26 Jan 2026
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF AUSTRALIA DAY

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF AUSTRALIA DAY

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 […]

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04 Dec 2025
A people transformed

A people transformed

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 […]

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20 Nov 2025
PAPAL AWARDS

PAPAL AWARDS

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 […]

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05 Aug 2025
Life Marriage Family Sunday

Life Marriage Family Sunday

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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22 Jul 2025
Gymea Men’s Breakfast

Gymea Men’s Breakfast

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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
The Furnace

The Furnace

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. […]

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21 Jul 2025
The Furnace

The Furnace

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. […]

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21 Jul 2025
The Furnace

The Furnace

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. […]

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21 Jul 2025
The Furnace

The Furnace

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. […]

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21 Jul 2025
The Furnace

The Furnace

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. […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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21 Jul 2025
First Saturday Devotion

First Saturday Devotion

*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 […]

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16 Jun 2025
Flourishing Parishes

Flourishing Parishes

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 […]

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16 Jun 2025
Flourishing Parishes

Flourishing Parishes

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 […]

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13 Jun 2025
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR JUBILATE DEO PROGRAMME

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR JUBILATE DEO PROGRAMME

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 […]

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05 Jun 2025
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF BRS LOUIS MARY BETHEA, GREGORY MARIE SANTY, BERTRAND MARIE HERBERT, BASIL MARY BURROUGHS, TITUS MARY SANCHEZ, NICODEMUS MARIA THOMAS AND LINUS MARY MARTZOF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF BRS LOUIS MARY BETHEA, GREGORY MARIE SANTY, BERTRAND MARIE HERBERT, BASIL MARY BURROUGHS, TITUS MARY SANCHEZ, NICODEMUS MARIA THOMAS AND LINUS MARY MARTZOF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

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 […]

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17 Apr 2025
Homily for the Chrism Mass

Homily for the Chrism Mass

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 […]

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21 Mar 2025
PAPAL AWARDS 2025

PAPAL AWARDS 2025

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 […]

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18 Mar 2025
IFTAR DINNER 2025

IFTAR DINNER 2025

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, […]

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12 Dec 2024
Papal Awards 2024

Papal Awards 2024

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.

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03 Oct 2024
Meet Michael Jaksic

Meet Michael Jaksic

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 […]

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12 Aug 2024
HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS FOR THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS FOR THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

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…

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06 Aug 2024
Homily for Mass of the Feast of the Transfiguration

Homily for Mass of the Feast of the Transfiguration

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…

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22 Jul 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME +INSTALLATION OF RELIC OF ST CHARBEL MAKHLOUF

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME +INSTALLATION OF RELIC OF ST CHARBEL MAKHLOUF

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…

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14 Jul 2024
HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS OF THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS OF THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B

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…

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11 Jul 2024
Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Mr Adrian Suyanto, Rev. Mr Likisone Tominiko and Rev. Br Charbel Boustany FFI, Memorial of St Benedict

Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Mr Adrian Suyanto, Rev. Mr Likisone Tominiko and Rev. Br Charbel Boustany FFI, Memorial of St Benedict

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.

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02 Jun 2024
FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

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…

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02 Jun 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS OF CORPUS CHRISTI THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

HOMILY FOR MASS OF CORPUS CHRISTI THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

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…

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31 May 2024
“Religious Freedom in a Secular World: Doomed or Doable?”31 May 2024

“Religious Freedom in a Secular World: Doomed or Doable?”31 May 2024

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…

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26 May 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, YEAR B

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…

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24 May 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS, YEAR B

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…

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22 May 2024
HOMILY FOR MAXIMUS MEN’S MINISTRY NETWORK MASS

HOMILY FOR MAXIMUS MEN’S MINISTRY NETWORK MASS

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…

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21 May 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

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.”…

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19 May 2024
HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMN MASS OF PENTECOST (YEAR B) + ADULT CONFIRMATIONS

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMN MASS OF PENTECOST (YEAR B) + ADULT CONFIRMATIONS

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…

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08 May 2024
HOMILY FOR THE REQUIEM MASS FOR MOST REV. PETER INGHAM

HOMILY FOR THE REQUIEM MASS FOR MOST REV. PETER INGHAM

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…

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05 May 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B + ACBC PLENARY

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B + ACBC PLENARY

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…

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24 Apr 2024
HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

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…

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23 Apr 2024
Homily for Mass for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Homily for Mass for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

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…

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21 Apr 2024
HOMILY FOR “PASCHAL EUCHARIST”

HOMILY FOR “PASCHAL EUCHARIST”

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)…

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30 Mar 2024
“HOLY STONE”: HOMILY FOR THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT

“HOLY STONE”: HOMILY FOR THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT

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…

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29 Mar 2024
“HOLY LANCE”: Homily for the Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord

“HOLY LANCE”: Homily for the Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord

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…

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28 Mar 2024
“HOLY GRAIL”: HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

“HOLY GRAIL”: HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

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…

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28 Mar 2024
“LIQUID GOLD” – Homily for the Chrism Mass

