and the reward offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute…
You’ve probably all heard of Siri, Alexa, Bixby and Google Assistant: in fact, at your young age, you probably know more about these things than I do. Some of you have already used them and most of you will in the future. They are virtual assistants for your smart phone, watch, tablet or computer, that perform tasks like reading out messages…
The Irish poet, dramatist and senator, William Butler Yeats, was one of the foremost literary figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1923 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for “his always inspired poetry, which in highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”[1] A central figure in the resurgence of Irish literature,[2] his influence stretched…
Twenty-eight years ago, following the Synod on consecrated life, Pope St John Paul II released his Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata.[1] Its opening sentence reads: “The Consecrated Life, deeply rooted in the example and teaching of Christ the Lord, is a gift of God the Father to his Church through the Holy Spirit.”…
Around 1600 Doménikos Theotok/ópoulos—known as El Greco—painted his Pentecost, now in the Prado in Madrid. Born in Crete, where he studied Byzantine iconography, he honed his skills at the feet of the master Titian, while imitating the likes of Michelangelo, Raphael and Tintoretto. Yet he had his own distinctive style, with tortuously elongated figures and phantasmagorical pigmentation…
I was there when Bishop Peter Ingham, during an Ad limina visit of all the Bishops of Australia to Rome, asked one of the gloriously dressed Vatican soldiers what country he was from. “Switzerland,” the guarded guard answered. “Switzerland?” Peter said, “I didn’t know there were Catholics in Switzerland.” Then he asked another of the guards, “And what country are you from?” “Switzerland,” the puzzled youth answered, to which the elderly Australian bishop responded…
The idea of the ‘golden ticket’ was first popularised in Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its subsequent film adaptations. A poor paperboy named Charlie Bucket has his life turned upside down when he finds a golden ticket in a chocolate bar, inviting him to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. He tours the chocolate palace with four other children: the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, the snobby Veruca Salt…
Is war just human nature? According to a recent article in Scientific American, answers to this question tend to fall into two camps. The ‘Hawks’ hold that taking up arms is an evolved human behaviour aimed at eliminating competitors. War is an expression of natural animal aggression and defensiveness, preferencing survival of the group…
In today’s Gospel Jesus is in the Temple on the winter Feast of the Dedication or ‘Hannukah’ (Jn 10:22-30). Just as it is today, it was celebrated around the time of His birthday. Jewish holy days are Scriptural in origin: Shabbat, the Saturday day of rest and weekly observance of God’s completion of creation; Rosh Hashanah…
Your Excellency, the Hon. Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales; Hon. Justice Stephen Gageler AC, Chief Justice of Australia with other members of the Federal and State judiciaries…
The Washington Post calls him “Britain’s rock-star shepherd”.[1] The “shepherd-author-influencer” with over a hundred thousand social media followers, James Rebanks rose to prominence off the back of his autobiography, The Shepherd’s Life (2015)…
In The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls the nineteenth-century American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a contemporary of John Bede Polding, used the imagery of an adventurer like Polding crossing oceans and lands to visit various communities, as a way to reflect on time and mortality…
The stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Father Isaac Royel is shocking and has caused distress to many in the community.
עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם Shalom aleichem. Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν Eirēnē humin. Pax vobiscum. Peace be with you. So Jesus greets His disciples in today’s Gospel (Lk 24:35-48) and His other post-resurrection appearances (Jn 20:19,21,26). It was, of course, His customary greeting, blessing and farewell…
It’s the holiest place on earth—the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem—and on entering it the first thing you see is the Stone of Unction, traditionally the slab upon which Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laid out the dead Jesus to embalm Him (Jn 19:39-40). Last year I was blessed to visit that place with Father Lewi…
The Holy Lance or Spear of Destiny is the one that pierced Jesus’ side in today’s Passion of St John (Jn chs 18 & 19 at 19:34). Like the Grail (or chalice) of the Last Supper, the Lance became the subject of various extrabiblical traditions, including the Arthurian legend. In Chrétien de Troyes’ medieval poem Perceval, the Fisher King has keeping of both Lance and Grail…
The quest for the Holy Grail was part of the Arthurian legend that evolved in the Middle Ages, first in Celtic ballards and then French romances.[1] In Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval, the grail was a miraculous food salver, protected by the Fisher King.[2] When Robert de Boron retold the tale in his Joseph of Arimathea, it had become the Chalice used by Our Lord at His Last Supper, now with healing powers…
Liquid gold. Homer’s ancient name for olive oil[1] has made a comeback, following a surge in prices across the Mediterranean.[2] Drought and a bacterial infection have seen global production fall this past year and the price of a litre of olive oil rise from €5 to as much as €20. Last week it was reported that olive oil is now the most shoplifted product in Spain, surpassing even razor blades, alcohol and ham, and shops…
‘Warts and all.’ It means an unsanitised picture or narrative of someone, free of enhancements, complete with flaws. It means being shown the unadulterated truth, the bad along with the good. Some ascribe the saying to Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector (or military dictator) in the 1650s…
“Sir, can we please see Jesus.” (Jn 12:20-33) They were Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem for Passover. They approached Philip because he spoke Greek like them. By now Jesus was the hottest ticket in town—the ancient near-eastern Taylor Swift—and to get near Him you needed connections. He was famed for His miracles, teachings, personality…
ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْ As-salamu alaykum, Peace up upon you. Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral House for our 14th annual Iftar dinner, honouring especially our Muslim leaders and people, but bringing together people of many faiths for feasting and friendship. My sincerest apologies for not being there is person: I have a light dose of Covid, and didn’t want to risk giving it to any of you, so we must meet through the ether…
Method: Marquette
Email: alisha@awarefertility.com
Website: awarefertility.com
“The Son of Man must be lifted up, like the serpent Moses lifted up in the desert” (Jn 3:14). It’s an extraordinary thing for Jesus to compare Himself with a snake, for in the ancient world serpent-gods were amongst the worst. Apep, the Egyptian god of chaos, took the form of a serpent. Medusa, the Gorgon sister of Greek mythology…
It was thought to be a rather ordinary Baroque painting, by an unknown disciple of Guido Reni, so its reserve price at a Paris auction house was €6,000. But the baroque depiction of Moses sold just over a year ago for a staggering €600,000.[1] Art dealer Fabrizio Moretti was so convinced of its worth, he outbid all the competition.[2] He had the painting restored, uncovering a striking luminesce beneath the ageing varnish and centuries of filth, and confirmed that it was by the Baroque master Giovanni Barbieri, known as “Guercino”—the squinter—because of a lazy eye that clearly didn’t compromise…
It was known as The Nuremberg Defence. Following the Second World War, an International Military Tribunal was established by the principal Allied powers, tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the most heinous of the Nazi “crimes against humanity”. The so-called ‘Nuremberg Trials’ convicted nineteen officials for their roles in planning…
The recently aired ABC docuseries Nemesis offers a dramatic account of the internal wars, external challenges and multiple leadership coups of the Liberal-National Party coalition when in power from 2013 to ’22. In particular, it charts the rise and fall of Prime Ministers Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, based on interviews with two of them and a supporting cast of ministers and staffers. It’s a captivating tale of the perils of power and personality, the egos…
Jonah was a prophet from the eighth century before Christ, whose tug-o-war with God gave us one of the great stories of vocational call and response, fright and flight, failure and success in a calling—all of which explains why we hear excerpts from the story in Lent, the season of return and reconciliation. But all most people know about Jonah is that he spent…
Whether it’s ads on TV or your smartphone, flyers in doctors’ surgeries, billboards at railway stations, everywhere we look, we’re challenged to “torch, tone and transform”—torch the fat, tone the muscles, transform our fitness. There are workouts designed for your particular body-shape and goals, dietary exclusions and supplements, lifestyle fixes, coaching and motivational techniques…
‘Life-extensionists,’ ‘immortalists’ or ‘longevists’—their goal is to live for as long as they can. Using tissue rejuvenation, regenerative medicine, molecular and gene therapy, stem cells, organ replacement, and pharmaceuticals, they try to push the boundaries of the human life span. The American tech entrepreneur, Bryan Johnson, has gone to extreme lengths, including multimillion-dollar…
Rod Serling’s popular sci-fi series, The Twilight Zone, ran for five seasons between 1959 and 1964. : Ranked amongst the most successful television series of all time, it had a reputation for suspenseful, mind-bending narratives that ended with a clever, unforeseen twist. The Twilight Zone has since been remade three times as a TV series and twice as a movie…
For thirty years now ‘adventure’ films have been the most popular; the related genre of ‘action’ films come in a close second. We laugh hilariously at well scripted comedies, are enthralled by tense dramas, and comforted by touching love stories. But ticket sales prove adventure attracts us most. What is it about the episodes…
In 1809 Governor Macquarie granted a thousand acres fifty kilometres south-west of Sydneytown to Robert Townson, Esq.[1] Townson was proficient in all branches of natural science, and also in Latin, Greek, French and German, and by far the most eminent scholar in the young colony of New South Wales…
A while ago TIME magazine published an article on “How to Raise Happy Kids.”[1] It began by noting that whilst there’s a plethora of information on how to raise successful and clever children —whether traditional, personal, pop cultural or more scientifically validated. But the overwhelming concern of parents is their children’s happiness. Moreover, wise…
Previously Chief Justice of Newfoundland, the Bermuda-born Scots lawyer, Francis Forbes, arrived in Sydney Town in March 1824 to assume the office of Chief Justice of New South Wales.[1] In May the Charter of Justice establishing the Supreme Court was proclaimed, and the oath of office administered to the newly appointed Attorney-General and Registrar. Practicing certificates were granted soon after. At that stage Forbes was not only the chief judge but the only one…
The idea of Terra Australis Incognita, a huge and mysterious southern continent, was born of two ideas in the ancient world.[1] First, it was hypothesised that if the world was round—as most experts in the ancient world agreed it was—then to keep the balance there would likely be a great land mass in the Southern hemisphere as big as Eurasia in the North, sustaining a large antipodean population….
Years ago, I was in a lift in Goold House, then the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s chancery building, when I overheard some officials discussing the translation of George Pell to Sydney. One remarked that his motto had been “Be not afraid” and wondered what his successor’s watchword would be. From the back of the lift I whispered, “Be very afraid!”…
“On the twenty-fifth day of December in the Year of Our Lord 2023, when ages beyond number had run their course since the redemption of the world; when century upon century had passed since the Cross called all humanity to peace; in the twenty-first century since the apostles went out to all the world; in the 78th year of the reign of the United..
Only four sleeps till Christmas or three for those attending the Midnight Mass. Three or four sleeps till we receive the greatest ever gift. What shall we call it? The Prophet Isaiah names it עִמָּנוּאֵל Emmanu-ēl, God-with-us (Isa 7:14; 8:8). But what kind of God is this God with us? A few verses later Isaiah gives us more names: פֶּלֶא יוֹעֵץ אֵל גִּבּוֹר אֲבִיעַד שַׂר־שָׁלוֹם Pe-leʾ yōʿēṣ ʾēl gībbōr ʾáḇīʿaḏ śar-šālōm, Wonder Counsellor…
Harald Gormsson (911- c. 985), son of Gorm the Languid, was a tenth-century King of the Danes (c. 958 – c. 985). He united what are today Denmark, Norway and Sweden as one Viking kingdom. He was the father of Sweyn Forkbeard, and grandfather of King Canute, the King of England who famously ordered the tide to halt and not wet his toe…
“Enjoy!” the young lady said to me as she handed me a café latte recently. My instinct was to correct her grammar, to suggest that “Rejoice” would be a better imperative or subjunctive verb. But you can’t complain when a young person is wishing you well, maybe even blessing you without realising it. And today is Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, as if the Church…
The Book of Genesis has many tales of sibling rivalry. The first brothers fight, and Cain kills Abel (Gen 4). There’s tension between Abraham’s son Isaac and his half-brother Ishmael (Gen 21). Isaac’s son Jacob fights with his twin Esau even in the womb and eventually steals his brother’s birthright (Gen 25 & 27). Jacob’s sons demonstrate the same family…
It’s not from the psalms, nor is it Bishop Brady’s personal anthem: no, the theme song of the American sitcom The Brady Bunch is one I suspect most of us of a certain age could sing from memory.[1] The pop culture phenomenon aired…
According to Dictionary.com, a ‘screenager’ is any teen or young person who is proficient at using smartphones, computers, or tech gadgets in general, and who spends considerable amounts of time on social media or gaming apps.[1] Screenagers are mostly Gen-Zedders, born between 1996 and 2010. They are the…
His name amongst Jews is Yirmeyahu (ירמיה), amongst Muslims Irmiyā, and for Christians Jeremiah “the weeping prophet” (c. 650-570 BC). To him are attributed the Books of Jeremiah, of Kings and of Lamentations. The last of these, from which we have just read (Lam 3:17-26), is a series of poetic laments…
The aphorism “Ipsa scientia potestas est”—knowledge itself is power—was coined by the English statesman and pioneer of the scientific method, Sir Francis Bacon in his Meditationes Sacrae (1597). It was simplified a half-century later in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan as ‘knowledge is power.’
Yet the idea goes back…
Cappadocia is now one of Turkey’s hottest tourist destinations, alongside Istanbul, Ephesus and Gallipoli. Sitting atop the plateau of the Anatolian peninsula with its idyllic rock formations, including caves, cliffs and sweeping valleys, it now attracts millions each year. But it’s not just a place of natural wonder. Cut into the rock are some the best-preserved churches…
It’s the tenth largest ‘economy’ in the world, with a turnover of between $US1.7T to 4.5T per year, placing it somewhere between Canada and Germany as an economic power.[1] Yet it’s illegal and costs far more jobs than it creates. I’m talking about the counterfeit economy. Not counterfeit currency: that’s going out of vogue. But counterfeit luxury…
Created by the Parish Renewal Team, this Advent Companion is designed to support parishes and individuals in fostering conversion and renewal in preparation for the Birth of Christ.
In 1792 the baby-faced Louis Saint-Just made his maiden speech in the National Convention, the new-formed parliament of the First French Republic. For the ambitious and idealistic young…
I recently returned from the month-long first assembly of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in the Vatican from 4th to 29th October at the behest of Pope Francis. The Synod is a representative episcopal body established by St Paul VI following…
The proverb ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’, is simple enough to understand: the promise of less is preferable to the possibility of more; security to be preferred to risk-taking; certainty over mere hope. The saying comes down to us from the late medieval Austin friar, John Capgrave…
I’ve recently returned from the month-long Synod on Synodality in Rome. Much of the media buzz around that meeting was about whether it would commend the ordination of women to the Pope. It didn’t. But it’s an elephant in the cathedral…
Last week the Governance Institute of Australia released their eighth annual Ethics Index which charts popular perceptions of how ethical is the conduct of those in particular professions and sectors. The 2023 results indicate that, as a nation, we expect more in terms of integrity, professionalism and honesty…
In ancient times the celestial spheres were thought to influence our health, moods, actions, fate. It’s not so crazy: after all, the sun is crucial for days and seasons, sleep and wake, photosynthesis and life. It’s light and warmth affects our moods, and some people suffer seasonal affective disorders. Its partner, the moon, influences the earth’s axis and wobble…
Over the last fortnight, the world has watched on in horror as two disasters struck North Africa. First, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake claimed around 3,000 lives as it devastated Morocco’s capital Marrakech and wiped-out whole villages in the Atlas Mountains. Those mountains rise by 1mm per year as tectonic plates press against each other, but roughly once-in-a…
In our highly sexualised culture, celibacy is often despised or belittled. It’s said no normal man would commit to it. Yet here in the Archdiocese of Sydney we will have four ordinations to the priesthood this year, we had five last year, six in COVID time, and six in the year before…
He was at the height of his powers going into the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The British sprinter, Derek Redmond, held the British record over 400m and the year before was on the relay team that upset the red-hot US squad, winning the world championships. His Olympic campaign couldn’t have started better: he blitzed the field in his qualifying heat and…
Method: Marquette
Phone:04 337 74451
Email: elizabeth@thenaturalfertilityproject.com
Having lost his only sibling, his mother and then his father before he reached adulthood, Karol Józef Wojtyła knew the importance of family. It would be one of his chief areas of teaching as pope, running like a watermark throughout his 27-year pontificate. Pope John Paul II believed the family is the school for a deeper humanity, the nursery of faith…
Many of our shared spaces are broken and we seem only able to see things through a hyper-tribal lens of progressive and conservative, us versus them. On hot-button topics there’s little room for civil exchange of views, reasoned arguments and openness to persuasion, nuance, compromise, or respectful disagreement; instead, we have slogans, vitriol…
Lately there’s been plenty of talk about UFOs, aliens, and interstellar travel: a former US official has even claimed under oath that government is in possession of a non-human spacecraft with some intact alien biological material! I don’t pretend to know the rights and wrongs of all of this, but I wonder what an alien species would make of a million plus adolescent humans…
“We don’t need no education,
We don’t need no thought control,
No dark sarcasm in the classroom,
Teacher, leave them/us kids alone”
Pink Floyds’ 1979 protest song, Another Brick in the Wall, was a massive hit…
With 87 winning teams in over 15 franchises so far, The Amazing Race is the most popular reality tv adventure show of all time. Teams of two with a limited budget traverse the globe on various forms of transport, navigating unfamiliar territory, solving puzzles, interacting with locals, and overcoming physical…
Weather charts, soil quality, ploughing, seeding, growth, pests and weeds, first-fruits, harvesting, grain yield (Isa 55:10-11; Ps 64(65); Rom 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23)—today’s readings are positively horticultural.
God is presented as a gardener from the…
José Salvador Alvarenga is hardly a household name, but perhaps it deserves to be. In 2012 José and his mate Ezequiel set out on a seven-metre fibreglass boat for a night of fishing off the Mexican coast. It proved to be a nightmare. A catastrophic five-day long storm left them with no engine or radio. They had no instruments to figure out their location…
Recently, some MPs joined some young people at the Federal Parliament to launch the ‘Make it 16’ campaign.[1] : They were supporting lowering the voting age so teens will be more politically engaged and bring their concerns to government. At present young people can work, pay taxes, serve in the armed…
Sixty years ago next month, the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land sent two bark petitions—framed by traditional ochre paintings—to the Federal Parliament, protesting the grant of mining rights in Arnhem Land and seeking…
As a Fisher I am pleased to observe that there’s plenty of Anglophone idiom about fish. When asked before the last conclave if he was in the running for pope, the late great Cardinal Pell said it was one thing to be “a big fish in a small pond” like Australia, but that there were “plenty of fish” in the sees of the universal Church. He was himself subsequently the victim…
Evoking Charles Dickens’archenemy of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (in A Christmas Carol 1843), the economist Joel Waldfogelhas written Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. He invites us to consider that “rooster sweater from Grandma or the singing fish from Uncle Mike” that we’ve…
Alexander III (356-323 BC) was tutored by Aristotle and mentored by his father Philip II, before assuming the throne of Macedon aged only 20. Over the following thirteen years he led military conquests of many lands from Greece to as far as India, creating one of the largest empires in history and inaugurating the …
My Lords Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green, Richard Umbers and Danny Meagher, Reverend Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Friends all: Welcome to my place. It’s a delight to have you all here this evening, as we bid farewell to Michael Moore as Director of Finance of the Archdiocese of Sydney. I welcome him and Elizabeth (his long-suffering better half), their daughters Jacinta and Adriana with Thomas, and Michael’s sister Maria…
Therapists and life-coaches describe it as the antidote to our fast-paced and distracted lives, and a remedy for many physical and psychological ailments.[1] Self-help guru Tony Robbins says it’s the best thing we can do for ourselves and others.[2] And Forbes magazine…
C. S. Lewis said that “In Heaven, everything is either silence or music.”[1] The Christian God is the Word, the God who speaks. Yet, paradoxically, He dwelt voiceless in His mother’s womb for nine months, entered the world as a wordless baby, lived in obscurity in Nazareth for most of His life, and accomplished His redemptive work muted in His Passion…
It’s a scene you could picture on the beach of Bondi or Manly on a summer’s day. A boy is digging a hole in the sand, frantically running backwards and forwards to the water’s edge to fill his little well with a seashell-full of seawater at a time. But strangely, instead of a lifesaver or bikini girl coming up to him, a bishop in full liturgical vestments…
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” These eight words, together with a rather catchy theme song immediately evoke the Mission Impossible franchise. I grew up with the TV series (1966-73, 1988-89) about a small team of secret agents who apply their strategies and skills against existential threats from cold war enemies, corrupt government…
You’re probably wondering about my immobility. I can confirm it wasn’t a skateboarding accident—although I do now have a knee scooter and I’ve been engaging in some stellar manoeuvres. Last month I went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group of Sydney Catholic school principals…
Health officials called her the Mystery Girl, following her rescue from the devastating earthquake in southern Türkiye and neighbouring Syria earlier this year. Three-and-a-half-month-old Vetin Begdas had been buried for five days beneath the rubble of her family home in Hatay province. Amongst the more than 50,000 dead were all Vetin’s siblings…
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ on the wall of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua is one of the most haunting representations of grief in Western art. Giotto situates Christ’s companions around His lifeless corpse after He has been removed from the cross. Each expresses grief differently: with hands joined in prayer, reaching out to touch…
It’s the most natural fear of all. Consciously or not, we do all we can to postpone it and to avoid thinking about it. We stave it off with medicine, hygiene, diet and exercise. But in the end death is inevitable: death and taxes, as they say. St Augustine called it “the debt that must be paid”.
