Homilies

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for our Solemn Mass this morning. We are in the Octave of Christmas, that special time…

Indonesian people of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…

People of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…

People of Sydney I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people…

Born a sickly child, Theodore Roosevelt successfully overcame debilitating asthma by embracing a strenuous lifestyle.

To say Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – otherwise known as Lady Gaga – is a well-known pop-singer is an understatement.

The young Barney Casey thought he might have a vocation but poverty meant he had to go to work to support his family. He took jobs as a lumberjack, a hospital orderly, a prison guard and a tram operator.

“The violent are taking it by storm”. We have become too familiar with violence and blood. Before the recent horrors in Mali, Paris, Beirut and Baghdad there were many others.

On Melbourne Cup Day we had a staff party in my archdiocesan offices so we could all watch the race together. To be honest I don’t know much about horses.

“Hope. Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.”

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was one of the wittiest ever exponents of the English language. He lived a rather colourful and controversial existence in the second half of the nineteenth century.

These days words can pop into the English lexicon before our eyes. So, for example, the proper noun ‘Google’ has become a verb: ‘to google’ something means to search for it on the internet.

They were people just like us, doing the most innocent and human of things: eating with family at a restaurant, working in a pizzeria, cheering at a football friendly, having a drink with friends in a bar, singing and dancing at a rock concert.

As she approached the guillotine, the erstwhile Archduchess of Austria, Dauphine of France, then Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette, trod on her executioner’s foot.

The Medieval Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri, authored the most famous poem in the history of Christendom, The Divine Comedy. When one of my Aussie-born seminarians in Parramatta …

A photo of First Communion Day 1955 here at St Dominic’s shows pews filled of young girls in white bridal gowns and tulle veils, expectantly awaiting their bridegroom the Eucharistic Lord.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul [and mind] and strength,” as John read to us from Deuteronomy today and as Jesus paraphrased, adding the cognate command to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Dt 6:4-6; Lk 10:27).

Hints of death surround us. Nature’s intimations range from autumn leaves at this time in the Northern hemisphere and wrinkles and grey hairs noticed in the mirror

Amongst the heroes of my childhood were priests, nuns and brothers belonging to various religious orders. They were heroic in the sense of doing more than average by way of giving themselves to God and others.

His name is most famously associated with the St Vincent de Paul Society. But St Vincent had never heard of the Vinnies – he was long dead when they were invented.

In this ANZAC centenary year there have been books, movies and TV series, musical compositions, interviews, readings from diaries, exhibitions of artefacts and, perhaps most powerfully, of photographs, all recording…

Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. I am especially pleased to welcome several adult candidates for Confirmation. I acknowledge the pastors, sponsors, families and friends of our candidates.

Welcome all to this evening¡¦s Mass at St Mary¡¦s Cathedral. Tonight it is my privilege to install some seminarians to the Ministry of Lector and some seminarians and deacon candidates to the Ministry of Acolyte.

Welcome dear members and friends of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in Sydney to this closing Mass of this year’s Marian Festival…

Welcome all to this very significant occasion for the parish, as we consecrate your new altar and dedicate the renewed fittings in your church…

Today we celebrate the Mass of Blessing of the St John Paul II Chapel, the Dedication of the Altar, and the Opening and Blessing of the John Paul the Great Catholic Centre in the University of Sydney…

Welcome to this evening’s annual Archdiocesan Memorial Mass for the Unborn…

Welcome to this morning’s Solemn Mass here at St Mary’s Cathedral…

It’s my great pleasure to celebrate with you the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for my first time as the Archbishop of Sydney…

In November 1928 Donald Bradman made his test debut for Australia, batting in the middle order and scoring only 18 and 1…

According to our book of origins, the genesis of the human story was in a beautiful garden, full of flora and fauna, located near the rivers Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, gave up their privileged position and so ours in that garden “all for an apple”, disobeying God and committing the Original Sin;

“And the Word was made App and dwelt somewhere in the virtual universe”. It is easy today to inhabit or at least slip in and out of an alternative reality created by devices – iPhones, iPads, Androids, Notebooks, Tablets and Kindles – each with almost endless connectivity, apps and tools, social networks and so on.

