For more than 50 years of her life, “Mother Teresa was wrapped in a dark, pitiless silence”, according the soon-to-be-saint’s biographer, David Scott. After hearing the “call within a call”, Teresa only heard the voice of God once more before her death. She experienced what St John of the Cross described as the “dark night Read more
Foot-washing has attracted more attention among Catholics recently than at any time in the past 1,500 years. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has emphasised the practice both in his actions and, lately, in his writing. He attracted global media attention when, on his first Holy Thursday as pope, he washed the feet of Read more
Over the past year we have all heard enough about Bruce Jenner than we really would have liked. To be honest I didn’t think anyone in that family could get more publicity than the Kardashians already did and I had had my fill of them (please note the name Kardashian is in autocorrect in Word, Read more
Mercy is a God-word, liquid in that it seems to take the shape of any container open to it. Poured without a container it can soak in a random way, refreshing dryness and encouraging new growth, regardless of the boundaries of belief systems. As Scripture says, it falls like the rain on all. Little wonder Read more
Sunday March 13 at Sacred Heart Cathedral Wellington, there was a full choral mass. The music, like incense, filled the sunlit space above the packed pews, and the gospel reading, as always for this Sunday in Lent, was the story of Lazarus raised from the dead. Inspiring? Yes. Absolutely beautiful. But there was something extra Read more
On Monday night I was in the diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota, to give the annual Bishop Raymond Lucker lecture. Lucker served as the bishop there for a quarter-century, from 1976 to 2000, and is remembered in New Ulm primarily as a caring pastor who loved his people and his place. Nationally, however, Lucker is Read more
Vatican spokesman, Frederico Lombardi commented that last week’s focus on the film ‘Spotlight’ and Cardinal Pell’s testimony before the Royal Commission “would help in the long march in the battle against abuse of minors in the universal Catholic Church and in today’s world”. St Peter Damian understood this battle and is a strategist and tactician Read more
Despite the unpersuasive Vatican spin on Cardinal Pell’s appearance last week before the Royal Commission into child sex abuse in institutions – that his performance was “dignified” and “edifying”, his performance, in the assessment of most observers including this one, was inept, cowardly and unconvincing. Cardinal Pell is only one Australian Catholic and he has Read more
This is my confession: I have a mental illness When I was 17, I was diagnosed with Chronic Depression (yeah, we’re diving straight in) but I believe that if I’d had the guts to see my doctor earlier, it would’ve been diagnosed when I was 13, or maybe even earlier. I suffered from Insomnia throughout Read more
At the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, a close family friend passed away. The day of the wake, I went to school and informed my friend that I was feeling extremely anxious about having to go to one for the first time. That friend handed me two pills, telling me that they Read more