When it comes to death, modernity…
We know what the proverb means, but not where it comes from. “The eyes are the window to the soul” has been attributed to Sophia Loren,[1] Charlotte Brontë,[2] Ben Jonson,[3] Shakespeare,[4] da Vinci,[5] Cicero[6] and the Bible[7], though none of them actually said it. The thought is that you can read on someone’s face and eyes what’s going on underneath and who they really are. Eyes are more than receptacles for light; they also give back…
‘The Wisdom of Crowds’ is the idea that by pooling information, experience and judgment, groups of people make better decisions than individuals alone. Writers in social psychology, market economics, evolutionary biology and other fields argue that, as social animals, we achieve much more by collaborating with others. It’s not a new idea: in the Politics…
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral House for our 13th annual Iftar dinner, honouring especially our Muslim leaders and people, but bringing together people of all faiths for feasting and friendship.
Representing our First Australians, I welcome Dr Lisa Buxton who heads our Aboriginal Catholic Ministry. Together with her I acknowledge the elders past and present of the Gadigal clan of Eora nation, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet…
‘Jesus wept.’ (Jn 11:35) It’s the shortest and most moving verse of the New Testament. In two powerful words we glimpse the fullness of Jesus’ humanity: that rather than expressing a divine distance, impassability and indifference, Jesus is God come close, so close He could be overwhelmed with compassion for the suffering sisters, so close He could know for Himself…
Mr Beast is the YouTube moniker of 24-year-old American internet sensation, Jimmy Donaldson. After a youth misspent watching silly video clips, he decided to go viral himself with a series of outlandish stunts: going to the same fast-food outlet a thousand times in a row; building an exact replica of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; reading every word in the dictionary; eating a golden pizza…
The artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT was launched recently, breaking all records by reaching 100 million users in its first month. (By way of comparison: Google took a year to get that number of users, Instagram needed two, and Facebook only got there after four years![1]). As a result, the OpenAI company…
Launched in 2010 by then Education Minister, Julia Gillard, the My Schools website was a smash hit from the get-go, amassing 1.5 million hits on its first day—and causing more than a few technical glitches. It was intended to offer parents, educators and community as much accessible information as possible about our schools. Student population data would socio-economic advantage…
It’s a well-known rule of social etiquette: never bring up politics or religion at a dinner party. What’s the go with this advice? Well, the thought seems to be: don’t spoil a social engagement by raising a topic that might prove divisive or even cause a heated disagreement. Questions concerning how we should be governed…
The heart is an amazing organ. Although hardly bigger than a closed fist, it beats more than 100,000 times a day without us even having to think about it. It pumps about 7,000 litres of blood around the body each day—the equivalent of a large household rainwater tank…
Übermensch was the name given by the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) to those who were above and beyond the ordinary run of human beings.[1] Sometimes the term is translated ‘Superman’, like the comic, TV and movie hero, but that’s not what Nietzsche meant. For him, the übermensch was no sci-fi being with otherworldly…
I’m delighted to be with you all this morning for the blessing and opening of Hartford College! The foundation of a new school is always a cause for celebration and hope, and I want particularly to congratulate the founding parents who had the vision and courage to bring this school to reality. I salute Board Chair Tim Mitchell, Penny Wright and the other directors, Principal Mr Frank Monagle and the growing teaching staff…
In 2007 Cardinal Pell issued guidelines reminding clergy that funeral homilies should focus on the Scriptures and the Catholic faith, especially regarding the Resurrection and God’s mercy, and not be a eulogy or canonisation ceremony for the deceased. So, this one last time, Your Eminence, I will try to do as I’m told…
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney for the Solemn Pontifical Funeral Mass for George Cardinal Pell, Companion of the Order of Australia, Prefect Emeritus of the Secretariat of the Economy, and our beloved former Archbishop.
George was born in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1941 to Margaret and George (Senior)…
In a recent Quarterly Essay entitled “Uncivil Wars: How contempt is corroding democracy”,[1] Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens addressed the contemporary phenomenon that every demographic feels victimised, and every issue draws sharp lines between us. Opposing sides consider themselves shamed and cancelled and regard the others as bullies and “deplorables”. Outrage and contempt are the emotions of the age. This undermines our ability to dialogue and govern…
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, all were keepers of sheep; Abel, Moses and David were also.[1] Like his ancestor Jacob, David called the Lord his ‘Shepherd’, and some of the prophets followed suit.[2] While Israel’s leaders often proved to be poor shepherds,[3] God promised them better ones, shepherds after His own heart…
Today we have lost a Cardinal of the Church, a former Archbishop of Sydney, a fine priest, a good Christian soul.
The Church in Australia and around the world is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Cardinal George Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney and of Melbourne.
Cardinal Pell’s episcopal motto was ‘Be Not Afraid’ and through good days and bad, he lived up to these words…
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”[1] So asks the heroine in Shakespeare’s romance-tragedy. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet could be Jack and Jill Smith for all she cared, as long as they were the same people, and they should resist the attempts of families and culture to pigeonhole them. Yet as romantic and postmodern as this might sound, it raises all sorts of metaphysical…
“He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not,” so the game goes as petal after petal is plucked from a daisy until the last petal answers the question. The history of ‘the Daisy Oracle’ has been traced through 19th-century classics such as Goethe’s Faust (1808) and Adam’s ballet Giselle (1841) back to the songbook of a 15th-century German nun (Clara Hätzlerin 1471) and before…
United with Pope Francis and Christians throughout the world, the Church in Sydney and Australia mourns the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, one of the greatest theologian-popes in the Church’s two-thousand-year history.
For more than 70 years, as priest-theologian, bishop-pastor, cardinal-prefect, teacher-pope and finally pope-emeritus, Joseph Ratzinger selflessly…
After a year of terrible war in Ukraine and disastrous floods closer to home, in which people have lost loved ones, homes, livelihoods, where are they to find security and hope? Amidst fragile recovery from pandemic and rising cost of living, how do we deal with anxiety and uncertainty?
At Christmas, God comes to us as a newborn baby, the most vulnerable…
There are a few contenders for the most iconic line in an Aussie film. Who could forget Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee (1986) saying: “That’s not a knife”? Or Farmer Hogget (played by James Cromwell) at the end of Babe (1995): “That’ll do pig, that’ll do”? But perhaps the most popular Aussie film line, if sheer recitations are anything to go by, are four words uttered by Darryl Kerrigan…
When St John baptised Our Lord in the Jordan, the Gospels tell us the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus. One might have expected thunder, lightning and quake, a pillar of cloud and of fire, a fearful voice from a burning bush, a vision splendid and stupefying of God upon a lofty throne surrounded by seraphim…
Earlier in the year at our Mass commemorating the 200th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of St Mary’s Cathedral, I spoke of the towering influence of some Irish pioneers of the early Church in Australia, the most prominent one going by the name of “Therry.” This Therry was…
Welcome to our Christmas at the Cathedral celebration at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. I acknowledge our hosts St Mary’s Cathedral and the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. I thank our sponsors, especially Paynter Dixon, the NSW Government, and CommBank; our collaborators Electric Canvas and Epic Team; our media partner Channel 7; and those providing music, entertainment or prayer here in the cathedral forecourt…
Professionally speaking, Luke was an overachiever. His ancient near eastern LinkedIn entry has him as a physician (Col 4:14), missionary (Acts 16:8-10; 20:5; Philem 24; 2Tim 4:11), and historian, whose publications include the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles (Lk 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-2) both of which made the New York Times Best Sellers list. Likely of Syrian background like Paul…
I suspect the groggy eyes of some of the congregation today have something to do with a certain football tournament taking place on the other side of the world. Some fanatics might have stayed up to watch Australia defeat Tunisia, and three more matches before coming to Mass! A few here might even have been interested in Croatia’s draw with Morocco last Wednesday or be up to see it go head-to-head with Canada…
Elizabeth (1207-31) was born possibly in modern-day Bratislava, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Queen Gertrude, sister of St Hedwig. At the age of four or five…
The recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II was mourned by millions the world over. A model of faith expressed in public service, of calm and steadfastness in adversity, and of leadership and comfort for her people, she loved Australia and Australians reciprocated. The crowds attending or watching her funeral rites…
In the liturgical calendar, today is the memorial of the dedication of two churches: the Basilicas of St Peter in the Vatican and of St Paul also outside the Aurelian walls. Why, we might wonder, do we have another feast of Peter and Paul in a calendar already overloaded with the feasts of the Conversion of St Paul on 25 January, the Chair of St Peter on 22 February, and St Peter and Paul on 29 June? It is understandable that Peter…
Recently three Catholic University of America researchers published Well-being, Trust and Policy in a Time of Crisis: Highlights from the National Study of Catholic Priests. It paints a rather bleak picture of priests’ fears of false accusations of abuse and of being abandoned by their bishop if that happened.[1] Ever since the U.S. Bishops’ instigated the Dallas Charter…
In the 1992 film, Forever Young, Mel Gibson plays a US Air Corps pilot Daniel McCormick, who has himself cryogenically stored for a year to avoid witnessing the death of his comatose girlfriend Helen(played by Isabel Glasser). But something goes wrong and he wakes…
This past week, the Church marked the sixtieth anniversary of opening of the Second Vatican Council. It was an event of epic, even biblical proportions. Where there were 200-300 bishops at the Councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Trent (1545-63), and just over 700 at the First Vatican Council (1869-70), nearly 3,000 bishops from 112 countries…
Productivity apps are among the most popular today. Driving this is the yearning to squeeze as much as we can out of each week, day and hour, to get more done, more efficiently. Of course, this push for greater productivity predates smartphones and apps…
The Bible is ambivalent about monarchy.[1] The kings of the earth threatened the security of Israel, and the people long resisted having their own king, lest he be a rival to God’s sovereignty. The Jews were taught to “put not your trust in princes, in mortal men in whom there is no help”.[2] On the other hand, they thought of God as their heavenly king …
He was only 15 when the Nazis deported him and his family to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister were killed on arrival. He felt his God and his soul died that day also, and all his dreams turned to dust. But the boy and his father were able-bodied and selected for hard labour. They were transferred to Buchenwald in Germany where the father died soon after. But the boy survived to be liberated …
Recently the ACCC reported that Australian businesses and consumers lost over $2B to scams and frauds in 2021.[1] This is more than double the amount lost in 2020. The numbers are staggering: more than one in ten adults has experienced some form of personal fraud, with credit and debit card …
Thank you, Ms Hastings. It’s a pleasure to be back with you for this feast, both liturgical and culinary!
This week our nation, the Commonwealth of nations, and the world beyond are mourning the greatest woman leader of modern times. Whatever our views of monarchy and democracy, of the past or present role of Britain and its children in the world, of colonisation …
Welcome to my place for tonight’s official launch of the Catholic Women’s Network, a ministry to acknowledge all that Catholic women bring to our Church and city, and connect and support them better. I welcome distinguished guests, friends and colleagues.
This initiative would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of its faith-filled organisers. Here I want especially to recognise …
It was born out of boredom. Birmingham was one of the most heavily bombed cities during World War II and so Anthony Pratt spent a fair share of his time bored in bomb shelters. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s murder-mysteries, as well as the parlour games of his youth, Pratt devised a “who done it” boardgame. Players …
The annual gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has been dubbed the “Oscars of Fashion.”[1] The event sees A-list celebrities, fashion royalty, the uber wealthy and politicians rubbing shoulders as they vie for the paparazzi’s attention by dressing in ornate themed costumes. Controversially …
All Australians are united in sorrow as we mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Catholic community pauses to remember a wonderful Christian woman.
While Her Majesty was not born to rule, posterity will record her reign as a benchmark against which leaders will be judged for generations to come.
Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as a model of public service …
I’m delighted to see so many faithful and joyful young people here today! Many say religious beliefs and values are out of favour with young people, that they’ve given up on God, and that while some are willing to volunteer for a bit for a good cause, they’ve largely moved on from those more idealistic days. Young people, the pundits claim, are more interested in getting ahead, having a series of short-term relationships …
The winner of the Most Outstanding Entertainment or Comedy Program at the recent Logie Awards was… Lego Masters. The hit show’s host, comedian Hamish Blake, also took home the prestigious Gold Logie for his role as the face of the program. Lego Masters is now in its fourth season and as the accolades prove, it’s a real crowd pleaser. The show charts …
“What is the good life?” Philosophers have offered their wisdom on the matter since time immemorial. Socrates thought it was about the quest for wisdom, Epicurus the pursuit of rather baser pleasures, Aristotle the cultivation of virtue, the Stoics a life in accord with nature. For the children of the Enlightenment, it was faithfulness to reason and freedom. Kant thought it was about fulfilment of duty …
They are called ‘eternal pictures’ due to their remarkable durability. Mosaics are intricate images formed by joining together thousands of glass and stone tesserae or tiles—some as tiny as 4mm square.[1] The ancient Mesopotamians, Greeks and Romans decorated temples, bathhouses and palaces …
Like most groups of teenage boys, the Wild Boars Soccer Team were a boisterous and adventurous bunch. They enjoyed each other’s company on and off the field, and regularly explored together the cave system near their local village in northern Thailand. Whether it was scrawling their names on the walls or initiating new members into the team, the caves …
Welcome to my place! I’m delighted to see so many here for what will be, God willing, two days of inspiring reflection upon Parish Renewal. I would like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the Parish Renewal Team and the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, for providing this opportunity to the Church in Sydney and beyond. The Archdiocese is blessed to have so many sharing their gifts …
In the introduction to his book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention, best-selling British author Johann Hari offers a striking illustration of our declining ability to be present and attend to the things right in front of us. On a recent visit to Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate in Memphis, he encountered devout pilgrims of the King of Rock and Roll, both young and old, taking in the experience …
Most ‘Reality TV’ is not be very real, but something about it captivates many Australians. Recent data suggest that half of the most watched shows in this country are in that genre; the rest are sports. These have included the finales of Masterchef Australia, The Block, Australian Idol, The Voice and My Kitchen Rules.
Earlier this morning tens of thousands of participants in the annual City2Surf race set off from just outside our cathedral. Now in its 51st year, the race has become something of an institution, drawing considerable media attention. Alongside world-class runners and wheelchair athletes are mum and dad hobbyists, work colleagues dressed as Smurfs …
A few weeks ago the news was awash with the first pictures from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The giant telescope, which cost $10 billion dollars to design, build and launch, is “powerful enough to catch the heat of infrared light in the cold darkness of space, but light enough to be carried by a rocket more …
Let me begin by commending the leadership and tireless work of the Archdiocesan Anti-Slavery Taskforce and now the Australian Catholic Anti-Slavery Network (ACAN), headed by John (“Wilberforce”) McCarthy and his dedicated team. Their engagement with various Catholic groups …
“Lord, teach us to pray,” the disciples ask Jesus. But what does it mean to ‘pray’? Put simply, prayer is raising our heart and mind to God, mostly with a view to encounter and conversation. So Jesus begins His short course on prayer with saying: “Speak to God as Father, our heavenly holy Father.” Begin with your relationship with God …
Papal arrivals are big occasions. We’ve had four in Australian history, but by far the most dramatic was the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI on the Sydney 2000, rebadged Das Papstesboot, on 17 July 2008. Accompanied by Cardinals Bertone, Rylko and Pell, and the bishops of Australia, as well as excited young people from every continent and nation, the Holy Father was escorted by thousands …
It’s a quintessential rags-to-riches tale. Having failed to land a teaching job and needing to support herself and her husband who was still studying, Betsy Sanders took a sales apprentice position in a department store for less than $2.50 an hour. Her ‘temporary’ employment with Nordstrom ended up lasting two decades, by the end of which she …
The Aussie writer-director Baz Luhrmann is an undeniable titan of his craft. Four of the top ten grossing Australian films of all time are by him,[i] and his latest biopic, Elvis, is well on the way to being another smash hit. His style is utterly distinct: vivid eye-catching costumes, dizzyingly fast-paced action, operatic scores, …
Second Assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 8 July 2022 A very warm welcome to you all to St Mary’s Cathedral for our Votive
Exodus 90 is a ninety-day, Catholic program for men. It is ‘app based’ taking you through each step day by day but you can’t do it alone, fraternity is key.
What Is STRIVE? STRIVE is a powerful 21-Day Porn Detox that helps men understand why they go to porn and equips them with the knowledge, tools, and accountability needed to
The Into the Breach video series is a 12-episode program produced by The Knights of Columbus and seeks to answer what it means to be a Catholic man in today’s world. Answer the call of authentic Christian masculinity and step into the breach.
Pope St John Paul II wrote that God has placed in our hearts a desire to know the truth, and that faith and reason are the two wings by which we reach it in contemplation.[1] In the 2012 superhero film, The Avengers, Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) says “These guys come from legend, Captain. They’re basically gods.” To which Captain America (played by Chris Evans) responds, “There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure …
The Martin family story has all the ingredients for a binge-worthy Netflix series. Ambition, success and failure, heartaches and joys, fateful encounters and divine blessings, a family of heroes, it even had the valleys of Normandy as a beautiful backdrop! Yet ironically, neither Louis nor Zélie thought much …
When last in Rome I saw for the umpteenth time one of the most breathtaking panoramas of the Holy City: that from the Parco Savello or Orange Grove atop the Aventine Hill.
Thank you all for joining us for the Walk With Christ procession on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ—Corpus Christi. First the construction of the George Street tram, then the COVID pandemic and associated limitations on public gatherings, have in recent years interfered with this particular tribute of love and public witness.
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It is truly a dark day for New South Wales. I am deeply saddened that the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 has passed the NSW Parliament. The disturbing nature of this legislation is compounded by the way the debate over amendments was conducted. All amendments put forward by those who would seek to make this deadly regime …
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
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.
They’ve been dark times of late. The world has recoiled at the invasion of a free nation by a bully power, and at the numbers dead, damaged or driven out. Closer to home we’ve had bush-fires, floods, mice, COVID. Lockdowns and other public health measures have taken their toll psychologically, educationally and financially.
Listening has been a particular theme of Pope Francis’ pontificate. Amidst the information overload and polarisations of modernity, and while promoting a more synodal Church, the Holy Father has regularly called us to listen more closely to what God and His people are saying. He begins his message for next month’s World Communications Day[ii] with the deep human need to be heard …
Not too far from the Colosseum and Forum, at the summit of the ancient Via Sacra or Holy Street in Rome, stands a 15-metre-high arch. The marble monument was constructed in 71 AD by the Emperor Domitian to commemorate a victory, the year before, of his older brother …
One of the best-selling non-fiction books of recent years has been Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos. Since its release in 2018, 12 Rules has sold over 5 million copies world-wide and propelled its author to pop-star status amongst cultural influencers and life coaches.
I welcome you all to Cathedral House this evening to celebrate our twelfth annual Iftar dinner. Can I say how pleasing it is for us all to be together, as representatives of our respective faiths, for a night of food, faith and friendship. I salute Dr Lisa Buxton, representing First Australians and directing our Aboriginal Catholic Ministry. With her I acknowledge the elders past and present of the Cadigal clan of the Eora nation …
Old guys like me tend to ask younger people the same question. Not: do you prefer the Marvel universe or DC? Not: what’s your favourite team / fast food / dating app? Not: what’s your university, Netflix or Stan? Not even: what’s your religion, Apple or Android?