“LIQUID GOLD” – Homily for the Chrism Mass

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…

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17 Mar 2024
Homily for Mass of the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B + Opening of Catholic Institute of Sydney Academic Year

Homily for Mass of the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B + Opening of Catholic Institute of Sydney Academic Year

“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…

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14 Mar 2024
Iftar Dinner By St Mary’s Cathedral House, 14 March 2024

Iftar Dinner By St Mary’s Cathedral House, 14 March 2024

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…

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10 Mar 2024
Homily for Mass for the 4th Sunday of Lent (Lætare Sunday), Year B

Homily for Mass for the 4th Sunday of Lent (Lætare Sunday), Year B

“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…

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03 Mar 2024
Homily for Mass of the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

Homily for Mass of the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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…

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25 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

Homily for Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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…

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22 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass for the Feast of the Chair of the Apostle Peter

Homily for Mass for the Feast of the Chair of the Apostle Peter

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…

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21 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass Commissioning of Beginning Teachers for Sydney Catholic Schools

Homily for Mass Commissioning of Beginning Teachers for Sydney Catholic Schools

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…

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18 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass for the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B

Homily for Mass for the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B

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…

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14 Feb 2024
Homily for Ash Wednesday Mass

Homily for Ash Wednesday Mass

‘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…

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11 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass of the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Homily for Mass of the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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…

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07 Feb 2024
Homily for Mass for Bicentenary + Opening of 2024 School Yearfor St Mary’s Cathedral College

Homily for Mass for Bicentenary + Opening of 2024 School Yearfor St Mary’s Cathedral College

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…

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31 Jan 2024
HOMILY FOR MASS OF ST JOHN BOSCO + OPENING OF SEMINARY YEAR 2024

HOMILY FOR MASS OF ST JOHN BOSCO + OPENING OF SEMINARY YEAR 2024

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…

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29 Jan 2024
Homily for the Red Mass

Homily for the Red Mass

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…

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26 Jan 2024
Homily for the Australia Day Mass

Homily for the Australia Day Mass

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….

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10 Jan 2024
Homily for the Memorial Mass for George Cardinal Pell

Homily for the Memorial Mass for George Cardinal Pell

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!”…

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25 Dec 2023
HOMILY FOR THE MORNING MASS OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

HOMILY FOR THE MORNING MASS OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

“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..

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21 Dec 2023
The Christmas Gift of Happiness

The Christmas Gift of Happiness

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…

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21 Dec 2023
Homily for Mass of 21 December + CAS End of Year Celebration

Homily for Mass of 21 December + CAS End of Year Celebration

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…

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17 Dec 2023
Homily for Mass of Gaudete Sunday (3rd Sunday of Advent) Year B

Homily for Mass of Gaudete Sunday (3rd Sunday of Advent) Year B

“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…

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16 Dec 2023
Homily for Memorial Mass for George Cardinal Pell and Margaret Pell

Homily for Memorial Mass for George Cardinal Pell and Margaret Pell

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…

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04 Dec 2023
Homily for the Lourdes Day Mass for the Order of Malta

Homily for the Lourdes Day Mass for the Order of Malta

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…

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03 Dec 2023
Homily for Mass for Monday of the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1

Homily for Mass for Monday of the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1

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…

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28 Sep 2023
Homily for Mass of the Memorial of Sts Cosmas and Damian

Homily for Mass of the Memorial of Sts Cosmas and Damian

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…

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28 Sep 2023
Homily for Mass for Tuesday 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

Homily for Mass for Tuesday 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

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…

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04 Sep 2023
Homily for Mass of the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

Homily for Mass of the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

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…

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08 Aug 2023
Past, Present, and Future—Homily for Votive Mass of Our Lady of Fatima

Past, Present, and Future—Homily for Votive Mass of Our Lady of Fatima

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…

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08 Aug 2023
Catechesis on ‘Social Friendship’World Youth Day 2023

Catechesis on ‘Social Friendship’World Youth Day 2023

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…

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08 Aug 2023
Catechesis on ‘Integral Ecology’ for World Youth Day 2023

Catechesis on ‘Integral Ecology’ for World Youth Day 2023

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…

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17 Jul 2023
Homily for Mass for Wednesday 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Year A

Homily for Mass for Wednesday 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Year A

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…

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27 Jun 2023
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE FEAST OF ST JOSEMARÍA ESCRIVÁ DE BALAGUER

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE FEAST OF ST JOSEMARÍA ESCRIVÁ DE BALAGUER

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…

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14 Jun 2023
Michael Moore Farewell

Michael Moore Farewell

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…

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13 Jun 2023
FERVORINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

FERVORINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

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…

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05 Jun 2023
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, YEAR A

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…

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29 May 2023
Homily for Solemn Mass of Pentecost, Year A, + Adult Confirmations

Homily for Solemn Mass of Pentecost, Year A, + Adult Confirmations

“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…

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11 Apr 2023
III. DEATH OVERCOME: HOMILY FOR THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT

III. DEATH OVERCOME: HOMILY FOR THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT

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…

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11 Apr 2023
II. DEATH’S GRIEF: HOMILY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

II. DEATH’S GRIEF: HOMILY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

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…

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11 Apr 2023
I. DEATH’S DARK SHADOW: HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

I. DEATH’S DARK SHADOW: HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

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…

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06 Apr 2023
HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

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…

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03 Apr 2023

Homily for the Mass of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year A

‘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…

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31 Mar 2023
Iftar Dinner 2023

Iftar Dinner 2023

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…

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28 Mar 2023

Homily for Mass for the 5th Sunday of Lent Year A + Day of the Unborn

‘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…

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20 Mar 2023
Homily for Mass for the 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), Year A

Homily for Mass for the 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), Year A

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…

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10 Mar 2023
Homily for Mass for Beginning Teachers For Sydney Catholic Schools

Homily for Mass for Beginning Teachers For Sydney Catholic Schools

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…

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21 Feb 2023
Homily for Mass for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1 + Opening of the Seminary Year 2023

Homily for Mass for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1 + Opening of the Seminary Year 2023

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…

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14 Feb 2023
Homily for Men’s Ministry Mass, Monday 6th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

Homily for Men’s Ministry Mass, Monday 6th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1

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…

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10 Feb 2023
Blessing + Opening of Hartford College

Blessing + Opening of Hartford College

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…

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30 Jan 2023
Homily for the Red Mass

Homily for the Red Mass

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…

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11 Jan 2023
DEATH OF HIS EMINENCE GEORGE CARDINAL PELL

DEATH OF HIS EMINENCE GEORGE CARDINAL PELL

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…

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03 Jan 2023
MEDITATION FOR CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2022

MEDITATION FOR CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2022

“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…

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03 Jan 2023
Homily for the Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord

Homily for the Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord

“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…

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03 Jan 2023
BENEDICT XVI – A POPE WHO GAVE HIS HEART AND MIND TO CHRIST

BENEDICT XVI – A POPE WHO GAVE HIS HEART AND MIND TO CHRIST

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…

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22 Dec 2022
2022 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE – The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP

2022 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE – The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP

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…

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21 Dec 2022
Homily for Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A

Homily for Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A

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…

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09 Dec 2022
OPENING OF CHRISTMAS AT THE CATHEDRAL

OPENING OF CHRISTMAS AT THE CATHEDRAL

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…

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05 Dec 2022
Homily for Lourdes Day Mass for the Order of Malta

Homily for Lourdes Day Mass for the Order of Malta

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…

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28 Nov 2022
Homily for Mass for 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A

Homily for Mass for 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A

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…

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21 Nov 2022
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING YEAR C + EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING YEAR C + EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE OF JERUSALEM

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…

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21 Nov 2022
ADDRESS AT CONFERRAL OF PAPAL AWARDS

ADDRESS AT CONFERRAL OF PAPAL AWARDS

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…

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11 Nov 2022
MONDAY 32nd WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR 2 ACBC Plenary

MONDAY 32nd WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR 2 ACBC Plenary

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…

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26 Sep 2022
Homily for the Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Homily for the Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

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 …

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26 Sep 2022
Homily for Mass of the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Homily for Mass of the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

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 …

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16 Sep 2022
Visitor’s Address at the Annual Archbishop’s Dinner

Visitor’s Address at the Annual Archbishop’s Dinner

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 …

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16 Sep 2022
Catholic Women’s Network Launch

Catholic Women’s Network Launch

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 …

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16 Sep 2022
Homily for Solemn Mass of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross + Annual Visit to Sancta Sophia College

Homily for Solemn Mass of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross + Annual Visit to Sancta Sophia College

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 …

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12 Sep 2022
A MONARCH WHO UNITED US ALL

A MONARCH WHO UNITED US ALL

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 …

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12 Sep 2022
10:10 PROJECT CONFERENCE “LIFE TO THE FULL”

10:10 PROJECT CONFERENCE “LIFE TO THE FULL”

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 …

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12 Sep 2022
Homily for Prayer Service after Archbishop’s Awards for Student Excellence

Homily for Prayer Service after Archbishop’s Awards for Student Excellence

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 …

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29 Aug 2022
Short Address + Blessing of Dr Kevin Fagan Memorial

Short Address + Blessing of Dr Kevin Fagan Memorial

“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 …

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29 Aug 2022
HOMILY FOR THE PONTIFICAL MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL FOR  Rev. Ben Bezzina

HOMILY FOR THE PONTIFICAL MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL FOR Rev. Ben Bezzina

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 …

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23 Aug 2022
“My Parish: A Centre of Evangelisation” Parish Renewal Conference

“My Parish: A Centre of Evangelisation” Parish Renewal Conference

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 …

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22 Aug 2022
Homily for Mass for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Homily for Mass for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

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 …

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15 Aug 2022
Homily for Mass of the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time C + Dempsey Medal

Homily for Mass of the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time C + Dempsey Medal

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 …

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24 Jul 2022
Homily for Mass for the Feast of St Christopher + 70th Anniversary of the Parish

Homily for Mass for the Feast of St Christopher + 70th Anniversary of the Parish

“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 …

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22 Jul 2022
World Youth Day 2008 Plaque Unveiling

World Youth Day 2008 Plaque Unveiling

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 …

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17 Jul 2022
Homily for Mass of the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C + Dempsey Medal

Homily for Mass of the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C + Dempsey Medal

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 …

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10 Jul 2022
Homily for the Mass for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Homily for the Mass for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

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, …

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01 Jul 2022
EXODUS90!