Introduction for Annual Mass for Pregnant Mothers, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney, 23 August 2015 Welcome to you all to this morning’s Solemn Mass […]

We’ve all seen the ads for Lotto in which average punters are tantalized with offers of obscene amounts of money. In one a devoted father is shown giving his pregnant daughter and son-in-law a mortgage-free property.

One of the most successful TV sitcoms of all time was Frasier. It ran for eleven seasons till 2004 and won 37 Emmies…

The low-budget Christian horror-film Final: The Rapture was released late last year. Directed by Timothy Chey, it details the global chaos after all the best people are raptured up to heaven – as some evangelical Christians believe will happen – and follows the stories of four of those left behind. Professional footballer Colin Nelson (played by Jah Shams) is one left stranded when his good Christian wife is assumed into heaven (she’s played, appropriately enough, by an actress named Mary Grace).

The Incorruptibles could be a Marvel Comic or derivative Hollywood blockbuster about superheroes like The Fantastic Four, The Avengers or The X-Men. But in fact the title is a Catholic one, given to those Catholic superheroes, the saints, whose bodies remain substantially incorrupt after their death, people who were so holy in life that God has seen fit miraculously to preserve their bodies from decay, indefinitely or at least for many years after their deaths.

Recently, Disneyland in California, Florida, Paris and Hong Kong banned selfie-sticks. Not because they were troubled with the self-absorption of those who wish to take photos of themselves: selfies will still be allowed. But the Disneylands regard the long sticks as an OHS hazard: sticks that might protrude from their rides and interfere with the mechanisms, or might poke people in the eye or other parts, are no longer permitted.

The word ent has deep roots in the English language. It is Anglo-Saxon (Old English) for ‘giant’. Most people today know it from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and the films based on this. In the second volume, The Two Towers, we meet strong, giant, tree-like shepherds of the forest, most notably in the person of Treebeard.

The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure film which has become something of a ‘cult classic’. It is commonly rated amongst the top 100 comedy films of all time and has charmed audiences ever since. It is structured around a grandfather (played by Peter Falk a.k.a. Columbo) reading a book to his sick grandson.

Welcome to today’s happy occasion for the Our Lady of Victories Parish…

Your Excellency, Archbishop Adolfo Yllana, a very warm welcome to the mother Church of Australia so soon after taking up your mandate as Apostolic Nuncio to Australia.

Welcome all to this special Mass as we celebrate 50 years of the St Francis Xavier Parish, Lurnea. I am pleased to acknowledge Fr Thu Nguyen…

Welcome to today’s Solemn Mass at which we celebrate the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Annual Marriage Mass and Renewal of Vows.

Welcome dear friends to this happy day in the life of the Dominican Order and the wider Church in Australia…

We have learned this week that the Eternal City of Rome is home to the apostles, the great teachers and popes of the Church…

Last year marked the 750th anniversary of the promulgation of the feast of Corpus Christi in the universal Church.

Designed principally by Bramante, Michelangelo, Maderno and Bernini, St Peter’s is the largest church in the world…

Walking into this twelfth century basilica, you were no doubt awe-struck by the beautiful mosaic in the apse, reminiscent of Byzantium…

Welcome to this Mass tonight. A special welcome to the pilgrims attending our week of festivities in the Eternal City of Rome…

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Today we recall the mind-blowing reality that God is one and God is three…

Welcome to our celebration. Tonight we give thanks to God for the pioneers of St Joachim’s Parish, Lidcombe…

“woman has baby” was the clever headline. In case you are the only person on the planet who hasn’t heard Private Eye was referring to the recent birth of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana…

As our holiest season of Easter draws inexorably to its close, we celebrate this week two wonderful feasts, those of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven at Pentecost.