In 1971 Japanese salesman Goro Hasegawa rebooted a popular nineteenth century board-game with the new name Othello, in homage to its black-and-white discs. Two players take turns laying down their counters on an 8×8 squared board; when one surrounds the other’s disc it is ‘captured’ by being turned over as the other colour …
On the first Saturday of each month men are gathering all around the world in growing numbers to pray the rosary in public. The message of Our Lady of Fatima to pray for world peace is gaining huge traction amongst men to lead the charge and the men of Sydney are answering the call. The first Men’s Rosary Crusade had 30 men in attendance, the second on February 5 had 60 …
St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 20 March 2022 At a recent meeting with some very impressive young school leaders I was asked why God allows innocent people like those in Ukraine
Late last year Netflix aired a documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, that told the story of Nirmal Purja, known to his friends as ‘Nims’. A former Gurkha turned mountaineer, on 23 April 2019 he climbed Annapurna, the deadliest mountain in the world.
On Saturday February 19 thirty men came together from 9am for Mass with Bishop Terry Brady followed by a hearty breakfast of bacon n eggs, sausages and onions. After breakfast Peter Holmes gave a talk on authentic masculinity where he shared his ongoing journey to do God’s will irrespective of what others think of you or what the world may be offering.
Very Rev. Archpresbyter Simon Ckuj, Vicar-General of His Excellency the Most Rev. Eparchial Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR and Parish Priest of St Andrew’s; my brother priests; distinguished guests including Hon. Tony Burke MP, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and others; dear parishioners and friends of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian community:
Part of being human is experiencing fear and anxiety. From a very early age, we recognise that some things are a threat to us and even the thought of them can make us tremble. When fears become phobias they can be quite irrational and controlling.
In 1988 two brothers, Thomas and John Knoll, created a computer programme that would be so widely used that thirty-plus years later the noun has become a verb and describes an activity no matter what app is used. Photoshop was originally intended for graphic designers, but it’s now well and truly mainstream.
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 27 February 2022 Archdiocese of Sydney · Homily for Solemn Pontifical Mass of the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C How deceitful words can be
Born in Darfur, Sudan, around 1869, a girl was kidnapped when aged 7 or 8 by Arab slave traders. She was made to walk barefoot 1,000 km to El-Obeid, forced to convert to Islam, and given the Arab name ‘Bakhita’ meaning lucky. Sold as a slave five times in all, she suffered repeated abuse, including elaborate scarification of her breasts, belly and arms, and being repeated lashed.
My name is Ivica Kovac and I’m new to the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney in the Life, Marriage and Family Office for 2022. After the great work of my predecessor, Chris Da Silva I’m looking forward to continuing the very important work of Men’s Ministry and expanding the MAXIMUS brand. I hope to meet many of you throughout the year and you can reach out anytime by contacting me on 0403 201 444 or ivica.kovac@sydneycatholic.org
While having a bath, baby Tommy refused to part with a piece of parchment with the words ‘Ave Maria’ on it, and instead put it in his mouth and swallowed it.
Like the afflictions of Egypt, Australia over the past two years has known bushfires, floods, a mouse plague and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of you may know T.S. Eliot’s dramatic poem The Journey of the Magi, which he wrote in 1927 over half a bottle of gin.[i]It’s an unusual account of the expedition and its aftermath, told in the voice of one of the kings.
We all love a good ghost story. : In the highest grossing film of 1990, Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, there was romance, comedy, mystery and cheesiness. But like many such films, it bumped up against the metaphysical problem of bringing spiritual and material beings together.
If ever you get to travel overseas again, and you find yourself in Florence, I suggest you stop at the Dominican Priory of San Marco. There between 1438 and 1452 the great Dominican painter, Blessed Fra Angelico, and team made over fifty frescoes and altarpieces, many of which are still in situ, making it the largest surviving group of related works by any Italian renaissance artist.
‘The great slave revolt’: so the 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called the triumph of Christianity in the ancient world and he thought it no good thing.[1] Before Judaeo-Christianity came to dominate the West, he thought, morality was based on a distinction between virtuous individuals
Where do Christmas carols come from? Our word carol derives from the medieval Latin word choraula and medieval French word carole, a secular circle-dance accompanied by one or more singing minstrels.
There’s an old Peanuts comic in which Snoopy is doing his happy dance at the turn of the year. : The ever-bleak Lucy shouts out, “How can you be happy when you don’t know what this year has in store for you? Don’t you worry about all the things that can go wrong?”
“You are the rock on which I will build my Church,” Jesus says to Peter this morning (Mt 16:13-19). “You are God’s building… the temple in which the spirit dwells,” St. Paul says to the Corinthians as well (1 Cor 3:9-17). Why, then, do we bother to build churches for God of dead stones when each of us is His living building?
Thank you for the opportunity to address the Committee this morning. I appear on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of NSW and the Bishops of the Australasian‐Middle East Christian Apostolic Churches. The faithful of our communities make up a quarter of the population of this state.
The presence tonight of bishops from both the Latin and Oriental Rites, Catholic and Orthodox, reminds us that today’s feast is an ancient one, celebrated both in East and West: the Conception in Saint Anne of Holy Mary Mother of God.
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them, because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:35-10:8). Our translation “felt sorry for” misses the mark: it’s both mild and aloof. But our English word ‘sorry’ does share the same root as the word ‘sore’, just as our words ‘sympathy’ and ‘compassion’ share roots with ‘pathos’ and ‘passion’.
Theodor Geisel—‘Dr. Seuss’ to those who grew up on his stories—was a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning children’s author. He composed and illustrated more than sixty children’s books, mostly in anapestic tetrameter, the preferred meter of poets like Byron. Over 600 million copies of his books were sold in his lifetime, and translated into 45 languages, including Spanish, so Mexicans and Columbians could read him
Integrity commissions are all the rage. The states have them and the Commonwealth will too—eventually. Such agencies attempt to root out abuses of office, perversions of justice and other corrupt conduct in public administration. Their investigations have brought down premiers and other public officials
Kings and kingship: they frame the story of Jesus. The New Testament begins with Jesus’ family tree showing He’s a direct descendant of King David, via his step-father Joseph (Mt 1:1-17; Lk 2:4).
Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
At the end of Shakespeare’s great tragedy Macbeth, the king is dead and Malcolm is hailed King of Scots.[1] He undertakes to serve “by the grace of Grace” unlike the “dead butcher and his fiend-like queen”,[2] Lady Macbeth. But would his wife be any better?
Your Eminence Archbishop Makarios Griniezakis, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia,
At the then-customary examination before Confirmation, a child was asked by a bishop to define Matrimony. She nervously recited from memory: “Matrimony is a place where souls suffer for a time after death on account of their sins.”
In the sixth century BC a slave named Aesop told the fable of a Fox who, being hard-hunted and having run a long chase, sought refuge from a Farmer who told the Fox to hide in his barn.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 sparked the First World War and left his nephew Karl as heir presumptive. Karl had studied law and politics and was a military man.
They’re at it again. James and John are lobbying for special positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mk 10:35-45; cf. 9:30-37).
The Hebrew word for wisdom חָכְמָה (chokmâh), the Greek word σοφια (sophia) and the Latin sapientia are all feminine nouns. So, naturally enough, the ancients personified Wisdom as a woman.
One of Karl Marx’s daughters once confessed to a friend that she had no religion and really knew nothing about it—unsurprising, given her father was the inventor of atheistic communism!
What’s in a word? We use words to name or describe, to reason, learn and remember, and to communicate to others. With words we write or speak our sacred texts, laws and decisions, records and contracts, essays and books, conversations and correspondence, newspapers and audio-visuals, poems and songs—disclosing ideas, norms, feelings and more.
We like to think of Him as “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”—for He is indeed love and mercy personified. But as Charles Wesley’s hymn continues, “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child, pity my simplicity”. Aware as He is of the vulnerability and innocence of the little ones, Our Lord pulls no punches when it comes to those who hurt or corrupt them.
The 19th century Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov, was also an important contributor to the evolution of the short story. His principle, known as ‘Chekov’s Gun’, forbade including elements that are not going to be ‘paid off’ later in the story.
Dear friends in Christ, Announcements have been made today about Sydney beginning to reopen once 70% of the adult population has had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and foreshadowing further easing once we reach 80%.
The Apostle of our age, St John Paul II, wrote many documents, delivered thousands of homilies and addresses, published books, plays, poems.
“Say to all faint hearts: ‘Have courage! Do not be afraid!’” (Isa 35:4-7) It’s a recurring antiphon in the Bible. Jesus said it to His disciples so many times you’d be excused for thinking He was getting repetitive! God, His Son, the prophets and evangelists come again and again to quell our anxieties and strengthen our resolve.
English sci-fi writer, John Wyndham, is best known for novels like The Day of the Triffids and The Village of the Damned. But short stories were really his thing. In one, entitled “The Wheel”, a young boy playing in the yard discovers pulling his cart is easier if he attaches turning round bits of wood to it.
Dominicans can be very black and white: St Dominic’s mother dreamed of him before his birth as a black-and-white dog carrying a torch to light up the world;[i] their habit, given by Our Lady, is also black and white;[ii] and so is their coat of arms.[iii] Why those colours? Let me suggest five reasons…
Martin Scorsese’s film, Shutter Island, is a neo-noir psychological thriller set in 1954. Leonardo DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels who visits the island with his partner to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
London-based Aesthetics and Anti-Aging Consultant, Cindy Jackson, was six years old when she was given a Barbie doll and she long fantasised about looking like her.
When Mary MacKillop was about 20 years old, living in Portland, Victoria, she was accidentally locked in the church overnight. Sounds rather spooky, but Mary counted it an opportunity to spend all-night in vigil with Our Lord.
It’s great that despite COVID-19-Δ restrictions we can still meet. I guess by now the Baby Boomers are all now Maybe Zoomers! 6 parts
You could call it the Council of the Friars – yet none was there, or only one. “The Great Council”, as the Fourth Lateran was known, included the greatest mediaeval pope, Innocent III, 71 patriarchs and metropolitans, 412 other bishops, around 900 abbots, priors and periti, together with envoys of the emperor and monarchs.
The true (verum), the good (bonum) and the beautiful (pulchrum) – it was a 13th century German Dominican and Doctor of the Church, Albert the Great, who first identified these as the three ‘transcendental properties of being’.
There are 37 miracles recorded in the Gospels, most of them in Matthew, Mark and Luke. John’s Gospel, which we heard today, is different. John only reports eight miracles, six of them uniquely among the evangelists, and all of them at much greater length.
There’s never a good time to introduce laws that sanction the killing of vulnerable human beings such as the terminally ill, elderly, frail and suffering.
I know what it’s like. My Dad’s nursing home is closed to the public and my Mum is in hospital, allowed no visitors. Today I’m saying Mass in an empty cathedral and miss my people very much.
On this day in 1535, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London woke old Bishop Fisher at 5AM for his 9AM execution. He decided to go back to sleep so to save his strength for the occasion!
It’s blowing a gale, the sea is wild, the waves breaking over, the boat filling with water (Mk 4:35-41). Where’s Jesus when you need Him? Sound asleep…
There’s an old Peanuts comic in which everybody’s self-appointed life-coach, Lucy, is telling her younger brother Linus about the many uses of a tree. “They provide shade from the sun,” she tells him, “and protection from the rain. They prevent erosion, and their wood is used to build beautiful buildings.”
Faust: in German legend he was a learned, successful yet dissatisfied man who made a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The legend has been retold in books, plays, movies, even an opera.
Jacques Pantaléon was a cobbler’s son who entered the priesthood and, with local mystic Juliana of Liège, introduced the Feast of Corpus Christi into that diocese.
How do we measure a life? By the length of years, wealth or honours, Facebook friends and Instagram likes? Is it more a matter of whether a person got what they wanted much of the time, a good balance of joys over sorrows, things to be proud of over causes for shame?
Many of you will know the TV series The Chosen, written and directed by Dallas Jenkins, and starring Jonathan Roumie as Jesus. It is the first ever life of Christ as a multi-season series, crowdfunded and viewed through an app.
Two hundred years ago Frs Philip Connolly and John Joseph Therry were appointed the first Catholic chaplains to the colony. They’d barely arrived when they started building the first chapel to Mary Help of Christians on this site and the first Catholic school in Parramatta.
Happy birthday! We gather today, as we would for any birthday party, so we can celebrate the Church’s birthday together. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that before Pentecost the disciples gathered in the upper room with Mary to pray for the wisdom to know what to do next (Acts 1:13-14).
It’s God’s big tick to Jesus. The resurrection and ascension vindicate His earthly life, confirm His divinity, and testify to the truth of His teaching.
Come Holy Spirit! Lead us Back to Mass for the Church’s Birthday! Ninth Pastoral Letter to the Clergy and Faithful of Sydney during the COVID-19 Pandemic In the lead up to Pentecost Sunday, 23 May 2021
They were practical men. The Apostle Peter, hero of our first reading (Acts 10:25-48), insisted he was “only a man”, a simple man, a fisherman (Mk 1:16); though Christ made him a fisher of men (Mk 1:17), he reverted to his old craft from time to time (Mt 17:27; Jn 21:3-19; cf. Mt 14:22-32).
You hear it everywhere. In Ancient Rome they said ‘Operibus credite, et non verbis’ (‘Trust in deeds, not in words’) – a slogan adorning Palermo cathedral to this day.
ANZACs. We probably think immediately of heroic young men rushing into battle, fighting for King and country, and dying beside their mates – all the while starring in the foundation myth of our nation.
Myth. We often use the term to mean some supposed ‘fact’ or version of events that is untrue but commonly believed. We might think of the ‘urban myths’ that using a mobile phone near a petrol pump risks blowing up the petrol station,[i] or using one on a plane will interfere with the navigation instruments.
Euthanasia is back on the agenda in New South Wales with the independents tightening the screws on the Premier to allow a Bill to be debated soon. We must be prepared.
Welcome to this Solemn Pontifical Funeral Mass for Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, Companion of the Order of Australia, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, President Emeritus of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews
There’s an early Peanuts comic in which Charlie Brown’s self-appointed life-coach, Violet, tells Charlie in no uncertain terms that “Sooner or later, there’s one thing you’re going to have to learn: You reap what you sow! You get out of life exactly what you put into it! No more and no less!”
Throughout history Death has often been portrayed as a someone, more than just a something. . Anubis and Osiris were the Egyptian gods of death, Thanatos and Hades for the Greeks, Pluto and Proserpina to the Romans.
Welcome to the eleventh Iftar ‘breakfast’ hosted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. It is with great joy that I’m able to welcome you all back to my place tonight, after a year of forced separation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were especially conscious of the hardship the COVID-safety restrictions imposed upon our Muslim brothers and sisters during last year’s Ramadan.
It’s the greatest story ever told: the story of God and man. Above all it’s a love story. God, as St Catherine of Siena put it, was pazzo d’amore, insane with love for us, from all eternity, even before we were made.
Life can be a bitter cup and Jesus knew He must drink it. In St John’s Passion (Jn 18:1-19:42) we saw betrayal and arrest, scourging and mockery, kangaroo court and terrible verdict.
Our world is in crisis. For the past year waves of COVID-19 have infected more than 125 million people and cost nearly 3 million lives.
It’s a smelly Mass, the Chrism Mass. The scent of palms is still in the air from last Sunday. Then that of the olive permeates the cathedral, as deacons heave vats of oil up the sanctuary stairs. Then perfume fills the basilica as it is mixed with the sacred Chrism for the fragrance of Christ.
Three years ago, when last we heard St Mark’s Passion (Mk chs 14 & 15), I observed that only he includes the flight of the stark-naked youth from the Garden.
Welcome to our first Clergy Conference of 2021. It’s always a joy to be with you, but after a year of pandemic, lockdown and virtual conferences, it’s all the more so.
A while back an eclectic Spanish art collection was offered for auction by Christie’s in London. The standout item was a life-sized painting of St Joseph and the Christ Child by the 17th-century painter, Bartolomé Murillo, estimated to be worth millions of pounds.
Fr Noel Custodio is another recently ordained young priest and will join us to talk about fatherhood and St Joseph, particularly with reference to the titles given him by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde.
What a strange choice of readings for a day we call ‘Lætare’ or ‘Rejoicing Sunday’! Our first reading from the Book of Chronicles tells how all the faithful – including the leading clergy – proved unfaithful.
Cathedral of Sts Mary & Joseph, Armidale. Before Armidale was… 32 years they had waited for a priest. Sure, a convict priest (Fr James Dixon) had been permitted to celebrate Mass for ten months in 1803
Jacob and Wilhelm were brothers, renowned scholars in philology and lexicography, and authorities on the Indo-European language from which the languages of the continent and the sub-continent evolved.
Peter, James and John are Jesus’ executive team. They join Him on occasions marked ‘private and confidential’, when healing in homes or contemplating Jerusalem or agonising in the garden. Paul calls them ‘the three pillars’ of the early Church (Gal 2:9).
‘Take me for your model, as I take Christ.’ These words of St Paul give us a template for the Christian life (1Cor 10:31-11:1). St Paul stands as a reflection of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the love of God, and of the communion of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2Cor 13:3), pointing our gaze towards the source of that grace, love and fellowship.
“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.” (Mk 1:12-15) So Mark begins his account of the temptations of Christ immediately after His baptism when that Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.
Today I’m wearing my bishop’s party hat! That’s because we have three big things to celebrate.
Chris Lee and John Nguyen from Sydney Catholic Youth discuss the young men of Gen Z, the challenges they face, and how to best share the Gospel with them, who wittingly or not, are deeply thirsting for it .
Drought, then fires, moths, storms and floods, then plague: what a strange year or two we’ve had!
In 1820, after waiting 42 years, the Catholics of the colony of New South Wales were finally given two official chaplains…
When I was quite young,
and quite small for my size,
I met an old man in the Desert of Drize.
and he sang me a song, I will never forget.
At least, well, I haven’t forgotten it yet.
What does it mean for God to pray? More specifically, why would Jesus, who is God, feel the need to pray?
Clearly, it was not for want of confidence in His divine mission or powers.
Typecasting. If a young lawyer wins a complex case in an obscure corner of the law such as admiralty or financial derivatives, he or she may spend the rest of their life being given cases in that same area.
Some years ago I heard Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta – now Cardinal Gregory of Washington DC – give a World Youth Day catechesis on the subject of Christian joy. He observed that we Christians have every reason to be happy: we have been given life in a world full of beauty and opportunity
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral as we commission the Sydney-based delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia. The previous four such councils – in 1885, 1895, 1905 and 1937 – were all held here in Sydney with this cathedral as their focal point, as will be the case for the final session of the 2021-22 council. Last time the aged and long-serving Archbishop Michael Kelly of Sydney presided.
In 1925 the Star of the East sect of Theosophists built a 200-seat amphitheatre here in Sydney. Krishnamurti, their ‘World Teacher’, was expected to preach there. He was said to have prophesied Christ’s imminent return, walking on water through the heads of Sydney harbour, and so the theatre was built at Balmoral Beach.
Even her betrothed took some convincing not to put her out of sight (Mt 1:19-25). Months later, and now heavily pregnant, she was forced by unsympathetic authorities to take the road to Bethlehem with her husband (Lk 2:1-6).
Christmas can be very isolating. Think of the teenager with the strange story about how she got pregnant (Lk 1:26-38; Mt 1:18). Amidst all the village gossip, she went off to the hills to stay with an aunt (Lk 1:39-56)
Welcome to our end-of-year Mass for the staff of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. How very sad that we are back to sitting at opposite ends of the pews from each other in masks and unable even to sing an Advent carol!
All creation is hushed. The angel and millions of his heavenly comrades all strain to hear the girl’s response. In their limbo Adam and Eve, the patriarchs and prophets, and all the dead, listen attentively.
The Ode to Joy appears like a burst of sunlight in the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth and last symphony (Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125). His decision to bring soloists and a choir into an orchestral symphony was revolutionary, giving soaring voice to Friedrich Schiller’s poem.