EXODUS90!

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. […]

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01 Jul 2022
STRIVE21 Program

STRIVE21 Program

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 […]

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01 Jul 2022
Into the Breach Video Series

Into the Breach Video Series

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.

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29 Jun 2022
SCY Fidelis talk on “THE CREED”

SCY Fidelis talk on “THE CREED”

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 …

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19 Jun 2022
FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST”

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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19 May 2022
A Statement on the passing of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021

A Statement on the passing of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021

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 …

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19 May 2022
Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial for Richard Connolly

Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial for Richard Connolly

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 …

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28 Apr 2022
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST PETER CHANEL

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST PETER CHANEL

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…

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24 Apr 2022
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY- Vigil Mass of ANZAC Day

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY- Vigil Mass of ANZAC Day

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.

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17 Apr 2022
Homily for the Solemn Mass of the Sunday of the Resurrection

Homily for the Solemn Mass of the Sunday of the Resurrection

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.

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16 Apr 2022
Homily for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Homily for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

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 …

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15 Apr 2022
HOMILY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

HOMILY FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

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.

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14 Apr 2022
Homily for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Homily for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper

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.

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14 Apr 2022
HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

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 …

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06 Apr 2022
ADDRESS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE IFTAR DINNER

ADDRESS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE IFTAR DINNER

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 …

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03 Apr 2022
HOMILY FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, Year C

HOMILY FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, Year C

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 …

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31 Mar 2022
Men’s Rosary Crusade

Men’s Rosary Crusade

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 …

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14 Mar 2022
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY IN LENT YEAR C

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY IN LENT YEAR C

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.

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08 Mar 2022
Men’s Breakfast at Bonnyrigg

Men’s Breakfast at Bonnyrigg

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.

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06 Mar 2022
Remarks at the Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Remarks at the Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

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:

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10 Feb 2022
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST. JOSEPHINE BAHKITA

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST. JOSEPHINE BAHKITA

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.

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03 Feb 2022
Meet Ivica Kovac

Meet Ivica Kovac

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

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25 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR THE MIDNIGHT MASS OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

HOMILY FOR THE MIDNIGHT MASS OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

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.

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23 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR THURSDAY 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT

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.

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22 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR END-OF-YEAR CAS STAFF MASS

HOMILY FOR END-OF-YEAR CAS STAFF MASS

‘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

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12 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH

“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?

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10 Dec 2021
NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice- Inquiry into Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill

NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice- Inquiry into Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill

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.

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04 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

“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’.

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03 Dec 2021
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF REV. ANDERSON RODAS & REV. RAFAEL GALICIA

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF REV. ANDERSON RODAS & REV. RAFAEL GALICIA

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

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03 Oct 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH PLENARY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH PLENARY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

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.

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27 Sep 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 26TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 26TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

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.

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05 Sep 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 23RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 23RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

“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.

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29 Aug 2021
INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF THE 22ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF THE 22ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

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.

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13 Jun 2021
HOMILY FOR 11TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR 11TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

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.”

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23 May 2021
HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS OF PENTECOST  (YEAR B)

HOMILY FOR SOLEMN MASS OF PENTECOST (YEAR B)

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).

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09 May 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

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).

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24 Apr 2021
HOMILY FOR VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

HOMILY FOR VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

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.

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15 Apr 2021
IFTAR DINNER 2021

IFTAR DINNER 2021

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.

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01 Apr 2021
HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

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.

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21 Mar 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT  (YEAR B)

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR B)

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.

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19 Mar 2021
THE FATHERHOOD OF ST JOSEPH

THE FATHERHOOD OF ST JOSEPH

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.

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28 Feb 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT  (Year B)

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT (Year B)

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).

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26 Feb 2021
PAPAL AWARDS 2021

PAPAL AWARDS 2021

‘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.

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19 Feb 2021
HOW TO EVANGELISE YOUNG MEN

HOW TO EVANGELISE YOUNG MEN

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 .

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31 Jan 2021
Introduction to Commissioning Ceremony for Sydney Delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia

Introduction to Commissioning Ceremony for Sydney Delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia

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.

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31 Jan 2021
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 4TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME (Year B)

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 4TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME (Year B)

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.

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22 Dec 2020
HOMILY FOR END-OF-YEAR CAS STAFF MASS

HOMILY FOR END-OF-YEAR CAS STAFF MASS

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!