From the cross he saw his mother and his mate John standing near and so he said to his Mum, ‘Woman, behold your son

The twentieth century saw major advances in technology and communications, economy and human rights. Yet it was also the bloodiest century in history…

My warmest congratulations to my friend Fr Warren Edwards and all the parishioners on this truly beautiful church!…

The most recent Disney movie is a remake of Cinderella.

Welcome to you all on this special occasion as I formally install Fr Danai Penollar as your new parish priest…

Welcome to our celebration of ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ here at St Mary’s Cathedral…

Welcome to this Vigil Mass for the centenary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli.

Welcome to tonight’s happy celebration of the Eucharist at which three of our brothers in Christ will be admitted to candidacy for the priesthood…

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

Welcome dear brothers and sisters in consecrated life to this year’s special Mass to celebrate the Year for Consecrated Life.

Welcome to the Funeral Mass for our beloved Fr Brendan Shiel, a priest of Jesus Christ for almost 66 years and a loyal servant in the Lord’s vineyard

“On the third day He rose again”: so we profess the faith of the Church in words that go back to her earliest days (1Cor 15:4; Acts 10:40)…

God is silent. Bowing His head, He “gives up the ghost” (Jn 18:1-19:42). If you’ve ever witnessed a person dying, you know the rattling struggle for air, then the last exhaling of breath, and then peace and quiet at last.

Welcome to this year’s Chrism Mass. It is my first opportunity to celebrate this Mass with you as Archbishop and I count it a very real privilege…

Tonight’s Mass of the Last Supper marks the beginning of the Sacred Triduum, a three-day-long, more or less continuous Liturgy commemorating the saving events of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Welcome to this morning’s Mass as we ask God to inspire this Catholic Health Australia Governance Conference on Effective Governance and Leadership for Mission.

view VIDEO here

Last December Pope Francis received a rather unusual Christmas gift. A Swiss company, Eurolactis, which sells donkey’s milk in Italy, gave the Holy Father two donkeys, Thea and Noah…

Welcome to tonight¡¦s special Mass of Ordination to the Diaconate. It is a rare treat to ordain six men in one ceremony these days…

view VIDEO here

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral and today’s Solemn Mass of the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Today marks the beginning of Passiontide

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…

Human sacrifice. It conjures up images of Aztecs tearing hearts from poor victims in bloody rituals…

It’s due out this year, though Hollywood has been strangely silent ever since Paramount Pictures said they would sue if it appears.

Welcome to tonight’s Blessing of the Hands ceremony for our first year students in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney…

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, our annual season of renewal, where we join Noah for his forty days in the wet and Christ for his forty days in the dry…

A warm welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral as we celebrate today the Rite of Election and Presentation of Baptised Candidates for Full Communion…

Welcome all to today’s Mass to begin the Church’s penitential season of Lent. Today we impart ashes on our foreheads as sign of our repentance…

Stephen Fry – English pundit, TV personality and writer – recently stirred up a controversy on Irish television.

On Anzac Day in 1934 a Tasmanian newspaper published an article “I was eleven”.

It’s our foundation myth as a nation. It’s enshrined in our national monuments, public holiday, clubs and secular ritual.

Today, we offer Mass for the repose of the soul of Fr Ronald Walter Burdett Harden…

World Day of Prayer, Reflection and Action against Human Trafficking…

Welcome to today’s Mass here at St Mary’s Cathedral as the Sudanese-Australian Catholic Community celebrates its Patronal Feast Day, that of St Josephine Bakhita…

A very warm welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for this year’s Red Mass marking the opening of the new law term…

Welcome to today’s Mass with a blessing of this parish’s new sanctuary, confessional and chapel.

Nike will soon release its long-promised MAGs – sneakers capable of lighting-up and self-tightening, inspired by those worn by Marty McFly in the dystopian sci-fi film Back to the Future II…

Since Boxing Day we’ve been treated to the third and last instalment of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Hobbit, prequel to his enormously successful Lord of the Rings trilogy…