It’s been a difficult year. At this time last year, smoke hung heavy upon our city, the light was an eery orange hue, and moths invaded the opening night; drought and bushfire continued through the first month of 2020.
In the 1992 Christmas movie, Home Alone 2, the McCallister family go on holidays to Florida, yet again leaving their youngest son, Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin), alone. Kevin is unperturbed.
You have to admit that grown men and women dressing up in the robes, medallions and eight-pointed crosses of mediaeval knights is rather strange! I say that as someone who wears a mediaeval habit every day and has quite a collection of silly hats… So what’s it all about, apart from the fun of fancy dress?
This idea of framing and structuring our present by looking to the end is an ancient one. The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus prepared himself by long solitudes and frequenting tombs
Following the acknowledgements and welcomes from Lisa and Chris today, I want to add my own, including a very warm welcome to my place, St Mary’s Cathedral.
Fr Roberto Keryakos is fresh out of the seminary, full of the joy of the Lord and on fire for the faith. Don’t miss this compelling chat!
Death, judgment, heaven and hell: there are the four last things. Purgatory is in there, too, as the anteroom to heaven. For weeks past and still to come we’ve been encouraged to think about death…
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
So said J. Robert Oppenheimer, ‘father of the atomic bomb’, upon seeing the destructive power he had unleashed when the first A-bomb was detonated in New Mexico 75 years ago.
What a time to be Confirmed! Tonight, our young people complete their initiation into the Christian life, membership of the Church, and the communion of saints. But we gather in the face of a word that’s been on almost everyone’s lips for months now, a word most of us never used and many not even have known until the beginning of this year: pandemic.
One of my Dominican brothers, long since gone to God, wasn’t great at picking his audience or occasion. He was legendary for preaching on contraception in nursing homes. He used also to promise to “give ‘em hell” at Christmas, as he thought (rather uncharitably), that it was the likely destination for those who attended only annually!
Jonathon Van Maren discusses how to become culture WARRIORS for the culture of life. Put on the armour of God, and get ready to learn how to WIN in JESUS’ NAME!
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
200 years ago Fathers John Joseph Therry and Philip Conolly arrived in Sydney as the first official Catholic chaplains to the colony.
All Saints is not really the feast of all saints. It is not a celebration of those ‘living saints’ who are among us, transparent with God’s grace, demonstrating remarkable virtue. Nor is it a celebration of those becoming saints, whom St Paul dared call ‘saints’ already. No, All Saints is not about living saints.
It arrived in Australia in the dying days of the First World War. Ultimately the Spanish Flu would infect a third of the world’s population and kill at least 50 million people. All those docking in Sydney were isolated at North Head, next door to St Patrick’s Seminary.
The first live TV show broadcast globally by satellite was “Our World” in 1967. Artists such as Maria Callas and Pablo Picasso performed for an estimated 400 million people.
Paul Ninnes, speaker with Real Talk Australia. shares his story, as well the practical advice needed to make yourself and your world porn free!
Dame Margot, Sir Richard and Sir John, My Lord Bishop Ingham, Mr Justice Kunç, Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, professors and friends all
Fratelli Tutti, the title of Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, comes from his name-saint, Francis of Assisi, as did the title of his previous encyclical, Laudato Si’. Where the earlier document focussed upon our responsibilities for the natural environment, the new one attends to our human ecosystem.
Jesus’ caustic reproaches today (Lk 11:29-32) are occasioned by people asking for signs, for proof that the outrageous things He said and did were from God. On the face of it, that’s human enough: we all have our doubts about the claims of gurus, theologians and experts, let alone the remorseless critics of religion like the ABC and the SMH.
It’s quite a story (Mt 22:1-14). First we have a wedding – the setting for many a rom-com – think Steel Magnolias, Crazy Rich Asians or My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Eric Sammons, Catholic speaker, author, and former Director of Evangelisation for the Diocese of Venice, Florida, speaks on some key strategies to get young men back in the pews and passionate about their faith!
On a fertile hillside he dug the soil, cleared the stones, planted the vines, built a tower, dug a wine-press. “What more could I have done for you, my vineyard?” the Divine Vigneron cries out in our first reading (Isa 5:1-7).
Music is beauty made of air. Plato said it gives “soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything”. Shakespeare called it “the food of love”. Einstein said he daydreamed, thought, even lived in music. Billy Joel says music expresses and heals our humanity.
So runs the chorus of an old English folk song that compares human life to a leaf changing with the seasons.[1] It seems rather fatalistic, with its promise of ageing and afflictions – the ‘frost’ after a relatively brief period of green.
Daniel Ang dives deeper into why so many men have abandoned Our Lord and His Church, and what strategies can we implement NOW to really gain ground in winning the souls of men for Christ?
It’s just not fair! When we hear this morning’s parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16), the shop steward deep within each one of us irks with sympathy for those who’ve laboured all day under the hot sun. Why do those who worked only an hour, in the cool of the evening, get the same wages and even get paid first!
The word pandemic comes from the Greek words pan meaning all – as in ‘panorama’ and ‘pandemonium’ – and demos meaning the people – as in ‘democratic’ and ‘demography’.
My 17-month-old son has not been quite himself since social restrictions around the CCP Virus began the other week. He is clingier, more moody, and more bored. But why? He isn’t watching the news. Nor is he aware that we are no longer allowed to go to Mass. What he does know is that something is up, and that’s telling.
I have grown up attending Catholic youth events, men’s events and family events abounding with cakes, cokes, pizzas and sausage-sizzles.
Last Sunday morning I went to pick my 16-month-old son, Athanasius (affectionately known as Acey) out of his cot, and found him drenched in watery poop from the chest down.
Perhaps the most famous father in recent pop culture is Homer Simpson. Since 1989 he has starred in most of the 684 episodes and 31 series so far of the animated sitcom The Simpsons.
Luke McCormack of the National Civic Council talks about what is needed to build a just and equitable society for families and for each individual person!
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Gregory the Great, a highly educated nobleman of sixth-century Rome, by then a city overrun by barbarians and an empire crumbling.
Simon has just made his great profession of faith in Jesus as God and Saviour, been praised and appointed future pope (Mt 16:13-20). All of a sudden the mood changes. Having just renamed him ‘Peter’, Jesus now calls him ‘Satan’ (Mt 16:21-7).
Politics needs good Catholic men! Are you one of them? Riverstone State MP, the Honourable Kevin Conolly spoke to us on Friday, 21 August about getting involved in politics.
Welcome to St. Mary’s Basilica in Sydney for the Funeral Mass for Sr Mary Paul OLHC, last surviving member of our the Congregation of Our Lady Help of Christians.
In his international best-seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey argues that there are three stages of maturity: dependence, independence, and interdependence. Together these three form what he calls ‘the maturity continuum’.
Go out to all the world to preach the Good News,” Jesus said (Mk 16:15; cf. Mt 28:19). Paul in our epistle today brags of his mission to the gentiles (Rom 11:13-15,29-32) and we know that he ultimately joined Peter in giving the witness of blood in Rome.
Most of Jesus’ miracles addressed people’s particular needs. Last Sunday He multiplied loaves and fishes to satisfy the hunger of the multitude.[1] The haul of fish and the changing of wine into water were on a similarly extravagant scale.[2] You might wonder if anyone really needed so much wine as He made for them at Cana, but if you watch the crowd-funded TV series, The Chosen, you’ll pick up the emotions, tension and potential humiliation around that wedding reception, and why the wine mattered so much.
Editor of the nationally esteemed The Catholic Weekly, Peter Rosengren argues the case for the voice of Catholic Media in mainstream society.
For some, this pandemic-enforced retreat has been an opportunity to connect more deeply with family and God – to give time to conversation and prayer so often crowded out by the busyness of our lives. Many have maintained their connection to Mass and parish by live-streaming; others, who can’t normally come to Mass, have enjoyed Mass coming to them at home.
“Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory: we have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which for a while was most shamefully denied.
The Moirai or Fates were the good luck gods of the ancient world. People experienced many aspects of their lives as beyond their control. So much depended on where and when and into whose family you were born. On forces of nature, weather, accidents and plagues like COVID.
Former Hawthorne star and leadership entrepreneur Steven Lawrence talk about the importance of sport and fitness in the life of men, and how to balance that with our faith and family life.
‘All humanity is being put to the test’ says the Vatican’s bioethics thinktank, the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), in Global Pandemic and Universal Brotherhood: Note on the Covid-19 Emergency.
“To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power… to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking – knowledge which in fact we do not possess – is likely to make us do much harm.”[1] So said the Austrian-British thinker Friederich August von Hayek in his 1974 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.Hayek was an economist, political philosopher and social theorist. Having survived fighting in the First World War and being infected by the Spanish flu, he dedicated his life to building a better world through economics.
The Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons of 1274 was one of the largest the Church ever held. Presided over by Pope Gregory X, it was attended by five hundred bishops, observed by kings and ambassadors, and advised by another thousand prelates and periti. On the agenda were the conquest of the Holy Land and the reunion of the Eastern and Western churches, and so it welcomed representatives of the Patriarch of Constantinople, of the Byzantine Emperor and even of the Khan of the Tartars.
It was the most consequential wedding in history and it nearly didn’t happen. Mary’s marriage was threatened by misunderstanding and gossip, but righted by an angelic visitation and Joseph’s acceptance of her innocence (Mt 1:18-25). In the Joseph window here in St Mary’s Cathedral, Mary is dressed in the white and gold of a virgin queen, her long golden hair crowned with a floral tiara and rosary roses at her feet.
Australia breathed a collective sigh of relief when 14-year-old William Callaghan was found on Wednesday on a mountain north of Melbourne. William, who is autistic and non-verbal, was on a camping trip when he ran ahead and got lost, spending two nights in freezing conditions, in treacherous terrain, without food, water or protective clothing.
We Christians didn’t invent monotheism. The ancient Zoroastrians proclaimed a single uncreated and benevolent god of wisdom. The Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV, father of the famous Tutankhamun, took the name Akhen/aten after joining the Atenist sun worshippers and he sought to impose their monotheism on all Egyptians.
In January this year NBC premiered a sit-com about a young computer programmer who, through a freak accident, develops the power to hear people’s innermost thoughts and feelings as classic songs. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is a quirky, funny series that doesn’t shy away from deeper questions raised by people’s ‘heart songs’, as Zoey calls them.
Years ago I saw a very beautiful image of The Virgin Mary at Prayer in the Dominican church of St Clement near the Colosseum in Rome. When I got back home, I discovered the same painting in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
Why are you Jews gawking at the sky?Well, because God told Abram, ‘Look up at the night sky, for your descendants shall be as many as the stars of heaven.’ Abram believed the Lord and this was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:4-6)
The birds in Nunhead Cemetery begin Before I’ve flicked a switch, turned on the gas. There must be some advantage to the light I tell myself, viewing my slackened chin Mirrored in the rain-dark window glass, While from the graveyard’s trees, the birds begin.
Only six days after the British Fleet arrived in 1788, La Pérouse’s French expedition laid anchor in Botany Bay.
The American comic strip “Fritzi Ritz” began in 1922 and starred ditzy Fritzi, an airheaded flapper. In 1933 the cartoonist introduced Fritzi’s precocious eight-year-old niece Nancy and in 1938 Nancy’s ragamuffin friend Sluggo.
If you had to stand up today and introduce the Risen Christ to a crowd, what would you say? A man is given that daunting task this morning. (Acts 2:14-33). He is called upon to be the very first Christian preacher. He’s Simon Johnson, an uneducated fisherman from the country, of vacillating and impetuous temperament, nicknamed Peter or Rocky by Jesus.
“The effects of war are widely spread and can be long term or short term. Soldiers experience war differently than civilians, although [both] suffer in times of war…” So begins the 5,000 word Wikipedia entry on ‘Effects of war’. Yet strangely, apart from a passing mention of ‘trauma’, there is no discussion of war’s emotional and spiritual toll.
Painted for the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiani at the beginning of the 17th century, The Incredulity of St Thomas was the most copied of all Caravaggio’s paintings in its day. It now hangs in the Sans Souci Picture Gallery—not in Southern Sydney but in Potsdam, Germany.
There are two endings to John’s Gospel. This Sunday we’ll hear the first, the Jerusalem ending (Jn 20:19-31), in which the apostles (minus Thomas the Twin) are huddled in the Upper Room on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection
Saved from what? Christians talk a lot about salvation through Jesus’ cross and resurrection, but in this age of science and technology, affluence and education, big government and media, do we really need saving? Well, healthcare may address our physical diseases, but we know that it can at best only postpone our deaths.
In the middle of the 3rd century AD a pandemic of Smallpox or Ebola erupted in Ethiopia, spread quickly to Rome and Greece, and then swept through the whole Roman empire. Big concentrations of people in cities, excellent roads and great trade routes that were strengths of the Roman empire, proved to be fatal flaws in a time of plague.
Normally on Good Friday I’d be looking out at two thousand or so people packed into the pews of St Mary’s. But today I stand in an empty cathedral looking into a camera. Beyond the lens are thousands of you across the country, in a living cathedral made up of tv rooms and home offices
The recently restored paintings of the Stations of the Cross here at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney are massive French oils, each weighing 200kg, bought in 1885 by Cardinal Moran from the Chovet studio in Paris. In most, Jesus looks at us, to engage, scrutinise or console.
For some weeks now and perhaps many more to come, the COVID19 pandemic has meant no public Masses. Not gathering physically is hard for most people, since human beings are made for relationship, proximity, intimacy.
Dare we hope in a world that is suffering? It can seem impossible, even insensitive, to talk of hope when people are sick or dying, anxious or isolated, unemployed or otherwise burdened.
I welcome today’s exoneration of Cardinal George Pell in a unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia.The Cardinal has always maintained his innocence and today’s decision confirms his conviction was wrong.
Where do we fit into the story of Jesus’ last week and what might it say to us in the present pandemic? Well, let’s start with THE SICK, THE DYING and THE DEAD from this pandemic.
At a time when COVID19 has taken 50,000 lives – including 20 Australians – so far and isolated us in our homes like frightened apostles, we can be rather anxious, even morbid.
This is not the first time that the public celebration of Mass has been impossible in Australia. In fact it’s the fifth time. For the Aborigines of the East coast of Australia, ‘first contact’ with Christianity was the arrival of James Cook’s expedition exactly 250 years ago next month.
Dear brothers in ministry and brothers and sisters in Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all in this time of pandemic.
Armageddon. There have been many signs of it lately: drought, bushfires, dry lightning, hailstones, now plague.
Armageddon. There have been many signs of it lately: drought, bushfires, dry lightning, hailstones, now plague. COVID-19 has killed, infected or isolated people, and put much of ordinary life on hold.
Ecology, ecowarriors, ecoterrorists, climate change campaigners, climate change deniers, environmental science, even environmental ethics.
We all know the stories of St Joseph: the long telling of his family tree; the Betrothal to the Blessed Virgin; the Annunciation by an angel in a dream; the journey to Bethlehem
With respect to the Celebration of Mass and other Liturgies. Many people are already self-selecting to stay at home and attendance at many Masses will predictably be under 100.
Apocalypse now? Drought, fires, storms and now plague. It can feel like the end of the world is coming. In a sense it is.
At last month’s Academy Awards Joaquin Phoenix was awarded best actor for his performance in the psychological thriller Joker.
New beginnings. The first Christians experienced the encounter with Christ as so inside-outing that they compared it with being born again
In the lead up to Mary MacKillop’s canonisation journalists and faithful asked: what is a saint, who decides and how? Is MacKillop someone we all can be proud of, or only Catholics or Josephites?
One in five Australians suffers some form of psychological illness in any particular year, and nearly half do so at some stage in their life. It affects all age groups, sexes, ethnicities, beliefs, professions. The figures are staggering, and mean a lot of people are hurting out there, many of them silently, without professional help
The etymology of the word education, like so much else in education, is much contested. Its roots are the Latin words educare, meaning to train or mould, and educere, meaning to draw forth or lead away.
On 13 October last the Church canonised a man whose life and work has been described by Pope Benedict XVI as ‘one great commentary on the question of conscience’, who was praised by St John Paul II for his “deep intellectual honesty [and] fidelity to conscience and grace”
Our readings today address the trials of Australians today. Amidst great hardship Paul urges us to persevere (Rom 12:9-13) and Isaiah prophesies a time when deserts will become fertile and scrub a thick forest, when the endangered will be secure at last and all dwell in domestic tranquillity (Is 32:15-28).
Fire and water – which along with earth and air are the four classical elements – have always been both gifts and challenges for humanity. Water is the source of life, critical to hydration and growth, cleansing for bodies, clothes and land, and beautiful to view in lakes and seas.
Identity. Adolescents have been searching for it since the 1960s and still take decades to find it. After that it’s nearly time for a mid-life identity crisis. The search goes on – until you don’t care who you are anymore…
Some of our I.D. comes from family, nation and culture. But modernity prefers self-generated identities.Much of it is said to be about what we identify with: ethnicity, sexuality, profession, politics, loyalty groups.
When Joseph hears that his young fiancée Mary is pregnant, he’s agog and aggrieved(Mt 1:18-24). Perhaps he thinks she’s been unfaithful, or been violated, or is delusional. There’s probably been gossip about Mary and even about Joseph.
Christmas tells us we are valued, we are wanted, we are loved. Each one of us is precious, irreplaceable, made for greatness. It might sound overblown, even vain. But that’s what Christmas says. You matter so much, that God would become one of us – for your sake!
Why on earth is John the Baptist sending emissaries to inquire if Jesus is the Messiah (Mt 11:2-11)? After all, he has already identified Jesus as ‘the Christ’, ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’, and ‘the Son of God’ (Mt 3:11-17; Lk 3:15-22; Jn 1:19-36).
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.- Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act V, Scene I. So says Portia, the beautiful heiress of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. She speaks a great truth: good deeds – and the intentions and agents behind them – don’t just get done and then fade away.
In the past few weeks mental health has emerged as a key challenge for modern-day cricketers, with their gruelling schedules, intense public scrutiny, performance anxiety, burnout or loss of love for the game, effects on family life, and the baseline stress of contemporary life all weighing heavily.[1] Glenn Maxwell, one of the world’s best short-format players, announced he was taking time away, and Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson followed suit, just before the first Test against Pakistan.
Not a bad second best. Mattia Preti had studied the techniques of the Order of Malta’s most famous – or infamous – painter, Caravaggio, and made his own major contributions to the exuberant baroquing of Italy’s churches and civic buildings. But now he followed his Master into the Order, being admitted as a Knight of Grace, and was thereafter known as Il Cavalier Calabrese, the Calabrian Knight.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, hostility, not surprisingly, abounded. In an effort to rekindle old friendships and build new ones, French President Charles de Gaulle conceived of a series of televised games, originally played between French and German youths but quickly enlarged to twenty European nations over the following two decades.
The great Roman Stoic philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, once famously said that all time could be divided into three parts: ‘what was, what is, and what will be’.[i] The future, he pointed out, is uncertain. The present is fleeting.
Thank you all for taking part in the annual Walk With Christ procession, this year on the Solemnity of Christ the King. I acknowledge today the presence of the auxiliary bishops, clergy, religious and lay faithful who helped organise or assisted in today’s procession.
During the Daesh (ISIS) reign of terror in the Middle East, the Arabic letter ‘N’ was painted on the homes of Christians. ‘N’ is short for Nazarene – a name often used for Jesus in the Gospels and for his disciples in the Acts of the Apostles.
This past week a pall of smoke hung over our city, as the Sydney, Illawarra and Hunter regions were alerted that they were in “Catastrophic Fire Danger”.
A warm welcome once again to our forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools. I thank Mr Tony Farley, Mr Anthony Cleary, and other education leaders and staff for this initiative.
Drought, death and diaconate: three themes in our minds today. Drought because the Church in Australia is praying throughout the month of November for our parched land and those affected.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: it’s a joy to be here with you tonight as Most Rev. Anthony Randazzo is installed as Bishop of Broken Bay.
When was the last time you climbed a tree? For most of the children here it’s the most natural thing in the world, something you may regularly do just because the tree is there, or for the challenge of it, or in order to see further.