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05 Dec 2020
HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

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?

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18 Nov 2020
INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF CONFIRMATION

INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF CONFIRMATION

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.

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15 Nov 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 33RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 33RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

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!

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02 Nov 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

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.

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28 Oct 2020
HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

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.

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18 Oct 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 29TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 29TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

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.

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12 Oct 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR MONDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR 2

HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR MONDAY OF THE 28TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR 2

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.

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09 Oct 2020
A CHURCH FOR YOUNG MEN

A CHURCH FOR YOUNG MEN

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!

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27 Sep 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 26TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 26TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

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.

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25 Sep 2020
WHERE ARE ALL THE MEN?

WHERE ARE ALL THE MEN?

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?

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20 Sep 2020
HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 25TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME A

HOMILY FOR THE MASS FOR 25TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME A

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!

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16 Sep 2020
DAD DIARIES #3: ESCAPING ESCAPISM

DAD DIARIES #3: ESCAPING ESCAPISM

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.

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09 Aug 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 19TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 19TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

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.

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02 Aug 2020
Homily for Mass for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

Homily for Mass for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

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.

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24 Jul 2020
HOW MUCH SPORT IS TOO MUCH?

HOW MUCH SPORT IS TOO MUCH?

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.

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19 Jul 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 16TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 16TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

“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.

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15 Jul 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE MEMORIA OF ST. BONAVENTURE + RITE OF CANDIDACY

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE MEMORIA OF ST. BONAVENTURE + RITE OF CANDIDACY

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.

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12 Jul 2020
HOMILY FOR TO MASS FOR 15TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR A + ANNUAL ARCHDIOCESAN MARRIAGE MASS

HOMILY FOR TO MASS FOR 15TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR A + ANNUAL ARCHDIOCESAN MARRIAGE MASS

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.

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14 Jun 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

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.

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31 May 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR PENTECOST, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR PENTECOST, YEAR A

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.

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17 May 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

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.

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26 Apr 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR A)

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR A)

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.

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24 Apr 2020
HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS FOR ANZAC DAY

HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS FOR ANZAC DAY

“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.

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19 Apr 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER(YEAR A)

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER(YEAR A)

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.

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12 Apr 2020
Homily for the Mass of the Day of the Resurrection of the Lord

Homily for the Mass of the Day of the Resurrection of the Lord

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.

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10 Apr 2020
Homily for the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

Homily for the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

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

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10 Apr 2020
Ferverino for Good Friday Stations of the Cross

Ferverino for Good Friday Stations of the Cross

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.

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29 Mar 2020
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT A

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.

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20 Feb 2020
RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

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

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26 Jan 2020
HOMILY FOR AUSTRALIA DAY MASS

HOMILY FOR AUSTRALIA DAY MASS

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).

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12 Jan 2020
HOMILY FOR A MASS IN TIME OF FIRE

HOMILY FOR A MASS IN TIME OF FIRE

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.

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22 Dec 2019
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT A

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.

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19 Dec 2019
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2019

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2019

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!

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13 Dec 2019
FERVERINO FOR CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2019

FERVERINO FOR CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2019

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.

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08 Dec 2019
RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

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.

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07 Dec 2019
HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

HOMILY FOR THE LOURDES DAY MASS FOR THE ORDER OF MALTA

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.

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04 Dec 2019
HOMILY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA GRADUATION MASS

HOMILY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA GRADUATION MASS

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.

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24 Nov 2019
FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER WALK WITH CHRIST

FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER WALK WITH CHRIST

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.

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25 Oct 2019
“Listen to what the Spirit is saying”

“Listen to what the Spirit is saying”

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.

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30 Aug 2019
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR FRIDAY 21ST WEEK ORDINARY TIME YEAR 1

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR FRIDAY 21ST WEEK ORDINARY TIME YEAR 1

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).

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15 Aug 2019
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF BVM

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF BVM

“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.

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14 Aug 2019
HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF BVM

HOMILY FOR THE VIGIL MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF BVM

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.”

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13 Jun 2019
HOMILY FOR THE BLESSING OF THE TRIPTYCH

HOMILY FOR THE BLESSING OF THE TRIPTYCH

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.

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07 Jun 2019
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR CONSECRATED LIFE

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,

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06 Jun 2019
ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY

ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY

“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

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04 Jun 2019
BLESSING AND OPENING OF NEW BUILDINGS

BLESSING AND OPENING OF NEW BUILDINGS

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

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30 May 2019
HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER C

HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER C

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,

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29 May 2019
IFTAR DINNER 2019

IFTAR DINNER 2019

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;

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28 Apr 2019
Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy

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 […]

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26 Apr 2019
The Power of Praying for Others

The Power of Praying for Others

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 […]

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24 Apr 2019
HOMILY FOR VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

HOMILY FOR VIGIL MASS OF ANZAC DAY

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.

