Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, 86, sits down for lunch. Chatting and smiling, he lists the options for main course at a private dining room in Bishop Lei International House, a church-owned hotel founded originally as a school for the De La Salle brothers. It’s perched high in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, high but Read more
Need a creative way to add some spiritual reflection to your day-to-day this Lent? Try Busted Halo’s InstaLent photo challenge is here to help. You’re invited to join the Busted Halo InstaLent Photo Challenge throughout the Season of Lent (until Easter). Lent is a time to reflect and draw closer to God, so we hope Read more
A Catholic priest should not have a woman in his bedroom at night, but I have become quite dependent on Alexa. She turns the light on when I come into my room, and she turns it off after I am in bed. When I have to get up in the middle of the night, she Read more
Almost from day one of his papacy, Pope Francis has made a trope out of railing against “clericalism,” once warning that it “nullifies the personality of Christians” and, on another occasion, praying for a Church completely “free” of clericalism. So familiar is his anti-clericalism rhetoric, by now there’s little energy devoted to pondering what exactly Read more
Just how well informed is Pope Francis about the goings-on in his 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church? That question is making the rounds after the pope seemed completely unaware of the details of a Chilean sex abuse scandal, a failing that soured his recent trip there and forced him to do an about-face. It also came Read more
In his book 1984, George Orwell detailed a dystopian world wherein a person or persona called “Big Brother” saw everything that people did and where the central government pushed its agenda through propaganda, spying, monitoring, and thought controls. That book was published in 1949. It is now 2017, and while we do not exactly have Read more
Unfortunately for all (especially the kids), overparenting is far from being over. In November 2009, TIME published an article called “The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting.” In a fascinating examination of all the bizarre lengths to which modern parents will go in order to prepare their precious little ones for the world, writer Nancy Gibbs suggested Read more
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first African-American painter ever to gain international acclaim, treats the classic Annunciation motif in a rather unconventional manner: he reckons the simplicity of the scene, rather than its theatrical recreation. In the intimacy of a chamber, Mary is portrayed as a dark haired Jewish peasant girl, seated at the edge Read more
Christmas. People roll their eyes. The pace in an already over-stimulated society quickens. Everyone is trying to get their jobs, their gigs, their projects, finished by Christmas. Many people bemoan the approach of this festival, complain about its commercialization, wonder why it is still observed in a multicultural, multi-faith country like Australia. But most people Read more
In the ancient world people always told stories about the childhood of famous people. The stories illustrated the direction and qualities of their adult lives, and usually grew with the telling. So it was with Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both begin with different stories of his birth that illustrate its significance. Later story Read more