Part of the genius of Christianity over the centuries has been its ability to take to itself a whole menagerie of ideas that come from outside it. In our own age the analytical philosophy, democratic politics, capitalist economics, Marxist analysis,
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, an image went viral of the American swimmer, Michael Phelps, and the one in the next lane, Chad le Clos. Phelps is focused solely on the finishing line, but le Clos is turned towards his arch-rival Phelps.
It’s a strange and portentous book, the last one in the Bible, theApocalypse of St John or Book of Revelation. It opens as a letter from John, the beloved young friend of Jesus, who is all grown up now and writing to the seven Christian communities in what is Turkey today.
Tomorrow the Church will canonise a man whose life and work has been described by Pope Benedict XVI as ‘one great commentary on the question of conscience’, who was praised by St John Paul II
In the name of the Archdiocese of Sydney, the Reverend Father Anthony L’Estrange Robbie, the duly appointed Postulator for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Eileen Rosaline O ‘Connor
I offer my sincere congratulations to Bishop Anthony Randazzo on his appointment by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Broken Bay
The 13th century was a great one for saints. There were some exotics such as Isfrid of Ratzeburg, Artaldus of Savoy, Engelbert of Cologne, Adolf of Osnabrück,
The Story of Dives and Lazarus from the Codex Aureus of Echternach (c.1035)Jesus can be cryptic. He speaks in parables, the point of which is often unclear.
Thank-you Meredith. Might I begin by repeating my thanks to Dr Peirson and all at New College for the honour they do me
Today is a very dark day for New South Wales. The new abortion law is a defeat for humanity.The Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 may be the worst law passed in New South Wales in modern times, because it represents such a dramatic
Thank-you Meredith. Might I begin by repeating for those who weren’t here last night my thanks to Dr Peirson and all
Thank-you Meredith. Might I begin by thanking Dr Peirson and all at New College for inviting me to join in conversation with my friend Archbishop Glenn Davies for this year’s New College
It’s a puzzling parable that one (Lk 16:1-13): Jesus seems to be praising a manager whose under investigation for misconduct including waste or embezzlement …
Iustitia or Lady Justice was the ancient Roman personification of justice, whom the Emperor Augustus elevated to a goddess and gave a temple in Rome.
They call themselves “pro-choice”: yet what choice do the promoters of the abortion bill offer the unborn? Death, no reason given, up to 22 wks; death, if 2 drs agree, right up to birth
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘culture’? Some people mean posh things like opera, art galleries and universities.
What’s the best kind of leader? Plato in his Republic famously said it was a person with vision and principle who didn’t want to be leader and thus a philosopher-king would be best.
More than a little OTT – over the top – wouldn’t you say? Five bridesmaids forget to bring extra oil for their lamps, which given that the bridegroom came late to the reception and the girls were presumably not professional bridesmaids, seems a simple and forgivable oversight (Mt 25:1-13).
A rather gruesome story for a school Mass and a Fathers’ Day celebration, but Christianity is brutally honest about the suffering in any life.
The Victorian Court of Appeal has today upheld the verdict of historical sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal George Pell in a 2-1 decision.
St Dominic was a paradoxical figure. “His face was always radiant,” Blessed Jordan chronicled, and “by his cheerfulness he easily won the love of everybody. Without difficulty he found his way into people’s hearts as soon as they saw him.”
Earlier this year Charity Sunshine Tillerman Tillemann-Dick, a coloratura soprano, died aged 35. She had long struggled with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension that enlarged her heart to more than three times normal size and, in 2009 and again in 2012, she underwent double lung transplants.
The phrase ‘salt of the earth’ is commonplace in modern English. It comes, of course, from Jesus’ words in our Gospel passage today (Mt 5:1b-2, 13-16). It has come to describe those who are commonsensical, practical, honest, reliable. But is that what Jesus had in mind?
“My soul is bursting as it magnifies the Lord. My spirit is overjoyed with God my saviour. He looks on me in my lowliness and raises up all the lowly. He loves me in my emptiness and fills all the hungry with good things.
In the Gospel of John is the story of a crowd of vigilantes about to stone a woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11). Jesus intervened, writing the sins of the crowd in the sand and charging them: “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.”
The 19th century Scottish author, George Macdonald, was something of a renaissance man. A minister, Christian apologist, poet, and pioneer in fantasy fiction, he was a major influence
I am deeply saddened at the passing of the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 through the NSW Legislative Assembly this evening.If a civilisation is to be judged by how it treats its weakest members, New South Wales failed spectacularly today.
Our state is so full of life and promise, especially for the next generation.
We, as faith leaders, see God as the creator of life, and we welcome all new lives that will live, love and laugh
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says, all is vanity! (Eccles 1:2; 2:21-3) In so many ways, ours is an age of self-absorption, even self-obsession. More than 80 million photographs are uploaded to Instagram every day, mostly people’s selfies
The summer of 1221 was a hot one. Global warming meant Europe was one and a half degrees warmer than usual, and was experiencing strange weather, melting glaciers, wheat growing all the way to Scandinavia, grapes all over England.
This week it was announced that a private members bill would be introduced immediately into parliament that will allow abortion for any reason up until birth in NSW.
“Lord, teach us to pray.” (Lk 11:1-13;Mt 6:8-13) OK, Jesus says, here’s a catechism of prayer for you. Let me teach you prayer of adoration, prayer of petition, prayer of contrition, and prayer of thanksgiving.
Fifty years ago yesterday, on July 20 1969, I was nine years old and along with my class of excited fourth-graders at St Michael’s Lane Cove – and 20% of the world’s population
Dear brothers and sisters, I write to you from Rome at the end of the Ad Limina Apostolorum pilgrimage of the Australian Bishops to the tombs of the apostles, to the Holy Father, and to the Vatican Departments.
Three great and related ideas inspire and compete for the soul today: Christianity, Islam, and Secularism. Christianity, that is, faith in the person and Gospel of Jesus Christ,
What are they staring at? In Paul Newton’s painting of The Catholic Community in Sydney c. 1818 the youngest are the most intensely focused on what they would have called ‘the Blessed Sacrament’.
Today we bless a new work of sacred art, The Mother of Divine Wisdom with St Joseph and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, created by Chiara Perinetti Casoni, whom we welcome today to Australia and celebrate in the University.
Trials and errors, courts and appeals have been very much in the air of late! In our two readings this morning both Peter and Paul are on trial, and their further trials are prophesied. Paul had been imprisoned by the Governor of Judea, Antonius Felix,
“There is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it there.”[1] So advised the bishop who sent Fr Jean-Baptiste Vianney to Ars, a remote and neglected village of only 230 people. Visit every family in their home, the bishop advised, and do your best to give regular
“God bless you ladies!” said the boatsmen who rowed the first sisters ashore to Sydney Cove on New Year’s Eve of 1838. Mother Mary John Cahill, Sisters Mary
In the 1987 humorous detective novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, the eponymous detective declares that “if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility
Salt is rather out of fashion these days, being blamed for high blood pressure, fluid retention, heart disease, stomach cancer, you name it. While a little sodium is a necessary element in any diet, Australians, we are told, consume twice as much salt
Though today is the feast of St Justin Martyr and this evening the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Ascension, our Order seems to stand outside ordinary time and space.
Despite his many accolades, the Canadian poet-singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is perhaps best known for his hit song Hallelujah.
It’s a hard time to be a priest. First the Royal Commission, then the conviction of Cardinal Pell; the media are getting ready for further excitement around that latter in the weeks ahead. At his request I’ve said very little publicly,
Welcome to the tenth Iftar breakfast hosted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. It is with great joy that tonight I acknowledge our Muslim guests: His Eminence Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, Grand Mufti of Australia and President of the Council of Imams NSW;
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם Shalom Aleikhem (Peace be with you) is how Jews says hello and goodbye to each other.
Jesus loved his Mum, loved her lots. We see Jesus with her on many occasions in the Gospels: his birth, presentation, flight into Egypt, finding in the Temple,
The dispute had been brewing for some time. Luke’s rather tactful description was that in Antioch and elsewhere there had been ook oligis οὐκ ὀλίγης ‘no small’
We’re all familiar with crosses. They mark churches and hospitals, pharmacies and ambulances, firetrucks, blood banks, graves and more.
Fifteen years ago Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, was released to hostile reviews but strong audiences.
“Amen! Alleluia! Praise the Lord!” are common words of assent, even praise, amongst black American congregations as they prod their pastors to even greater heights of preaching.
The American sit-com How I Met Your Mother follows the lives of five close friends: Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lilly and Robin.
An excellent spiritual activity for today is praying the powerful Divine Mercy Chaplet. In today’s feature, Australia’s MGL Sisters teach us to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy through
My name is Mother Graciana, and I’m from Peru. I live in a small village up in the mountains, where people’s lives are very harsh. That is why we are
Thank you for attending our Mass and Candlelight Vigil. Tonight we have commended to Almighty God the 253 or so victims of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka.
Easter morning Mass was nearly over at St Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Katuwapitiya, Negombo. The congregation had heard the Gospel account of the first Easter, renewed their baptismal promises, been sprinkled with Easter water and received Holy Communion.
In prayer, we discover who God is and who we are before Him. One form of prayer is a prayer of petition, where we ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry
Sketch of Fulton Sheen by Beth Larkin Meditate upon the profound words of Venerable Fulton Sheen, best known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio.
If you asked people right after the First World War who was the quintessential Anzac, many would have responded Albert Jacka.Described as ‘Australia’s greatest front-line soldier’, Jacka signed up for the 14th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force, arriving in Anzac Cove on 26 April 1915.
Catholic Social Teaching covers all spheres of life – the economic, political, personal and spiritual. With human dignity at its centre, a holistic approach to development founded on the principles
I’m a girl, therefore, I’m all for romantic comedies. Nothing beats staying in on a rainy day with tea and chocolate binging everything in this category. However, since diving further
Why do we celebrate Easter with eggs and bunnies? In this video, two young Sydney Catholics talk about the symbolism behind it all and where it came from. REFLECT PRAYER
This week the world has been mourning the loss not of a person but of a building. More than eight centuries old, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris was a wonder of Christian architecture and a centre of Western civilisation.
This week the world has been mourning the loss not of a person but of a building. More than eight centuries old, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris was a wonder of Christian architecture and a centre of Western civilisation.
A visual animation to Danielle Rose’s song ‘Crown of Thorns’, in which a beautiful story unfolds throughout about our plans vs God’s plan. This video feature provides a creative reflection
When you make the sign of the cross before a prayer multiple times or in the course of the Mass it is easy to forget all that is behind it.
The high points of my day are my Mass, Divine Office and Rosary, when I spend time with Our Lord, opening my heart and mind to Him, listening, asking, thanking, adoring. This relationship with God is, I hope, the foundation of my every word and deed.
On Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janiero stands the famous statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) – probably the most famous statue of Jesus in the world. Christ with His arms outstretched evokes the Creator-Provident God, supreme over the cosmos, holding creation in being and pouring out His blessing upon it.
Reflect upon the meaning of today, Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday, when we commemorate the day on which Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples. “In tonight’s
Living with a disability was challenging for Nguyet. Yet, since featuring in Project Compassion 2017 Nguyet has successfully built her own business, a dream that has become a reality with
Fr Daniele Russo continues his story from wanting to be a business entrepreneur in high school to discovering his purpose in life – the priesthood. REFLECT PRAYERAlmighty and Eternal God,look
Once there were 3 trees that stood upon a mountain top, and dreamed of what they wanted to become… Listen to this beautiful story about our plans vs God’s plan.As
Quite a mood swing. One moment it’s ‘Hosanna, Praise the king’ (Lk 19:28-40), next it’s ‘Crucify him’ (Lk 22:14-23:56). One moment high as a kite, waving palms, singing and dancing, so excitedly the very stones seem to cry out; next it’s down in the dumps, full of anxiety and foreboding, looking for a scapegoat.
Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified. Palm Sunday is
In this podcast, Dr Matthew Tan explores the way sin governs not only our actions, but also our hearts. Many of us understand ourselves to be sinners in the sense
What is fasting? Is it the same as dieting? Is it just about giving up something? In this video, we learn what fasting is, why Jesus did it and why
No, it’s not an uprise of a punk rock faction in our Church. It’s actually an ancient spiritual practice based on ‘Memento Mori’, which translates from Latin to English into
You may remember Salma, who featured in Project Compassion 2013. At the time she was pregnant with her first child, sick and terribly frightened. In distress, she sought the help
See Fr Daniele Russo’s story from wanting to be a business entrepreneur in high school to discovering his purpose in life – the priesthood. REFLECT PRAYER for vocationsGracious and loving
What is Lent like for a new Catholic? Jacinta found new revert to the Catholic faith whilst at daily Mass. She was young and stuck our like a sore thumb.
Ruth Elizabeth Davis – better known by her stage name ‘Bette Davis’ – is considered one of the greatest actresses ever. The first person nominated for five consecutive Academy Awards, she received many honours.
In today’s Gospel comic, the Pharisees proclaim that by law, the adulterous woman must be stoned to death. They pass judgement on the sins of others without recognising their own
My name is Samia Jriej. I live in Homs, Syria, a city that has been devastated by eight years of war, this is the reason why many families have lost
‘There’s glory for you!’
‘I don’t know what you mean by “glory”,’ Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of course you don’t—till I tell you.
Every Catholic is called to love like Christ did. Some might express this through caring for their elderly parents or their children. Some might love others through serving their parish.
We’ve all got something embarrassing in our past, some great shame we’ve repented of and would rather not be reminded of: mine is that I used to be… a lawyer.
LOUISA DANIELS Thank You For The Music In the perennial words of ABBA, ‘Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk; she says I began to sing long
Michaela is a 21-year-old trainee at Purple House, a dialysis center in the Central Desert for people suffering from kidney disease. With the support of Caritas partners, Michaela is helping
Nora Moya is one of the students who volunteered for CatholicCare last Christmas, to prepare fresh food hampers for families in need. In this video, we learn about the rewarding
Sister Rosarii is a religious sister belonging to the Little Sisters of the Poor, who has given her whole self as a gift to God in service. She has dedicated
In today’s Gospel comic, the Lost Son is likened to those who return to Mass after being away for so long. Like the faithful brother, we too might be faithful,
It’s a mystery in families, why one kid turns out one way, another so differently, even though they’ve had the same upbringing, affection and advantages. Today a boy asks for his inheritance early (Lk 15:1-3,11-32). In the Ancient Near East it’s a terrible request.
A sense of unworthiness troubles many young people discerning their vocation. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP addresses this. REFLECT 1. Have I questioned my worth for my aspirations or when
Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane… What do they have to do with each other? Discover how Christ is the ‘Last Adam’ in
‘A long melancholy meditation on loss, impermanence and that noble, stubborn, foolish thing called love.’ ‘What gives it its emotional heft is the sense of expiry and mortality that hangs over it.’ It ‘confronts the irreversible forward march of time, the pain of abandonment, the loss of love.’
“She’ll be right, mate,” is a slogan as quintessentially Aussie as the Victa Lawnmower, the Hills Hoist Clothesline and Vegemite on toast. In international circles, this no-fuss, no-sweat attitude seems
Peter is thrilled to now have clean water on tap at his boarding school. Long walks to unsafe water sources were tiring for Peter, who is living with a disability.
Allergic to commitment? Fear of committing can stop us in our tracks and leave us stagnant in our journey of life. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP speaks on why so
The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the most important feasts in the Church Calendar. It celebrates the moment when the angel Gabriel declared to Mary that she would
Suffering. Innocent suffering. What sense can any human being, any religion make of it? And how can we believe in a good God in the face of it? The common answer in the ancient world was: he got what he deserved.
Our Faith is like the fig tree … when life gets difficult we can’t just give up on our Faith like the Orchard owner. We need to be patient and
Hello, I’m Sister Cecilia. I live in Rwanda, a beautiful country in the heart of Africa. Since I was a child, I dreamt of taking care of elderly people, the
Why do we fast and give something up for 40 days? Chocolate, games, social media, coffee – what’s the point of giving any of these things up? REFLECT 1. How
We are all called to care for every member of our society regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or any other external characteristic. Unborn babies are the most vulnerable of
Tati lives in the remote forest of West Kalimantan. She is a mother of three who was earning an income working in a local rubber plantation. Since taking part in
On the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, we reflect upon the life of this great Saint, the foster father of Jesus. Saint Joseph is a quiet example. He shows how
According to tradition, St. Patrick wrote this prayer in 433 A.D. for Divine Protection before successfully converting the Irish King Leoghaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity (the term
The prehistoric peoples of Australia and the Pacific, Africa and the Americas, the ancient Greeks, Romans and others in Europe, the tribes of the Middle East, and the great religions of Asia, all had their sacred sites where they felt particularly close to God.
“Today we are all Muslims,” said one of our nation’s most respected journalists.
Not that we all share the same faith.
The transfiguration of Jesus reminds us, during Lent, that through prayer we allow Christ to transfigure us in His likeness, preparing us to accept the Cross just as He did.
This is Sister Rita Kurochkina. She works at a children’s shelter in the parish of Kapshagay in Kazakhstan. In this country, communism brought huge devastation. Many people stopped believing in
The Sydney Church I grew up in still a rather Irish one. Already by then my parents and schoolmates, like many Sydney Catholics, were not: they represented the much more culturally diverse Australia which was emerging by the 1960s and is now so obvious here in Sydney.
Without getting too much into, “what is sin?” and “what are sins?” – maybe the first question should be, “WHY is sin bad, and why should I care?” REFLECT 1.
It’s a great pleasure to be here today, and I would like to thank you all for attending this important ceremony. I’m told that a number of the builders who have worked on this project are here today, so I give a special welcome to them!
It is a very comforting promise that Christ makes us in today’s Gospel (Mt 7:7-12): “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
So, if you want to try praying the Rosary, where do you start? Busted Halo’s 2-minute video has you covered. Learn about the history and tradition of the Rosary, how
Twelve-year-old Thandolwayo would walk seven kilometres each day, threatened by crocodiles, to collect contaminated water for her family. It looked like she would never realise her hope of finishing her
If you’ve grown up in a Christian family, it’s easy not to think deeply about the prayers that you’ve learned off by heart and repeated thousands of times. But it’s
What does it mean to be a ‘fully invested Christian’? Is there a long checklist of things you should be doing as a fully invested Christian? If you have a
Stories of devils and temptations never went out of fashion. Take the 1997 movie, Devil’s Advocate, nominated and awarded for best villain and best horror film.
Most will be familiar with Aesop’s fable of the elephant and the mouse. As the story goes, the elephant spares the mouse when the mouse begs for his life, suggesting that one day he might be able to help the elephant.
What is temptation? Is it a fleeting thought or a nagging itch? Is it a sin to be tempted? In this short video, Laura explores how we can overcome and
My name is Julia, from Ukraine, a land that has suffered a lot: the Soviet Revolution, Great Famine, wars… Many of us think that suffering has no end. But I
The Way of the Cross is a traditional devotion in honour of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Way of the Cross had its origins in the Holy Land and in a sense, is a mini-pilgrimage through the events that covered the final hours of Jesus’ life on earth.
The philosopher, Thales of Miletus, is commonly known as the founder of philosophy. He was also an amateur astronomer, and there’s an old story about him walking along one day, looking up at the sky and contemplating the heavens.
So began the first reading for Mass on the day the news broke of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction. While I must leave commenting on that matter until after the appeal process is complete, the media storm around the case was read by
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:19) Dear Brothers and Sisters Each year, through Mother Church, God “gives us this
Ever heard of Joe McVicker, his uncle Noah and sister-in-law Kay Zufall? Probably not. But I suspect you’ve heard of their invention: a non-toxic, non-staining, white putty invented by Noah
What is Lent? What is Ash Wednesday? What does fasting mean? All these questions answered in 60 seconds with this video made with Lego! REFLECT 1. ‘Spending less and giving
“What about me?” sang Shannon Noll after coming second in the first Australian Idol series in 2003. Peter asks the same in our Gospel today (Mk 10:28-31).
The blind leading the blind. The disciple disregarding the teacher. The hypocrite taking splinters from people’s eyes while there’s a plank in his own. Today Jesus convicts Israel and the Church of these failings (Lk 6:39-45).