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24 Apr 2019
Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching

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 […]

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23 Apr 2019
To All The Virtues I’ve Wanted to Sow

To All The Virtues I’ve Wanted to Sow

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 […]

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22 Apr 2019
Easter Eggs and Bunnies

Easter Eggs and Bunnies

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 […]

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20 Apr 2019
Homily for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Homily for the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

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.

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20 Apr 2019
Crown of Thorns

Crown of Thorns

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 […]

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18 Apr 2019
Easter Message 2019

Easter Message 2019

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.

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18 Apr 2019
HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

HOMILY FOR THE CHRISM MASS

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.

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18 Apr 2019
The Last Supper

The Last Supper

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 […]

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17 Apr 2019
Project Compassion: Nguyet’s Story

Project Compassion: Nguyet’s Story

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 […]

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15 Apr 2019
The Story of the Three Trees

The Story of the Three Trees

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 […]

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14 Apr 2019
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

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.

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14 Apr 2019
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6th Sunday: The Palms

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 […]

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12 Apr 2019
What is fasting?

What is fasting?

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 […]

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10 Apr 2019
Project Compassion – Salma’s Story

Project Compassion – Salma’s Story

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 […]

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09 Apr 2019
Vocation Story: Fr Daniele Russo

Vocation Story: Fr Daniele Russo

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 […]

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08 Apr 2019
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Not Too Late to Make Lent Great

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. […]

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07 Apr 2019
5th Sunday: Casting the Stone

5th Sunday: Casting the Stone

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 […]

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04 Apr 2019
How I Pray Through Worship

How I Pray Through Worship

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 […]

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03 Apr 2019
Project Compassion – Michaela’s Story

Project Compassion – Michaela’s Story

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 […]

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02 Apr 2019
Volunteering: Faith in Action

Volunteering: Faith in Action

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 […]

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30 Mar 2019
What if I’m not good enough? (Vocations)

What if I’m not good enough? (Vocations)

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 […]

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29 Mar 2019
Two Gardens

Two Gardens

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 […]

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28 Mar 2019
HOMILY FOR UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA GRADUATION MASS

HOMILY FOR UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA GRADUATION MASS

‘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.’

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28 Mar 2019
How to Help a Friend in Need

How to Help a Friend in Need

“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 […]

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27 Mar 2019
Project Compassion: Peter’s Story

Project Compassion: Peter’s Story

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. […]

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25 Mar 2019
Saying Yes to God (podcast)

Saying Yes to God (podcast)

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 […]

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24 Mar 2019
3rd Sunday: The Fruitless Fig

3rd Sunday: The Fruitless Fig

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 […]

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22 Mar 2019
Why do we fast during Lent?

Why do we fast during Lent?

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 […]

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21 Mar 2019
Love Them Both

Love Them Both

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 […]

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20 Mar 2019
Project Compassion: Tati’s Story

Project Compassion: Tati’s Story

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 […]

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19 Mar 2019
Saint Joseph: A model for work

Saint Joseph: A model for work

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 […]

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17 Mar 2019
HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH

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.

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17 Mar 2019
The Transfiguration

The Transfiguration

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. […]

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16 Mar 2019
Extraordinary Women: Sisters in Kazakhstan

Extraordinary Women: Sisters in Kazakhstan

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 […]

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15 Mar 2019
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST. PATRICK

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE FEAST OF ST. PATRICK

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.

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15 Mar 2019
Why is sin bad?

Why is sin bad?

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. […]

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14 Mar 2019
HOMILY FOR BLESSING OF ST. PATRICK’S GREEN

HOMILY FOR BLESSING OF ST. PATRICK’S GREEN

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!

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14 Mar 2019
The Rosary | EXPLAINED

The Rosary | EXPLAINED

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 […]

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13 Mar 2019
Project Compassion: Thandolwayo’s Story

Project Compassion: Thandolwayo’s Story

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 […]

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12 Mar 2019
Our Father Prayer | EXPLAINED

Our Father Prayer | EXPLAINED

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 […]

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11 Mar 2019
Fully Invested (Ignite Youth)

Fully Invested (Ignite Youth)

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 […]

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10 Mar 2019
Temptations (Gospel Reflection)

Temptations (Gospel Reflection)

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 […]

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08 Mar 2019
The Way of the Cross

The Way of the Cross

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.

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07 Mar 2019
Pope’s Message for Lent 2019

Pope’s Message for Lent 2019

“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 […]

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06 Mar 2019
Lent with Lego

Lent with Lego

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 […]

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03 Mar 2019
HOMILY FOR THE 8TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

HOMILY FOR THE 8TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

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).

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22 Jan 2019
BLESSING & INVITATION

BLESSING & INVITATION

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.

