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
Hallow, a Catholic prayer and meditation app that claims over a million downloads, has raised over US$52 million in investments. Prayer apps are not new. Silicon Valley startups popularized mindfulness and meditation apps as early as 2010, although many have criticized those apps for being spiritually shallow. Hallow’s young founders – devout lay Catholic millennials Read more
We don’t ask enough questions. Sometimes that is because we feel we should know the answers and don’t wish to appear stupid. In fact, many others also wish to ask the same question but, for similar reasons we all keep our lips tightly closed. That is a pity, for being inquisitive is the start of Read more
One hundred million people worldwide now have Calm on their smartphones, a meditation app that monetized doing absolutely nothing. The app’s popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic, as anxieties ran high and finding peace and quiet proved harder to do. Calm provides mindfulness meditations, breathing exercises and bedtime stories to encourage users to take some time Read more
Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against the privacy and security concerns Read more
Today’s focus is the lived experience of prayer, trying to show some very common difficulties in prayer, which must be identified and overcome. Praying is not easy: many difficulties present themselves in prayer. It is necessary to know them, recognise them and overcome them. Distraction The first problem that emerges to those who pray is distraction (see CCC, Read more
Holding a general audience with visitors and pilgrims present for the first time in more than six months, Pope Francis talked of the power of prayer. Prayer, he told the crowd, is not always “a walk in the park.” While it may be easy to “parrot” prayer, “blah, blah, blah,” he said, real prayer requires Read more
Controversy continued Wednesday, at the Health Committee’s hearing into The Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill. Prayer, intimidation and breaching the Bill of Rights were all topics considered by the Committee. Addressing the issue of intimidation, Pro-life organisation, Right to Life provided evidence to the Committee that there had been no complaints of Read more
Why pray? Let me suggest the first reason: God wants to be in a relationship with you. How can you know this? Because you want to pray. And how do I know that? Because you’re reading this. That may sound sarcastic, but it’s not. There’s a serious point here: your desire for prayer reveals something Read more