What’s different about priests? Strange clothes and even stranger personalities? A super commitment to God and the Church? Being professionally religious? Well, in the face of a radical treat to the priesthood
“You’re a mongrel dog!” – a friend said to me once, surprised to learn I had ancestors and relatives from all continents. Only in Australia could that be said affectionately!
The 18th century Scots philosopher David Hume had some strange ideas. Taking a boldly skeptical approach to almost everything, he doubted that there is a permanent self that continues through time or that there was real cause and effect in the external world.
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral Hall to this Anti-Slavery Ethical Sourcing Seminar and Expo. As we honour past and present elders of the Gadigal People and the Eora Nation, we acknowledge that our history as a nation includes a shameful chapter in which many Indigenous people
The story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37) is surely one of the most beloved of all Jesus’ parables. But the risk with stories we’ve all heard before is that we switch off when they are retold.
There are in religion two contrary tendencies. The first focuses on the spiritual dimension of human beings. It regards the physical universe as confining and distracting, and emphasises God the pure spirit, the angels also, and the dead now released from bodily life.
Google “how to be a great lover” and you get some interesting answers. Some offer advice to men who are all at sea when it comes to women: world-shattering insights as “Make time for her”, “Listen to her” and “Compliment her”.
‘I’m a servant.’ Such talk sticks a bit in our throats, makes us more than a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it? A waiter or waitress OK. An airline steward, maybe, as long as I don’t have to look after a plane full of Aussies going to WYD. A nurse, sure.
Wow young Australia! What an awesome Aussie gathering this has been to introduce our World Youth Day week! We come together this week, young people with their lay leaders, pastors, and pope as a living-breathing, singing-dancing, praying-acting proof that the Catholic Church is alive and well.
This morning’s story of Jesus’ “first great sign, given at Cana in Galilee,” is dazzling in its scale. Jesus turns wine into water, but not just enough wine for those at the wedding reception to drink, but about 800 litres – enough to drown them in! (Jn 2:1011)
Might I begin by congratulating the organisers of this twentieth annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life here at Georgetown
Today’s Gospel scene (Lk 1:26-38) is one of the most memorable in the Bible and has inspired great artists for centuries.
The arrival of the Magi, who wanted to venerate the new kid on the block, and who were using a comet as their sat-nav, caused quite a stir.
In this Youth sermon, Cheryl Anthony from Liverpool, invites us to reflect on the two different perspectives in the story of the Epiphany – that of King Herod and
Your browser does not support the audio element. If the audio player above is not working on your browser, download the mp3. This is an excerpt from the Pre-WYD19
Portrait artist, Paul Newton, shares his thoughts on being an artist for the Church and advice for artists wanting to make a contribution to the Church through their art.
Jesus our Saviour and coffee orders: the importance of names A simple joy in my life is when cafes don’t ask for my name when grabbing my coffee order. I
Today is the feast day of Saint Basil the Great, who was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church,
Sketch of Fulton Sheen by Beth Larkin Meditate upon the profound words of Venerable Fulton Sheen, best known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio.
Who am I? What am I called to be? These are big questions we might find us asking ourselves. In this short video, Simone from Mortdale unpacks what we can
Your browser does not support the audio element. If the audio player above is not working on your browser, download the mp3. In this podcast we listen to a
As the Church addresses the reality of sexual abuse scandals, we interviewed young people about their thoughts on how the Church can move forward towards healing and compassion. We
Today is the feast day of Saint John the Evangelist. Also known as St John the Apostle, he is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. Here are three
Imagine this for a second. You’re sitting with a dear friend over dinner, you may not have seen them in a long time but it’s one of those friendships where
The birth of a child is Always a time for rejoicing. The great joy of the Christmas season is born of our celebration of the arrival of the Christ Child, the one who came to set us free.
Infatuated! Drunk! Mad!I’m not describing some embarrassing aunt at a Christmas barbecue or some creepy guy at an office party. No, this is how St. Catherine of Siena – fourteenth century mystic
Infatuated! Drunk! Mad! I’m not describing some embarrassing aunt at a Christmas barbecue or some creepy guy at an office party. No, this is how St. Catherine of Siena – fourteenth century mystic…
Prefer to read? Read the transcript below. The birth of a child is always a time for rejoicing. The great joy of the Christmas season is born of our
PRAYER: Lord Our God, You are the source of all. Accompany us this Advent as we prepare for the coming of Jesus. Guide us and lead us Lord as we use
“I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.” So J. Robert Oppenheimer, ‘father of the atomic bomb’, famously said upon seeing the first detonation of his bomb and the destructive power he had unleashed.
Matt Frijo from Lurnea shares his thoughts on today’s Gospel about the Visitation, when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth and the infant in her womb leaps with joy, and
Have you thought about your connection to the Mass? We asked the youth of St John Bosco Parish in Engadine, Australia, what their first impression of the Mass was
Today is the feast day of Saint Peter Canisius. Here are three Fast Facts about this great Saint. Want to learn more about Saint Peter? Click here. REFLECT
Why are we hearing about the Annunciation only five days out from the Nativity? Everyone knows there are nine months between a conception and a birth, and in Jesus’ case there was a great deal of
Sketch of Fulton Sheen by Beth Larkin Meditate upon the profound words of Venerable Fulton Sheen, best known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio.
The composer Arnold Schoenberg, notorious for his atonal music, once famously said that ‘my music is not lovely’. In my opinion, he was right. But he insisted that there can be a beauty in music
When it comes to reflecting on Advent, I often think about the incredible journey that Mary went through. I think about how God chose Mary to carry his only son.
Welcome to St Mary’s Basilica for the Unveiling of the Armenian car-car Khachkar Cross to mark the 2015 commemoration here at St Mary’s of the centenary of the
So began the last book by Theodor Seuss Geisel – ‘Ted’ to his friends or ‘Dr. Seuss’ to those of us who grew up on his story books. I remember The Cat in the Hat when it was
“Perhaps the Lord does not see all this?” (Lamentations 3:36) As Pope Francis reminds us, in various parts of the world, many people, especially children, feel the daily pangs of
PRAYER: Lord Our God, You are the source of all. Accompany us this Advent as we prepare for the coming of Jesus. Guide us and lead us Lord as we use
When we think of nineteenth century comic operetta we naturally think of evan zâytz Ivan Zajc; but one of the best-loved comic operas is not his but Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado.
Christine Hill from Revesby shares with us her reflection on today’s Gospel, the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. How do we experience the joy of
Xt3 and Sydney Catholic Youth asked our local young people how much they know about Eileen O’Connor, whose cause is being put forward for Sainthood. Eileen may well be
Around this time of year, people often phone the cathedral or their parishes to ask what time the Midnight Mass will be. In fairness to them, they are not being stupid: the time of the “Mass at Midnight of the
Around this time of year, people often phone the cathedral or their parishes to ask what time the Midnight Mass will be. In fairness to them, they are not being stupid: the time of the “Mass at Midnight of the
Today is the feast day of Saint John of the Cross. Here are three Fast Facts about this great Saint. Want to learn more about Saint John of the
I looked at my calendar for December and instantly felt overwhelmed. When I opened my budget spreadsheet and the projected costs of birthdays, anniversaries, as well as Christmas, I was
I cannot wait to share with you one of my favourite stories, the beautiful story of Our Lady of Guadalupe! This beautiful feast day is celebrated every December 12 in
When I am not in Youth Ministry mode, I love to relax and one of my hobbies is watching my favourite TV shows. One of the TV shows I love to
PRAYER: Lord Our God, You are the source of all. Accompany us this Advent as we prepare for the coming of Jesus. Guide us and lead us Lord as we use
Why Advent? Lent is sort of obvious: as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem, to His trial and Cross and tomb, we accompany him with hushed voices, downcast faces, wearing the colour of his bruises.
Aldreane Cruz from Wolli Creek shares his thoughts on today’s Gospel reading on the Second Sunday of Advent. He talks about straightening our paths to make way for Jesus,
Today’s Gospel scene (Lk 1:26-38) is probably one of the most memorable in the Bible
The Slow Food movement began in the 1980s in response to the opening of a McDonald’s store near the Spanish Steps in Rome.
One of the best Italian comedies of recent years was Edoardo Falcone’s Se Dio vuole – God Willing (2015).
Your browser does not support the audio element. If the audio player above is not working on your browser, try this link. REFLECT How can I be a good
Xt3 and Sydney Catholic Youth asked young people what they know about the ‘Immaculate Conception’. Their answers might surprise you! REFLECT 1. What was your understanding of the
Scroll down for Reflection Questions The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara in modern day
Bishop Richard Umbers, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, talks about Christ present in the Eucharist and the powerful effects of silent adoration of the Eucharist. REFLECT What do I
Sketch of Fulton Sheen by Beth Larkin Meditate upon the profound words of Venerable Fulton Sheen, best known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio.
PRAYER: Lord Our God, You are the source of all. Accompany us this Advent as we prepare for the coming of Jesus. Guide us and lead us Lord as we use
“Silence is God’s first language,” wrote the 16th-century mystic John of the Cross, because silence is the normal context in which contemplative prayer takes place. And although God in
In The Brothers Karamazov the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky famously wrote that ‘hell is the suffering of being unable to love’. A serious Christian himself, though one who experienced grave doubts
Thank-you Dean Richardson, Mr Toutounji and Mr Tobin. Your Eminences and Excellencies, Reverend Sirs and Ladies, Friends all: welcome to my place! It is a tribute to the kind of country Australia is that religious leaders, representatives
Thank you, Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Dr Zimmerman, Teresa, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for me to launch Archbishop Peter Comensoli’s In God’s Image: Recognizing the Profoundly
In early 1818, the English romantic poets Percy Shelley and Horace Smith took up a friendly competition to each write a sonnet on the same theme.
A very warm welcome to our forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools. I thank Mr Anthony Cleary, Michael Kelleher, Glen Thompson, and other education leaders and staff
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St Patrick’s Primary School Parramatta and Parramatta Marist are able to trace a continuous line with the school founded by the first Catholic Chaplain to the Colony
Corporal Roger Morgan, of Richmond, Victoria, joined the 1st Australian Field Ambulance in 1915, and arrived on the fields of France a year later.
You are a temple… Treat your body as a temple. It’s a tenet of new age spirituality. Indeed the hippie blogsite Feel Good
Sometimes Jesus seems a bit deaf. When people ask Him about fasting, rituals, family respect, punishing an adulteress, divorce, paying taxes, being born again, and the like
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP, stands united with Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he delivers the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
It’s one of the harshest lines in the Gospels, certainly one of the harshest to come from Jesus’ lips, and it’s addressed to the very man Jesus is preparing to lead after He has gone.
Today we celebrate the Spring Ember Day in the Catholic Church. Ember days in the Church roughly correspond to the four seasons, though in general in Australia we only celebrate the Autumn and Spring ones
“Hey you guys: don’t you realise you are God’s temple, with the Spirit of God within you?” so St. Paul says to us today (1 Cor 3:9-17).
Cynthia Voigt is a prolific author of novels for young adults. Homecoming, the first of seven books in her Tillerman series, was nominated for several international prizes and adapted for film.
So runs the chorus of an old English folk song that compares human life to that of a leaf, changing with the seasons. At first glance the song seems rather fatalistic, focusing as it does on our inevitable ageing and afflictions – the ‘frost’
After the horrors of the Second World War, in which more systematic perpetration of evil conceived by human minds and crueller things were done to human bodies than at any time in history, it took a great act of faith and hope in humanity
In the realm of music, a ‘counterpoint’ is created when someone adds a different melody on top of or underneath another melody, so that the two work together, in harmony, interdependently.
“We gather today to offer this Funeral Mass for the late Monsignor Meagher, a priest of Jesus Christ who served God and the people of Sydney faithfully for nearly 60 years, and died last week aged 91.
When people complained to Picasso that his portrait of Gertrude Stein did not look like her he famously replied, ‘No matter – it will.’ Picasso’s point was not merely that as Stein aged she would become more likely the unflattering face he had painted
Let me begin by wishing you all a very happy and holy Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, our home-grown saint, Patron of the Catholic School System here in Australia, and a special favourite in this Joey school and parish.
When Mary MacKillop was about 20 years old, living in Portland, Victoria, she was accidentally locked in the church overnight. You might think that was a rather spooky thing to happen to someone
I was not lucky enough to have Rev. Professor Paul Ryan as one of my philosophy teachers when I was in the seminary. But I do recall with gratitude many things I learnt in philosophy that underpinned my theology, pastoral life and administration ever since.
The miracle of the loaves and the fishes is the most reported of all Jesus’ miracles: it appears in all four Gospels and in two of them twice! John’s account (Jn 6:1-15) underlines the connection with the mystery of the Eucharist.
When the great art historian, museum director and broadcaster, Kenneth Clark, finally entered the Catholic Church on his deathbed, he fulfilled an earlier prediction. He had said that when that time came it would be like a painting entering the Louvre: “It would find itself in some pretty queer company, but at least it would be sure that it had a soul.”
Thank you, Fr John, for your gracious words; you are over-generous to me. God bless you for all you and your brothers do to model faith and vocation to young people throughout Australia. My thanks also to Fr Goonan and St Paul’s publications.
When I was a young ‘seminarian’ and then priest in Melbourne Gerard was a rising star in the educational scene. When I was director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family he was one of the first students, eventually ‘doctored’ and one of the lecturers there. When I came back home to Sydney and got involved with UNDA, he was soon contributing here too, now as Associate Professor …
Where do hymns come from? Well, the ancient Egyptians, Jews, Hindus and Greeks all had their religious songs. Christians were from the start great ones for singing, whether in private devotions or corporate worship (e.g. Mt 26:30; Mk 14:26; Acts 16:25; 1Cor 14:26; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; Jam 5:13). Early hymns are recorded in the Scriptures, such as the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis …
Silence. It can be oppressive, as in today’s Gospel when the people of Jesus’ hometown effectively gag his words and miracles (Mk 6:1-6). Silence can be angry or indolent, as when people sulk or neglect to speak up when they should. It can even be a weapon of passive resistance. The Anglican divine, Adam Ford, tells of a husband and wife he met who hadn’t spoken a word to each other in twenty years.
Before my conversion I was a proper little pagan. I lived for my next drink or other sensory experience, for the satisfaction of my baser passions. I cared nothing for other people’s needs and never gave a thought to worshipping God or serving humanity. I didn’t turn my mind to the great mysteries of God, creation and ourselves. I just wanted pleasant experiences and a quick fix to anything unpleasant.
When I was a young ‘seminarian’ and then priest in Melbourne Gerard was a rising star in the educational scene. When I was director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family he was one of the first students, eventually ‘doctored’ and one of the lecturers there. When I came back home to Sydney and got involved with UNDA, he was soon contributing here too, now as Associate Professor …
“Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the ‘Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again’. Hamish is shocked and declares that ‘No Scotsman would do such a thing.’ The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again; and, this time, finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton …
St Mary’s Cathedral is the location for the celebration of the Ninth World Day of the Sick. Cardinal retires and Archbishop George Pell, formerly the Archbishop of Melbourne, becomes the
Archdiocesan offices move to impressive new building, the Polding Centre on Liverpool St in the CBD. Archbishop George Pell is created Cardinal by Pope
Death of much loved, Pope John Paul II. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI makes his first visit to Australia when the Archdiocese of Sydney hosts World Youth Day 2008. WYD08 is a huge success and as a result the social
Restoration and renovation begins on the former Marist Fathers students’ home in Rome for what will become a pilgrim’s haven for Australians in the city offering accommodation and a home
The Holy Father Pope Francis appoints George Cardinal Pell as Prefect of the new Secretariat for the Economy. The Most Rev Anthony Fisher is appointed as the ninth Archbishop of
Thank you all for joining us on this annual Walk With Christ procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi, especially in the 200th anniversary year of the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament here in Sydney. I acknowledge today the presence of the auxiliary bishops, clergy, religious and lay faithful who helped organise or assisted in today’s procession.
When Pope Urban IV decided to extend the feast of Corpus Christi to the universal Church, he wisely chose the great Dominican theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, to compose the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours for this great feast. Thus he bequeathed to us the Sacris Solemniis with its Panis Angelicus, the Verbum Supernum, the Lauda Sion, the Adoro …
When hundreds of thousands of the young people of the world gathered here in Sydney ten years ago to celebrate the World Youth Day, they were encouraged to make their way to the Cathedral as pilgrims have always done. Here they were able to consecrate themselves to Our Lady after the example …
What to give the woman who has everything? We can imagine Pope Francis kneeling at his prie-dieu thinking just this: what present can I give Mary on the 160th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions and, more importantly, the 50th anniversary of her Schœnstatt shrine in Australia?
In the 1987 humorous detective novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, the eponymous detective, Dirk Gently, declares that ‘if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands.
Jeremiah O’Flynn was a ‘character’. Born in County Kerry to a tenant farmer and his wife, he suffered from wanderlust and joined a Trappist mission to the West Indies. When the monks were expelled from Martinique he stayed on, though still only a deacon, tending the Catholic slaves until he was declared …
here’s an old story about a man caught in a flood who determinedly stayed in his house when all the surrounding ones were evacuated, insisting he would trust in God. As the waters rose, people in a car stopped to offer him a lift, but he told them ‘God will save me’. As the flood …
N’oublions jamais l’Australie – Let us never forget the Australians. The instruction is written above every blackboard in the Elementary School in the French town of Villers-Bretonneux. In a campaign using the slogan “By Diggers defended, by Victorians mended” children from the state of Victoria each donated at least one penny to rebuild the school …
The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines is described on the DVD cover as “an adrenaline-pumping action ride”. It tells the true-ish story of a U.S. Naval Pilot, Chris Burnett (played by Owen Wilson). During a routine reconnaissance mission during the Bosnian Genocide of 1995 he obtained photographic evidence …
“Blind faith” is the name of an English blues band whose only album was also called Blind Faith (1969). There was also an album of that name by British rock band Walk on Fire (1989), and a third album of the same name by the Christian rock band Legend Seven (1993). Songs of that name were recorded …
Quinoa and kale, açai powder and green tea, a FitBit and a personal trainer – these are our culture’s secrets to living forever or till it feels like forever. There are even more ‘out there’ strategies: cosmetic, genetic or cybernetic treatments; getting yourself cloned or frozen till they have a cure; mind-to-computer …
Quinoa and kale, açai powder and green tea, a FitBit and a personal trainer – these are our culture’s secrets to living forever or till it feels like forever. There are even more ‘out there’ strategies: cosmetic, genetic or cybernetic treatments; getting yourself cloned or frozen till they have a cure; mind-to-computer uploading; and reincarnation into a younger body.
How are we to connect with the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ that we just chanted (Jn chs 18 & 19) and make the story our own? This Holy Week I want to suggest the crucial link is the sacraments. It’s in the sacraments that Christ’s Paschal mystery is remembered; in the sacraments that its fruits …
The first thing we do as we enter the world, we do through our mouths: we scream our lungs out. The next thing we do is breathe through them. Soon after we suckle with them. It’s said that infants think of the universe as an enormous teat just for them, and only gradually come to terms with the fact that …
We’ve heard the Holy Week story so many times before. How do we connect with it, make the story ours? What does it mean to say Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection saves, heals and elevates us? This Holy Week I want to suggest that the crucial link is the sacraments. It’s in the sacraments that Christ’s …
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark is a powerful, no-nonsense telling of the story of Jesus’ last day (Mk chs 14 & 15). Though it might have just seemed long to you, it’s actually the shortest of the four versions and it has some unique features. One is its stark realism. Mark tells it like it is. His Jesus is no demigod, no superhero.
Belinda and Shaun Stafford spent six years in an IVF programme after discovering they could not conceive in any other way – an experience Belinda described as “painful, tormenting, a strain on our marriage and just plain hard.”1 So, after having three children they decided enough was enough.
The Sydney Church in which I grew up was still a rather Irish one. Already by then my parents and schoolmates, like many Sydney Catholics, were not: they represented the much more culturally diverse Australia that emerged after the Second World War in places like Fairfield.