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20 Jan 2019
HOMILY FOR 2ND SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

HOMILY FOR 2ND SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

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)

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05 Jan 2019
The Slow Food Movement

The Slow Food Movement

  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 […]

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04 Jan 2019
Being an artist for the Church

Being an artist for the Church

 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. […]

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03 Jan 2019
The Most Holy Name of Jesus

The Most Holy Name of Jesus

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 […]

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02 Jan 2019
Feast Facts with St Basil the Great

Feast Facts with St Basil the Great

 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, […]

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26 Dec 2018
Making Silence Your Friend

Making Silence Your Friend

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 […]

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25 Dec 2018
2018 Christmas Message

2018 Christmas Message

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.

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23 Dec 2018
HOMILY FOR MASS 4TH SUNDAY ADVENT YEAR C

HOMILY FOR MASS 4TH SUNDAY ADVENT YEAR C

“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.

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20 Dec 2018
Meditations with Fulton Sheen: Hope

Meditations with Fulton Sheen: Hope

 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. […]

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18 Dec 2018
Light a Candle for Peace in Syria

Light a Candle for Peace in Syria

“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 […]

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16 Dec 2018
Youth Sermon: True J.O.Y

Youth Sermon: True J.O.Y

 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 […]

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15 Dec 2018
Who is Eileen O’Connor? | Xt3 Vox

Who is Eileen O’Connor? | Xt3 Vox

 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 […]

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14 Dec 2018
Reflection For Christmas Concert

Reflection For Christmas Concert

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

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11 Dec 2018
We Can All Still Come Back

We Can All Still Come Back

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 […]

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04 Dec 2018
Meditations with Fulton Sheen: Prayer

Meditations with Fulton Sheen: Prayer

 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. […]

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02 Dec 2018
Meet Me In The Silence | Fr Lewi Barakat

Meet Me In The Silence | Fr Lewi Barakat

 “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 […]

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01 Dec 2018
Homily For Lourdes Day Mass 2018

Homily For Lourdes Day Mass 2018

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

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28 Nov 2018
Remarks For Red Wednesday

Remarks For Red Wednesday

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

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09 Aug 2018
Mass For Thursday 18th Week Ordinary Time Year II

Mass For Thursday 18th Week Ordinary Time Year II

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

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07 Aug 2018
Funeral Mass For Fr Paul Ryan

Funeral Mass For Fr Paul Ryan

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.

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29 Jul 2018
Mass for the 17th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B

Mass for the 17th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B

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.

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27 Jul 2018
The Annual Mass For Consecrated Life

The Annual Mass For Consecrated Life

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.”

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18 Jul 2018
Book Launch for Educating in Christ by Gerard O’Shea

Book Launch for Educating in Christ by Gerard O’Shea

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 …

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15 Jul 2018
Installation of Fr Paul Smithers, St. Joseph’s, Rosebery

Installation of Fr Paul Smithers, St. Joseph’s, Rosebery

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 …

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08 Jul 2018
Annual Marriage Mass, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Annual Marriage Mass, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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.

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24 Jun 2018
FAREWELL FOR FR GARY RAWSON, St. Thérèse Church, Lakemba

FAREWELL FOR FR GARY RAWSON, St. Thérèse Church, Lakemba

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.

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20 Jun 2018
Book Launch for Educating in Christ by Gerard O’Shea

Book Launch for Educating in Christ by Gerard O’Shea

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 …

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10 Jun 2018
INSTALLATION OF FR GREG MORGAN, St. Charles Borromeo, Ryde

INSTALLATION OF FR GREG MORGAN, St. Charles Borromeo, Ryde

“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 …

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04 Jun 2018
2001

2001

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 […]

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04 Jun 2018
2003

2003

Archdiocesan offices move to impressive new building, the Polding Centre on Liverpool St in the CBD. Archbishop George Pell is created Cardinal by Pope

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04 Jun 2018
2008

2008

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 […]

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04 Jun 2018
2009

2009

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 […]

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04 Jun 2018
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2014

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 […]

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03 Jun 2018
FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST” St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

FERVERINO FOR BENEDICTION AFTER “WALK WITH CHRIST” St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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.

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03 Jun 2018
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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24 Apr 2018
Vigil Mass for ANZAC Day, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Vigil Mass for ANZAC Day, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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31 Mar 2018
Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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.

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30 Mar 2018
Passion of the Lord (Good Friday), St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Passion of the Lord (Good Friday), St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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29 Mar 2018
Chrism Mass (Maundy Thursday) , St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Chrism Mass (Maundy Thursday) , St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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29 Mar 2018
The Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday), St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

The Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday), St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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25 Mar 2018
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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.

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18 Feb 2018
1st Sunday in Lent (Rite of Election), St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

1st Sunday in Lent (Rite of Election), St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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08 Feb 2018
The Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

The Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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 …

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07 Sep 2017
Three Challenges

Three Challenges

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.

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08 Aug 2017
BOOK LAUNCH FOR ABOUT BIOETHICS:  FAITH, SCIENE AND THE ENVIRONMENT BY NICHOLAS TONTI-FILIPPINI

BOOK LAUNCH FOR ABOUT BIOETHICS: FAITH, SCIENE AND THE ENVIRONMENT BY NICHOLAS TONTI-FILIPPINI

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.

