Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche communities, has won the 2015 Templeton Prize, which is worth US$1.7million. L’Arche is a global network of communities where those with and without developmental disabilities live side by side. The network was begun in northern France in 1964 when Mr Vanier invited two intellectually disabled men to live Read more
At Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Monday, Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel reading, in which the chief priests asked Jesus by what authority He did His works. This was a demand that demonstrates the “hypocritical heart” of those people, Pope Francis said. They were people who were not interested in the truth, Read more
Next year Brother Alois, the prior and successor of Brother Roger the founder of Taizé, will be visiting New Zealand from the 9 t0 11 February. He will be accompanied by Brothers Matthew and Ghishlan. While they are in New Zealand they will be taking part in events in Otaki, Wellington and Christchurch. The Taizé Read more
Getting dementia tops the list of fears for older people including baby boomers, says a celebrated world authority on ageing and spirituality, Dr Elizabeth MacKinlay. Yet people with dementia can still find meaning in life, she says. MacKinlay is professor of theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and an Anglican priest. She has been presenting Read more
God cannot be found in noise and agitation. His true power and love are revealed in what is hardly perceptible, in the gentle breeze that requires stillness and quiet to detect. In silence, God listens to us. In silence, listen to Him. In silence, God speaks to our souls and the power of His word Read more
Job did. Jesus did, too. Sooner or later, we all do.Life pushes us to the brink and we’re left hanging over the cliff with one hand grasping a clump of grass and looking down at the abyss. Despair clutches our throat and what’s left of our heart cries out to a silent God. Our only Read more
The recent events in Ukraine are not what many news sources, even respected ones, imagine them to be. First, Ukraine was not a battleground where Russia and the West were hammering it out. Indeed, 99% of what was taking place on ‘the maidan’, the central square in Kyiv, was based on issues internal to Ukraine. Read more
Sometimes truth is so hard to stomach that even though it stares you in the face and shouts itself hoarse trying to be heard we remain oblivious to its presence. This may be because the emerging truth demands much of us. The truth I have to face is that the Christian religion I represent has Read more
She sat beside the bed, tears brimming. ‘Mum’s dying.’ ‘Yes.’ We sat in silence for a bit. ‘I’ve lost my faith.’ ‘Uh huh.’ ‘When my friend died.’ ‘Mm.’ We held hands and Mum’s too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything. As we Read more
The trouble with the godstuff is that you can spend an awful lot of time wrestling with things that make no apparent sense. Like this prayer exploration I’ve been tangling with after my friend Marcia asked me to pray for her before merrily tripping off on pilgrimage. Prayer has always been a mystery to me, which you Read more