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC STUDENTS ASSOCIATION NEWMAN DINNER “A PERSON CONVERTING” St. John’s College, University Of Sydney Many of you will have seen James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic – at the very
STATEMENT FROM MOST REV. ANTHONY FISHER OP ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, welcomed today’s announcement by the NSW Government to join the
“BUSINESS ETHICS 101 IN THE AGE OF THE CORPORATE TAX CUT” Sydney Catholic Business Network Lunch, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sydney Thank you Lisa. Your Excellency, Archbishop Angelo Zani, Secretary of
Christianity often inverts commonsense and subverts common nonsense. What seems like strength is unveiled as weakness, weakness as strength. Sinners become saints, the humble are exalted, outcasts are identified as God’s favourites. The poor, hungry and grieving are deemed happy; the hated and …
POST-ROYAL COMMISSION SERVICE OF PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS AND REPARATION FOR ALL PEOPLE AFFECTED BY ABUSE WITHIN THE CHURCH St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney Introduction Welcome to tonight’s service marking the end
A man takes his son under false pretences out into the bush. Ties him up. Puts him on a makeshift altar. And takes a knife to his throat (Gen 22:1-18). It’s an appalling story. Could God really want this? How could a man who was willing to do such a thing be celebrated as “our father in faith”?
The ‘Chair of Saint Peter’ was given to Pope John VIII in the year 875 by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles the Bald. It is the putative seat of the first Bishop of Rome. Though it is the cathedra of St Peter’s Basilica, it is rather difficult to sit in, as it was enclosed in a baroque gilded casing by Bernini, raised high …
Were today not a Sunday it would be the feast day of Blessed Fra Angelico, a Dominican painter on whose feast day I took my vows, and the Patron Saint of Artists. After his fresco of The Baptism of Christ in his cycle for the friars’ cells in the Dominican Priory of San Marco in Florence, comes The Temptation of Christ …
When you hear words like ‘Lent’, ‘fasting’ and ‘abstinence’, what immediately comes to mind? In my childhood it meant giving up what you liked best, like chocolate, for a few weeks, with exceptions made for birthdays, St Patrick’s Day, other solemnities and, in laxer families, Sundays.
THE CHALLENGES OF THE TIMES St. Bernadette’s Parish, Carlton When my predecessor Sir Norman Thomas Cardinal Gilroy returned from one of the sessions of the Second Vatican Council, he was
Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return – so we are reminded every Ash Wednesday of the words of the Book of Genesis. It was the moment when humanity had its first premonition of death as a result of …
The British singer-songwriter Steven Demetre Georgiou is better known by his stage name, Cat Stevens. He was all the rage in my adolescence, and perhaps the young Fr Rayner crooned some Cat Stevens with his CYO group. Then, in my last year at school and to everyone’s surprise …
When most people in a country like Australia hear the word ‘slavery’ they think of Africans brought across the sea to work the cotton plantations of America. But since the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833, in the French colonies in 1848, and in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, most people would think slavery a …
STATEMENT ON THE RESPONSE OF THE CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY TO MODERN SLAVERY Cathedral House, Sydney, 8 February 2018 I would like to begin by acknowledging the efforts of the
One of the most highly acclaimed films of the past year is the biographical war drama, Hacksaw Ridge. Andrew Garfield brilliantly plays Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist Christian who served as a U.S. army medic in the Second World War but refused to bear arms. He was the first conscientious objector …
Well, the verdict is in. After a meticulous search through eight million books published between 1776 and 2009 for positive words such as ‘enjoyment’, ‘peace’ and ‘happiness’, researchers at Warwick University have concluded that 1957 was the happiest year in modern history.
Genealogy is all the rage. There are plenty of websites and search companies to help: some search birth and death, migration and marriage, council and electoral records for you; others even investigate your DNA.
Why the reading for the Annunciation five days out from the Nativity.
The recent sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for a record $A591M drew renewed attention to all Leonardo’s works.
Episode 8 is coming. When I was your age, in my last year of school, “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, the first Star Wars film was released.
She's fat! Fat with child. She's only young and yet there's an eight-and-a-half month baby on board. Her friends call her Mazza. Boyfriend Joe.
The Season of Advent has been celebrated since around the fourth century AD when Christmas was fixed on 25 December.
On the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes, Pope Pius XII published his encyclical Le Pelegrinage de Lourdes from which I would like to quote a few lines…
Consider the names in the Roman Canon – a fraction of the saints only, but a kind of roll-call of stand-out figures in the early Church: apostles, popes, virgins, men and women saints, mostly martyrs, some gruesomely so.
Graham Greene’s 1940 novel The Power and the Glory was the first literary treatment of the priesthood that I can recall reading in my school days.
It was only in the totalitarian twentieth century, in which crueller things were done by the rulers of the earth, on a larger scale and with more devilish refinement, than ever before in human history, that Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King.
“So, what do you do?” It’s the great conversation starter, especially with a stranger whose temperament and history is unknown, indeed when you’re not even sure if you’re sitting beside a terrorist.
A 17-month-old baby, a dozen children, a pregnant woman and mother of five, and three generations from one family, were among the 26 killed in a shooting spree at a Texas church this week.
A very warm welcome to our forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools. I thank Dr Dan White, Mr Anthony Cleary, other education leaders and staff for this initiative.
One of the most recognisable songs in the cult-classic movie Back to the Future is ‘The Power of Love’, by Huey Lewis and the News. It reached No. 1 in the charts here in Australia in 1985. I’m not sure if it’s on today’s hymn list…
One of the most recognisable songs in the cult-classic movie Back to the Future is “The Power of Love”, by Huey Lewis and the News.
Like Brother John Luttrell, I never met Cardinal Gilroy. As a child growing up in Lakemba and Lane Cove I knew of him simply as “the Cardinal”.
Our epistle this morning (1Thess 1:1-5) may have seemed little more than a formal g’day and list of acknowledgments like my greeting at the start of Mass. Yet these were in fact the very first words ever written for the New Testament.
Jesuits make great martyrs and Martin Scorsese’s long-awaited and recently-released film, Silence, is a confronting glimpse of one period of Jesuit heroism and betrayal.
Most of what we know about St Luke comes from the New Testament. He was a Greek-speaking disciple of St Paul and his companion in mission: in fact, he was one of the few people who could long abide Paul’s rather difficult personality.
My favourite film this year has been Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge. Andrew Garfield brilliantly plays Desmond Doss, a medic who was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
On 22 June 1535, my great-great (to the power of twenty) grand-uncle, Cardinal John Fisher ascended the scaffold, just as his friend Thomas More would do three weeks later.
Every great religion has had its sacred sites where people felt closest to God. Our Jewish ancestors counted the Jerusalem Temple their holiest place, where God’s shalom dwelt, and the prayers and sacrifices of the cult were offered.
Dear friends. This is a time of challenge for our Church. Whether it's debates over school funding or religious liberty or the sacraments of Confession and Matrimony, there's more than a bit of anti-Christian feeling in the air.
In 1802 an orphan boy was placed in the care of his uncle, Father Bede Brewer, leader of the English Benedictine Congregation.
“I pull a Kleenex from its box and hand it to Stevie Nicks. She wipes a tear as it slides down her cheek. She cries… when she speaks of the babies she might have had.”
Origins: ‘From Nazareth?’ asked Nathanael, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ (Jn 1:45-51) It’s one of the most famous and sardonic questions in the New Testament.
Monica Riley once wanted to be the world’s fattest woman. Each day she would consume over 10,000 calories, often being fed through a funnel.
“It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money from, or to regard them merely as so much muscle power… To the rich I say… once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor.”
The website MyFreeImplants.com started in 2005 as a way to crowd-fund women who want breast implants. They create a profile and would-be donors can scroll through, access photos of them, even talk to them through live streaming, before making a donation.
The phrase “walking on water” is often used, understandably, to indicate an impossible task; so, when we are told to do something we think too hard, we might respond that “you might as well tell me to walk on water”.
Thank you for those kind words of introduction. Five years ago Nicholas Tonti-Filippini reviewed my book, Catholic Bioethics for a New Millennium, for which I was very grateful. It is a pleasure, therefore, to return the favour by launching his final work, the fifth in his About Bioethics series published by Connor Court, regrettably without Nick’s physical presence with us tonight.
The Harman Lecture was established to honour the late Rev. Dr Francis Harman, a charming and wise canonist, ethicist and parish priest who long hoped for a session of the John Paul II Institute in Australia, celebrated its conception, but died in 2000 just before it came to birth.
Jesus’ life was often hard and He mostly eschewed the limelight, preferring to preach and heal through small gestures that encouraged and persuaded rather than big ones that wowed and overwhelmed.
Our three parables this morning (Mt 13:44-52) compare the joy of finding the kingdom of heaven with the excitement people in Jesus’ world experienced on finding natural resources (like gold in a field), human inventions (like pearls set and retailed by merchants), or spiritual goods (like the ‘good fish’ sorted from the bad ones by the angels).
Taylor Swift is a household name. She’s famed for her honest, almost ‘confessional’ songs, and for an instrumental prowess that has influenced a surge in girls wanting to learn guitar.
In the Star Wars film Attack of the Clones, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is confronted with a rather unusual problem: he’s lost an entire planet! He knows on reliable authority that the planet exists, but it does not show up in the Jedi Archives which are supposed to be a complete record of the whole galaxy. Perplexed, Obi-Wan takes the problem to Master Yoda, the wisest of the Jedi knights.
More often than not, we are left to work out the meaning of Christ’s parables for ourselves, but this morning we have a rare occurrence:
John Donne is remembered today as a metaphysical poet, and especially for phrases such as “for whom the bell tolls” and one-liners like “Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies” and “When a man dies, [his] chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language”.
Welcome to St. Mary's Cathedral Hall. I am very pleased to co-host tonight's community forum and I want to begin by thanking all of you who have chosen to take part.
This week past the first results of last year’s controversial census were released. It told us that the typical Australian is a 38-year-old Catholic woman, born in Australia of Anglo-Celtic descent, married with two kids, living in her own three-bedroom home in Sydney.
On Pentecost three years ago the Holy Father hosted a prayer meeting for peace with the Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople; the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
I acknowledge and welcome from the Muslim Community: Your Eminence Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, Grand Mufti of Australia;
Help of Christians. You might think Christian-helper is a funny sort of surname for Mary.
Like many people’s lives, the 1999 film The Mummy, and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, are part action-adventure, part horror, part comedy and part romance.
The Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions has now delivered its advice on its investigation of historic child abuse allegations against Cardinal George Pell.
Elizabeth Joice was 32 years old when an MRI detected aggressive spinal cancer. She decided not to fight it; she’d just enjoy whatever time she had left.
On this day, 13 May, 100 years ago a woman, “brighter than the sun”, wearing a white mantle edged with gold and holding a rosary, appeared to three children.
When on visitation some years ago in this very parish of North Sydney, I went to the parish primary school. As I entered a tiny-tot, who saw I was unusually dressed, asked what I was.
People have reflected upon the meaning of friendship ever since the Book of Genesis described the first one – between Adam and Eve.
‘Total war.’ Even today it has an ominous ring. The phrase was coined by the German General Erich Ludendorff to describe what happened in the First World War.
Poor St Thomas. He gets a bad rap, even from his brother-apostle John in our Gospel today (Jn 20:19-31). He’s been dubbed ‘Doubting Thomas’ ever since, pilloried for his lack of faith, his failure to accept the testimony of his friends.
The picture of Abdul Hamid Youssef, cradling his dead twins, Ahmed and Aiya, broke the heart of our world last week. Abdul lost 22 relatives, including his wife Dalal al-Saha and two nine-month-old children, during a chemical weapon attack by the Syrian government on its own people.
The picture of Abdul Hamid Youssef, cradling his dead twins, Ahmed and Aiya, broke the heart of our world last week.
There are many versions of the story. Famously rediscovered by St Helena in the year 326, the Cross of Christ had been an object of devotion from the earliest times.
Feet. Not the most glamorous part of the human body. But as I realized more clearly last year when I was off them, we need our feet to stand, for balance and support, to bear our weight and get ourselves from A to B.
Brexit, impeached presidents in Brazil and South Korea, new presidents in America and the Philippines, an attempted coup in Turkey, civil war in Syria…
Feet. Not the most glamorous part of the human body. But as I realized more clearly last year when I was off them, we need our feet to stand, for balance and support, to bear our weight and get ourselves from A to B.
At the beginning of the holiest week in the Church's year, we have been appalled by the bombings of two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt by ISIS, the dozens of deaths and injuries, and the images of blackened and blood-stained sanctuaries.
What a sight! Jesus entering Jerusalem and greeted as a king, the crowd casting their cloaks before him and waving victory palms.
Thank you Dr Leach and may the force be with you! I'm grateful to you all for hosting me once again at this annual Archbishop's Mass and Dinner.
It’s a common trope in many films, TV shows, and books, ranging from Star Wars to Kung Fu Panda.
Imagine you’re an outsider, but curious about Christianity. Or that you’ve put your foot in the door, if not yet in the water, and are preparing for baptism at Easter. What questions would be on your mind? What should you experience or be given to read by those accompanying you?
Following Brexit, the election of President Trump, and other seismic shifts in politics around the world, commentators are pondering the strength and future of democracy as we know it.
commending the Legislative Council for establishing this Select Committee.
Good afternoon Chair and Honourable members, and thank you for the invitation to address you today. Might I begin by commending the Legislative Council for establishing this Select Committee.
Some years ago I was part of a Channel 4 TV programme in Britain, a panel discussion about the new genetics. I was asked what I thought about prenatal testing.
When most people hear the word ‘Samaritan’, they think of The Good Samaritan, rather than the not-so-good one of today’s Gospel. At first glance the two are unconnected by anything but nationality.
Thank you for those kind words of introduction Professor Ramsay. Vice Chancellor Celia Hammond, the newly arrived Dean of Philosophy Christian Brugger, my Auxiliary Bishop, Richard Umbers, colleagues and friends.
Last September the British photographer, Jim Grover, spent a day snapping people crossing Westminster Bridge: locals and visitors, adults and children.
Some years ago I was praying in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, many metres below the putative chair we celebrate tonight, now suspended below the main window of the Holy Spirit. As she pointed at the sepulchre, a large black American lady asked if I knew what it was.
Backed by a rendition of the 1988 song ‘It’s got to be perfect’ by British band Fairground Attraction, a current TV ad opens with a nappy-clad child rummaging through a woman’s handbag, removing a lipstick and using it to
draw on a wall.
This past week the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its review of the overall performance of the Catholic Church in Australia in this area. And what has been revealed has already been harrowing.
My dear friends, The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has begun its final three-week review of the performance of the Catholic Church in Australia. And what has been revealed has already been harrowing.
The Word of God has converted hearts, transformed lives and inspired action in millions of people for two millennia and more. It has also played a major role in shaping our language and culture, and so our thinking and communication; the King James Bible stands with Shakespeare as the two principal sources of modern English.
What sound most moves us? A natural one such as a thunder-clap, rain on a tin roof, or a kookaburra’s laugh? Or a more human sound, such as the weeping of a well-played violin or of those who must listen to one being played badly?
What sound most moves us? A natural one such as a thunder-clap, rain on a tin roof, or a kookaburra’s laugh? Or a more human sound, such as the weeping of a well-played violin or of those who must listen to one being played badly? A siren racing a patient to hospital?
I offer my warmest congratulations to Father Greg Homeming OCD on his appointment yesterday by Pope Francis as the sixth Bishop of Lismore.
“No, I will not put the Lord to the test.” So says Ahaz in our first reading today. To demand a sign from God – indeed to demand anything from God – is to attempt to manipulate God or to treat Him as if He somehow owes us something. It is irreverent, controlling, arrogant.
If the Virgin Mary is our Christmas hero among the saints, holding forth the baby Jesus for our adoration; if the apostle John is our Lenten favourite, resting on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper and alone of the apostles beside the Good Friday Cross; if St Mary Magdalene is our hero amongst the saints of Easter, first to proclaim Christ’s Resurrection; then St John the Baptist is surely our Advent Saint.
Recently the Oxford English Dictionary announced its Word of the Year 2016 was 'post-truth'.
It was written two thousand years ago to a small Phrygian city in Asia Minor. Yet our reading today from St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians might easily have been directed to the leaders, staff and students of Sydney Catholic Schools, as a reminder of what we could and should be.
Your Excellency, Most Rev. Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio to Australia; My Lords, Most Rev. Peter Comensoli, Bishop of Broken Bay and Most Rev. David Walker, Bishop Emeritus of Broken Bay…
In a speech in Doha billed as a critique of the foreign policy failures of the Bush and Obama eras, veteran New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that the US military’s joint special operations command had been infiltrated by members of the Order of Malta and that these fanatics are modern-day crusaders who “aim to turn mosques into cathedrals”
Margaret Atwood is one of Canada’s most prolific and diverse authors. She has published 17 novels, 10 anthologies of short stories, 20 poetry collections, 7 children’s books, 10 non-fiction books, 3 television scripts, a graphic novel and 3 libretti – so far.
In 2013 the television series Breaking Bad was listed in the Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed TV series of all time. It has received numerous awards, including sixteen Emmys and two Golden Globes.
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, welcomed today's announcement by the Federal Government of a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse.
I don’t often quote the German philosopher, Frederick Nietzsche, as he was no friend of religion. He thought that all believers and especially Christians were weaklings for prizing mercy towards the poor, sick and ignorant, for talking of forgiving enemies, turning the other cheek, and so on, and for masking the nausea and disgust he believed we should feel about life.
Susan (not her real name), a young African woman in her early 30s, enjoyed her life as a housekeeper to an Australian family living in East Africa.
A very warm welcome to our forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools of the Archdiocese.
If the cinemas are an accurate cultural barometer, our age is crying out for heroes, indeed for superheroes. In the short time since I became Archbishop of Sydney there have been two X-Men movies, two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, two Captain America movies, and annual Star Wars films.
Thank you very much for those kind words of introduction.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary – a feast and devotion for which we have the Dominicans to thank above all.
Life can be hard. There’s stress at work or school, finances to balance, relationships to manage. It can sometimes seem like no matter where you turn, there’s some obstacle to overcome.
The 2009 film, The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw as Leigh-Anne and Sean Tuohy and Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher tells the true story of a black boy who has had a traumatic childhood and is now suffering from homelessness and learning difficulties.
On this day, 25 years ago, I was ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. It was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the readings were full of foreboding about the Son of Man being lifted up on the Cross, like the serpent lifted up by Moses on a stick, that we might have life (Num 21:4-9; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 32:13-7).
The causes of poor mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and suicide are complex and require serious study and compassionate treatment. It is far too important an issue in our community and we should not play politics with mental health.
My thanks to His Grace the Archbishop of Honiara, Most Rev. Chris Cardone OP, for the honour of preaching at this Mass of Thanksgiving. I have known Archbishop Chris since the 1980s when I was a student in the Dominican Order and he was a newly-minted priest.
Mother Teresa visited Australia repeatedly and left her in footprint on this land through the 14 Mission Houses of her sisters here, including their Pacific mother-house in Surry Hills.
Welcome to All Saints Church for the Funeral Mass for Fr Frank Furfaro. I acknowledge the presence today of Fr Frank's two sisters, Josie and Tina, their husbands and his extended family, to whom in particular I extend my sympathies and those of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
He was destined to be a brilliant chemist and in 2006 to discover the elusive process for clean coal technology: electricity with no carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
In the Middle Ages one of most popular devotional items, found in the best Christian homes, was a carved head of St John the Baptist on a plate!
It is the most confronting image amongst the enormous cast of characters in the Sistine Chapel.
We live in the age of “I” and “my”. Devices are called ‘iPhone’, ‘iPod’ and ‘iPad’. ‘MyTrains’ or ‘MyBuses’ take us to ‘MyZones’ or the web takes us to ‘MySchool’ and ‘My eBay’. Ever since ‘the Me generation’ we’ve been bombarded by such self-centred language.
In the fourth instalment in the Die Hard series, released in 2007, John McClane, the old detective played by Bruce Willis, asks the following question: “You know what you get for being a hero? Nothin’. You get shot at.
The allegations against Cardinal George Pell aired on the ABC's 7:30 Report were extremely distressing for all parties, are as yet untested, and have been emphatically denied.
In the early hours of yesterday morning-last night for us-85-year-old priest, Fr Jacques Hamel prepared to say Mass. What he didn’t know was that this would be the last Mass he would ever say: just as he was finishing Mass, two terrorists claiming allegiance to Daesh or ISIS stormed the church, taking Fr Hamel and four others hostage.