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08 Aug 2017
BETWEEN IDEAL AND REALITY: WHAT FUTURE FOR MARRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA? Harman Lecture, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, Melbourne

BETWEEN IDEAL AND REALITY: WHAT FUTURE FOR MARRIAGE IN AUSTRALIA? Harman Lecture, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, Melbourne

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.

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30 Jul 2017
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 17TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 17TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

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).

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19 Jul 2017
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 135TH ANNIVERSARY OF KINCOPPAL-ROSE BAY SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART – St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR THE 135TH ANNIVERSARY OF KINCOPPAL-ROSE BAY SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART – St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

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.

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15 Jul 2017
HOMILY FOR MASS OF ORDINATION OF Rev. Br. ROBERT KRISHNA O.P. TO THE PRIESTHOOD & Br. LAWRENCE BOSEKANA O.P. TO THE DIACONATE – St. Benedict’s Church, Broadway

HOMILY FOR MASS OF ORDINATION OF Rev. Br. ROBERT KRISHNA O.P. TO THE PRIESTHOOD & Br. LAWRENCE BOSEKANA O.P. TO THE DIACONATE – St. Benedict’s Church, Broadway

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”.

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22 Feb 2017
Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Episcopate and Installation as the sixth Bishop of Lismore of Most Rev. Greg Homeming OCD – St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, Feast of the Chair of St Peter

Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Episcopate and Installation as the sixth Bishop of Lismore of Most Rev. Greg Homeming OCD – St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, Feast of the Chair of St Peter

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.

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11 Dec 2016
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR A – ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR A – ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

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.

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03 Dec 2016
HOMILY FOR LOURDES DAY MASS WITH ORDER OF MALTA – ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL

HOMILY FOR LOURDES DAY MASS WITH ORDER OF MALTA – ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL

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”

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30 Oct 2016
HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF MATER DEI CHURCH, BLAKEHURST 31st SUNDAY YEAR C

HOMILY FOR MASS FOR 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF MATER DEI CHURCH, BLAKEHURST 31st SUNDAY YEAR C

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.

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14 Sep 2016
Homily for Mass for Silver Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood. Holy Name Priory Church, Wahroonga, Feast of the Holy Cross

Homily for Mass for Silver Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood. Holy Name Priory Church, Wahroonga, Feast of the Holy Cross

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).

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12 Sep 2016
STATEMENT BY MOST REV. ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY FISHER OP, CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY AND CHAIR OF THE BISHOPS COMMISSION FOR FAMILY, YOUTH AND LIFE

STATEMENT BY MOST REV. ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY FISHER OP, CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY AND CHAIR OF THE BISHOPS COMMISSION FOR FAMILY, YOUTH AND LIFE

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.

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21 Aug 2016
Homily for Mass for Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C + Annual Mass for Pregnant Mothers, St Mary’s Cathedral

Homily for Mass for Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C + Annual Mass for Pregnant Mothers, St Mary’s Cathedral

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.

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27 Jul 2016
HOMILY FOR MASS FOLLOWING THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN ST-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY – ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

HOMILY FOR MASS FOLLOWING THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN ST-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY – ST. MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

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.

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10 Jun 2016
ADDRESS AT IFTAR DINNER MARKING THE START OF RAMADAN 2016, ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL HOUSE, SYDNEY

ADDRESS AT IFTAR DINNER MARKING THE START OF RAMADAN 2016, ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL HOUSE, SYDNEY

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;

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24 Mar 2016
Holy Thursday Chrism Mass: Addresses and Homily

Holy Thursday Chrism Mass: Addresses and Homily

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.

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30 Aug 2015
Homily for Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time on Feast Day of St Fiacre

Homily for Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time on Feast Day of St Fiacre

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;

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18 Aug 2015
Homily for Mass with Seminarians

Homily for Mass with Seminarians

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.

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15 Aug 2015
Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption and Ordination of Lewi Barakat and Thomas Stevens to the Priesthood

Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption and Ordination of Lewi Barakat and Thomas Stevens to the Priesthood

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).

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11 Aug 2015
Homily for Mass at Sancta Sophia College

Homily for Mass at Sancta Sophia College

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.

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05 Aug 2015
Homily for Feast of St Dominic

Homily for Feast of St Dominic

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.

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02 Aug 2015
Homily for Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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.

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30 Jul 2015
Homily for Mass for Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

Homily for Mass for Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

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.

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12 Apr 2015
Low (Divine Mercy) Sunday

Low (Divine Mercy) Sunday

They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, neighbours and friends. They were mostly students, with hopes and dreams and so much unrealized potential.

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02 Apr 2015
Chrism Mass

Chrism Mass

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…

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02 Apr 2015
Mass of the Last Supper

Mass of the Last Supper

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.

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15 Mar 2015
Mass of Laetare Sunday

Mass of Laetare Sunday

view VIDEO here

Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. I am especially pleased to acknowledge concelebrating with me today Cardinal George Pell…

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18 Feb 2015
Homily for Ash Wednesday

Homily for Ash Wednesday

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…

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