Their delighted screams echoed through the yard, my six-year-old happily jumping onto the slide to make her way down to the ground, running from her father as he chased her. I couldn’t help but smile as the scene unfolded: a little girl happily playing in the safety of her own backyard, dinner waiting inside, a Read more
When he pulls back from the table, it is wet from his tears. It isn’t like he is sobbing. The tears just fall silently. Salvo, the name of this 30-something man who signed up for confession at the prison where I serve as a chaplain, kept on speaking. I wasn’t sure whether he was talking Read more
Two teenagers aged 14 and 17 are in custody over the death of a Beach Haven man on Friday. They have both appeared in Court charged with murder – one appeared in person and the other via audio-visual link from a youth residence. ”Don’t forget to pray, son!” the mother of the older defendant called Read more
On many occasions unknowingly, and on other occasions quite knowingly, Christian prayer has become a contest. Have I chosen the right place? Am I in the right posture? How often? For how long? Each becomes part of the criteria for prayer efficacy. Luke’s Gospel (18: 9 – 14), often has the heading, The Parable of Read more
My kids didn’t learn about the Uvalde shooting until Sept. 6, the first day Uvalde students went back to school after a gunman entered Robb Elementary and murdered 19 fourth graders and two teachers. Even though I’d spent the summer reporting, driving the 90 miles back and forth for interviews, protests and church services, I Read more
Pope Francis has had a fair amount of success in getting people to look with new eyes at major issues or problems in our world. He has been helped out in this thanks to generally friendly media coverage. Of course, that doesn’t mean people always agree with what he says or that those who do Read more
Putin has changed my prayer! When the Kremlin-initiated military operation began in February, I was looking at several television networks (BBC, Al Jazeera, DW) in horror at what was happening over the following weeks through March and April. I found myself in tears, shocked and aghast at how people could inflict such devastation on their Read more
On Friday, in a move that raised the eyebrows of some, Pope Francis consecrated Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A good Jesuit, Francis is applying the maxim “Pray as if everything depended on God, work as if everything depended on you,” a Vatican official told La Croix’s Loup Besmond de Senneville. Read more
Over the past week, Australians have heard Scott Morrison make several explicit references to his faith. Given Morrison has placed his faith front and centre of his public persona, it is helpful to try to understand how he perceives his faith and how it might intersect with his job as prime minister. For me, Morrison’s Read more
I admit I am one of those people who divide God’s world according to my notions of comfort. My personal preference is transferred so that I see some things as good and some as not good. Monarch butterflies are lovely, white butterflies are ugly. I admire a porpoise but not a shark. In my garden, Read more