We’ve all heard the story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37) many times before; though we all love it, it’s so familiar we easily switch off when it starts to be read.
The 18th-century founder of the Redemptorists and Doctor of the Church, St Alphonsus, is a patron saint of vocations, confessors, moral theologians and the lay apostolate.
With the federal election just around the corner, we all have to decide who to vote for. This is not always an easy decision, but it is a very important responsibility, for Catholics as for others. We all must decide who deserves our vote.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, It is a joy to be back with you in St Patrick's Cathedral on this historic occasion as Bishop Vincent Long van Nguyen OFMConv is installed as Bishop of Parramatta.
The news of the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida is heartbreaking.
A former university chaplain tells the story of a young man who had recently returned to the Sacrament of Reconciliation after a long time away and had become something of a Confession evangelist.
Your Eminence the Grand Mufti of Australia and President of the Council of Imams, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed; Your Highness Shiek Kamal Moselmane of the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council of Australia; Mr Hafez Kassem, President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils; and other leaders or representatives of the Muslim community;
According to media reports Jesus has returned as promised and is living in Queensland. The IT specialist turned Jehovah’s Witness elder turned Messiah, Alan John Miller, leads the Divine Truth sect.
With most sacraments once is enough: Baptism, Confirmation and Priestly Orders are once-for-all sacraments; Matrimony is also, for most people.
One of my favourite films of all time is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. the sequel to which came out on Thursday…
Jesus said to His disciples, “with great desire have I longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15). So too, my dear brothers in the priesthood, and my dear brothers and sisters the faithful of Sydney, I have longed to celebrate Mass with you again while I have been suffering.
I write today to thank you all for the thousands of prayers and expressions of concern for me, that have come by email and letters, with gifts and cards, in so many different ways since I got sick at Christmas time.
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for our Solemn Mass this morning. We are in the Octave of Christmas, that special time…
Indonesian people of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…
People of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…
People of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…
Born a sickly child, Theodore Roosevelt successfully overcame debilitating asthma by embracing a strenuous lifestyle.
To say Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – otherwise known as Lady Gaga – is a well-known pop-singer is an understatement.
The young Barney Casey thought he might have a vocation but poverty meant he had to go to work to support his family. He took jobs as a lumberjack, a hospital orderly, a prison guard and a tram operator.
“The violent are taking it by storm”. We have become too familiar with violence and blood. Before the recent horrors in Mali, Paris, Beirut and Baghdad there were many others.
On Melbourne Cup Day we had a staff party in my archdiocesan offices so we could all watch the race together. To be honest I don’t know much about horses.
“Hope. Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.”
What an awesome opening this has been for our Australian Catholic Youth Festival! And you might say: surprising. After all, our theme – “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God”
A very warm to our Forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools of the Archdiocese.
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was one of the wittiest ever exponents of the English language. He lived a rather colourful and controversial existence in the second half of the nineteenth century.
These days words can pop into the English lexicon before our eyes. So, for example, the proper noun ‘Google’ has become a verb: ‘to google’ something means to search for it on the internet.
They were people just like us, doing the most innocent and human of things: eating with family at a restaurant, working in a pizzeria, cheering at a football friendly, having a drink with friends in a bar, singing and dancing at a rock concert.
As she approached the guillotine, the erstwhile Archduchess of Austria, Dauphine of France, then Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette, trod on her executioner’s foot.
The Medieval Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri, authored the most famous poem in the history of Christendom, The Divine Comedy. When one of my Aussie-born seminarians in Parramatta …
A photo of First Communion Day 1955 here at St Dominic’s shows pews filled of young girls in white bridal gowns and tulle veils, expectantly awaiting their bridegroom the Eucharistic Lord.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul [and mind] and strength,” as John read to us from Deuteronomy today and as Jesus paraphrased, adding the cognate command to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Dt 6:4-6; Lk 10:27).
My thanks to Mr Darryl Courtney-O'Connor AM, Founder and Chair of the International College of Management, Sydney, and his wife Anne, for inviting me to give the Graduation Address today.
Hints of death surround us. Nature’s intimations range from autumn leaves at this time in the Northern hemisphere and wrinkles and grey hairs noticed in the mirror
Amongst the heroes of my childhood were priests, nuns and brothers belonging to various religious orders. They were heroic in the sense of doing more than average by way of giving themselves to God and others.
His name is most famously associated with the St Vincent de Paul Society. But St Vincent had never heard of the Vinnies – he was long dead when they were invented.
In this ANZAC centenary year there have been books, movies and TV series, musical compositions, interviews, readings from diaries, exhibitions of artefacts and, perhaps most powerfully, of photographs, all recording…
It is a pleasure to join you for the St John's College Annual Visitor's Dinner for my first time as official Visitor of the College. Founded in 1857 during the episcopate of my predecessor
Thank you Professor Craven for your kind introduction and for the Australian Catholic University's sponsorship of our conference…
Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. I am especially pleased to welcome several adult candidates for Confirmation. I acknowledge the pastors, sponsors, families and friends of our candidates.
Welcome all to this evening¡¦s Mass at St Mary¡¦s Cathedral. Tonight it is my privilege to install some seminarians to the Ministry of Lector and some seminarians and deacon candidates to the Ministry of Acolyte.
Welcome all to St Mary's Cathedral this morning as the relatives, police family, and wider community of Sydney gather to pay tribute to Mr Curtis Cheng…
The year is 2025 – nine years after a plebiscite narrowly approved same-sex 'marriage' and Parliament amended the Marriage Act and many other laws to remove all references to 'a man and a woman', 'husband and wife' and 'mother and father'…
Welcome dear members and friends of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in Sydney to this closing Mass of this year’s Marian Festival…
Welcome all to this very significant occasion for the parish, as we consecrate your new altar and dedicate the renewed fittings in your church…
Today we celebrate the Mass of Blessing of the St John Paul II Chapel, the Dedication of the Altar, and the Opening and Blessing of the John Paul the Great Catholic Centre in the University of Sydney…
Welcome to this evening’s annual Archdiocesan Memorial Mass for the Unborn…
Welcome to this morning’s Solemn Mass here at St Mary’s Cathedral…
It's great to be back in the Diocese of Parramatta for the unveiling and blessing of this John Paul II Monument, a project begun when I was bishop here…
It’s my great pleasure to celebrate with you the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for my first time as the Archbishop of Sydney…
Welcome to St Mary's Cathedral, the Mother church of Australia…
In November 1928 Donald Bradman made his test debut for Australia, batting in the middle order and scoring only 18 and 1…
According to our book of origins, the genesis of the human story was in a beautiful garden, full of flora and fauna, located near the rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, gave up their privileged position and so ours in that garden “all for an apple”, disobeying God and committing the Original Sin;
“And the Word was made App and dwelt somewhere in the virtual universe”. It is easy today to inhabit or at least slip in and out of an alternative reality created by devices – iPhones, iPads, Androids, Notebooks, Tablets and Kindles – each with almost endless connectivity, apps and tools, social networks and so on.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP visited Warrane as special guest at formal dinner on Wednesday 26 August 2015…
Introduction for Annual Mass for Pregnant Mothers, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney, 23 August 2015 Welcome to you all to this morning’s Solemn Mass
We’ve all seen the ads for Lotto in which average punters are tantalized with offers of obscene amounts of money. In one a devoted father is shown giving his pregnant daughter and son-in-law a mortgage-free property.
One of the most successful TV sitcoms of all time was Frasier. It ran for eleven seasons till 2004 and won 37 Emmies…
The low-budget Christian horror-film Final: The Rapture was released late last year. Directed by Timothy Chey, it details the global chaos after all the best people are raptured up to heaven – as some evangelical Christians believe will happen – and follows the stories of four of those left behind. Professional footballer Colin Nelson (played by Jah Shams) is one left stranded when his good Christian wife is assumed into heaven (she’s played, appropriately enough, by an actress named Mary Grace).
The Incorruptibles could be a Marvel Comic or derivative Hollywood blockbuster about superheroes like The Fantastic Four, The Avengers or The X-Men. But in fact the title is a Catholic one, given to those Catholic superheroes, the saints, whose bodies remain substantially incorrupt after their death, people who were so holy in life that God has seen fit miraculously to preserve their bodies from decay, indefinitely or at least for many years after their deaths.
Recently, Disneyland in California, Florida, Paris and Hong Kong banned selfie-sticks. Not because they were troubled with the self-absorption of those who wish to take photos of themselves: selfies will still be allowed. But the Disneylands regard the long sticks as an OHS hazard: sticks that might protrude from their rides and interfere with the mechanisms, or might poke people in the eye or other parts, are no longer permitted.
The word ent has deep roots in the English language. It is Anglo-Saxon (Old English) for ‘giant’. Most people today know it from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and the films based on this. In the second volume, The Two Towers, we meet strong, giant, tree-like shepherds of the forest, most notably in the person of Treebeard.
Thank you to CYS for inviting me to speak at tonight's GraceFest to mark one year out from World Youth Day in 2016…
The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure film which has become something of a ‘cult classic’. It is commonly rated amongst the top 100 comedy films of all time and has charmed audiences ever since. It is structured around a grandfather (played by Peter Falk a.k.a. Columbo) reading a book to his sick grandson.
Welcome to today’s happy occasion for the Our Lady of Victories Parish…
Your Excellency, Archbishop Adolfo Yllana, a very warm welcome to the mother Church of Australia so soon after taking up your mandate as Apostolic Nuncio to Australia.
My thanks to the Order of Malta for inviting me to address a topic of vital importance for the Australian community today…
Welcome all to this special Mass as we celebrate 50 years of the St Francis Xavier Parish, Lurnea. I am pleased to acknowledge Fr Thu Nguyen…
Your Eminences the Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mahamed and Sheikh Tahar Moselmane, and other Muslim leaders;
Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at which we celebrate the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Annual Marriage Mass and Renewal of Vows.
Welcome dear friends to this happy day in the life of the Dominican Order and the wider Church in Australia…
Your Eminences, George Cardinal Pell, Vatican Secretary of Economic Affairs, and Edwin Cardinal O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre…
We have learned this week that the Eternal City of Rome is home to the apostles, the great teachers and popes of the Church…
Your Eminence, George Cardinal Pell, Vatican Secretary of Economic Affairs…
Last year marked the 750th anniversary of the promulgation of the feast of Corpus Christi in the universal Church.
His Excellency Fra' Duncan Gallie, Member of the Sovereign Council of the Order, on behalf of His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master Fra Matthew Festing…
Designed principally by Bramante, Michelangelo, Maderno and Bernini, St Peter’s is the largest church in the world…
Thank you Ambassador McCarthy and Christine for your welcome and kind words, and for hosting us all at this reception in honour…
Walking into this twelfth century basilica, you were no doubt awe-struck by the beautiful mosaic in the apse, reminiscent of Byzantium…
Your Excellencies, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Foreign Minister of the Vatican, and Mr Paul McCarthy Ambassador of Australia…
Welcome to this Mass tonight. A special welcome to the pilgrims attending our week of festivities in the Eternal City of Rome…
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Today we recall the mind-blowing reality that God is one and God is three…
We all know and love someone with same-sex attraction. We want them to be happy.
Invented in 1983 the 'slap band' was a steel plate embedded within velvet or pvc which is 'slapped' around the wearer's wrist or ankle…
Welcome to our celebration. Tonight we give thanks to God for the pioneers of St Joachim’s Parish, Lidcombe…
Well, this week on RN Breakfast you've been hearing the litany of horror from victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy in Ballarat…
“woman has baby” was the clever headline. In case you are the only person on the planet who hasn’t heard Private Eye was referring to the recent birth of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana…
Street missionaries Thanks to Catholic Mission Australia and Catholic Religious Australia for inviting me to speak this morning. As the local bishop it is my privilege to welcome you all
It is a great pleasure to join you tonight for the launch of our pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2016 in Kraków. (Let's all try pronouncing that…). Tonight we begin
Thank you. This is my first opportunity to address the Religious Education Coordinators and school-based Youth Ministry Coordinators of the Archdiocese…
It was a delight to celebrate the Eucharist with our newest members of the Church today.
As our holiest season of Easter draws inexorably to its close, we celebrate this week two wonderful feasts, those of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven at Pentecost.
From the cross he saw his mother and his mate John standing near and so he said to his Mum, ‘Woman, behold your son
The twentieth century saw major advances in technology and communications, economy and human rights. Yet it was also the bloodiest century in history…
My warmest congratulations to my friend Fr Warren Edwards and all the parishioners on this truly beautiful church!…
Like most Australians I do not support capital punishment: there is enough violence in our world already without legal systems modelling it to others. When the Grand Mufti of Australia,
Welcome to you all on this special occasion as I formally install Fr Danai Penollar as your new parish priest…
Welcome to our celebration of ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ here at St Mary’s Cathedral…
Welcome to this Vigil Mass for the centenary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli.
Priests for the New Evangelization Address at Clergy Conference, Le Montage, Lilyfield, 23 April 2015 Welcome dear brothers and thank you for joining me for our clergy day. I would
“Do not be afraid: It is I” Address at Vocation Discernment Retreat Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Homebush, 17 April 2015 Thank you Fr Michael for inviting me to contribute
Welcome to tonight’s happy celebration of the Eucharist at which three of our brothers in Christ will be admitted to candidacy for the priesthood…
They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends. They were mostly students, with hopes and dreams and so much unrealized potential.
Welcome dear brothers and sisters in consecrated life to this year’s special Mass to celebrate the Year for Consecrated Life.
Welcome to the Funeral Mass for our beloved Fr Brendan Shiel, a priest of Jesus Christ for almost 66 years and a loyal servant in the Lord’s vineyard
“On the third day He rose again”: so we profess the faith of the Church in words that go back to her earliest days (1Cor 15:4; Acts 10:40)…
God is silent. Bowing His head, He “gives up the ghost” (Jn 18:1-19:42). If you’ve ever witnessed a person dying, you know the rattling struggle for air, then the last exhaling of breath, and then peace and quiet at last.
Welcome to this year’s Chrism Mass. It is my first opportunity to celebrate this Mass with you as Archbishop and I count it a very real privilege…
Tonight’s Mass of the Last Supper marks the beginning of the Sacred Triduum, a three-day-long, more or less continuous Liturgy commemorating the saving events of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.
The Ministry of Health and Aged Care: A Vital Role for the Church Catholic Health Australia Governance Conference, Effective Governance and Leadership for Mission, Crowne Plaza, Coogee Beach, 30 March
Welcome to this morning’s Mass as we ask God to inspire this Catholic Health Australia Governance Conference on Effective Governance and Leadership for Mission.
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Last December Pope Francis received a rather unusual Christmas gift. A Swiss company, Eurolactis, which sells donkey’s milk in Italy, gave the Holy Father two donkeys, Thea and Noah…
Welcome to tonight¡¦s special Mass of Ordination to the Diaconate. It is a rare treat to ordain six men in one ceremony these days…
Introduction to Mass Opening School Year for Eastern Region St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 24 March 2015 Welcome to this year’s CEO Eastern Regional Mass. It presents us with the opportunity
Address to Meeting of Priests and Principals Waterview, Bicentennial Park, Sydney, 24 March 2015 Introduction Thank you. This is my first opportunity to address our priests and principals together. You
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Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral and today’s Solemn Mass of the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Today marks the beginning of Passiontide
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Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. I am especially pleased to acknowledge concelebrating with me today Cardinal George Pell…
St Antoninus and the New Evangelisation in the World of Business Address at the Sydney Catholic Business Network Luncheon, 13 March 2015 Thank you Nerida. I’m pleased to address the
Human sacrifice. It conjures up images of Aztecs tearing hearts from poor victims in bloody rituals…
It’s due out this year, though Hollywood has been strangely silent ever since Paramount Pictures said they would sue if it appears.
Welcome to tonight’s Blessing of the Hands ceremony for our first year students in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney…
Today is the first Sunday of Lent, our annual season of renewal, where we join Noah for his forty days in the wet and Christ for his forty days in the dry…
A warm welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral as we celebrate today the Rite of Election and Presentation of Baptised Candidates for Full Communion…
Welcome all to today’s Mass to begin the Church’s penitential season of Lent. Today we impart ashes on our foreheads as sign of our repentance…
Address at Caritas Australia Project Compassion NSW Parliamentary LunchNSW Parliament House, 16 February 2015 Welcome to this year¡¦s Parliamentary Lunch to launch Project Compassion for 2015. I am grateful to
Stephen Fry – English pundit, TV personality and writer – recently stirred up a controversy on Irish television.
On Anzac Day in 1934 a Tasmanian newspaper published an article “I was eleven”.
It’s our foundation myth as a nation. It’s enshrined in our national monuments, public holiday, clubs and secular ritual.
Today, we offer Mass for the repose of the soul of Fr Ronald Walter Burdett Harden…
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP and Grand Mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad of the Australian National Imams Council have jointly called for clemency…
World Day of Prayer, Reflection and Action against Human Trafficking…
Welcome to today’s Mass here at St Mary’s Cathedral as the Sudanese-Australian Catholic Community celebrates its Patronal Feast Day, that of St Josephine Bakhita…
A very warm welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for this year’s Red Mass marking the opening of the new law term…
Welcome to today’s Mass with a blessing of this parish’s new sanctuary, confessional and chapel.
Nike will soon release its long-promised MAGs – sneakers capable of lighting-up and self-tightening, inspired by those worn by Marty McFly in the dystopian sci-fi film Back to the Future II…
Since Boxing Day we’ve been treated to the third and last instalment of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Hobbit, prequel to his enormously successful Lord of the Rings trilogy…
On 19 and 20 July 1916 the 5th Australian Division was in Fromelles, France. With Allied troops from Britain they launched an attack on the German army…
A very warm welcome to you all on this holy night. As we heard in the Christmas proclamation, after so many centuries of waiting…
Welcome all to this Solemn Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent…
Today with Christ and His people I offer the Sacrifice of the Mass for the victims of the recent siege in Martin Place and their families…
Welcome to the University of Notre Dame Australia Graduation Mass for 2014.
When Tim Gunn, Lady Gaga, Sir Isaac Newton or Leonardo da Vinci declares themselves celibate, no-one fears that will make them a danger to the public…
Tonight I have the very special privilege of re-visiting the Diocese of Parramatta to ordain three new deacons: Wilfredo Limjap, Pio Yong Ho Jang and Thomas Thien Hien Bui.
It was a funeral that stopped the nation. Last Wednesday all eyes were on the small town of Macksville on the North Coast, where thousands of mourners were attending the Catholic rites…
The Bishops of Australia have called for a Day of Solidarity with the oppressed and martyred Christians of the Middle East today…
Welcome dear fellow religious in this first week of the Year for Consecrated Life declared by our fellow-religious and Holy Father, Pope Francis…
Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, my first Sunday Mass as Archbishop, and the opening of our Advent season of preparation for Christmas…
Welcome to today’s special Lourdes Day Mass. I acknowledge the presence of Magistral Chaplains of the Order, Monsignors Doherty and Redden and Fr Nicholas Rynne…
Your Excellency Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States; Your Grace Archbishop Denis Hart, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference; brother bishops, priests and deacons; fellow religious;
Your Graces and Reverend Fathers, leaders and representatives of Christian Churches, Federal and State Members of Parliament…
Address of Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher OP at Australian Christian Lobby National Conference 2014, Hyatt Hotel, Canberra, 24 October 2014
In our reading today, we hear St Paul thanking God for the faith of the Colossians and their love for the saints of God (Col 1:3-5).
On Wednesday, a Senate committee will hear evidence on a euthanasia bill that would allow some people to be given a lethal injection on compassionate grounds…
I think the biggest challenge to the family today is that people have forgotten how to love…
Thank you Bishop Peter and thank you all, a very good morning to you; I am deeply honoured by this appointment and by Pope Francis's expression of confidence in me.
When I heard that I had been appointed Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, I was deeply honoured by Pope Francis'.
Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher OP addresses the media at a press conference held in the Diocese of Parramatta, following the announcement of his appointment as the ninth Archbishop of Sydney.
La Perouse enters Botany Bay and his chaplain, Abbe Mones, celebrates the first Mass within Australian territory
