If there’s one patient I’ll always remember with special fondness, it’s Ron. Ron was in his late 80s, a bushman who valued his independence. He wouldn’t let Hospice visit him at home because he didn’t want the neighbours to know he was sick. But he did agree to me visiting him at the pub, so Read more
Pentecost occurred in a locked upstairs room in downtown Jerusalem. Afraid, Mary and the apostles were hiding, but in complete contrast, the Holy Spirit directs the ‘door be opened’ and redirect the initial Church’s focus outward. New energy dawned with the birth of the Church and the Holy Spirit charged the Apostles and Mary to Read more
Peace is more than just the avoidance of conflict or the absence of a feud, or on a more grand scale, war. Peace is the work for justice and the output of charity. The Church preaches peace because peace is a sign and fruit of the promise of Christ, the Redeemer. Peace is more than Read more
It is no secret that Pope Francis is getting pushback from certain corners of the church these days. The church in the United States has been infected by the same harshness and polarization that inflame our politics. Our faith is challenged by ongoing polemics between Catholics labeled progressive and conservative. The due reverence afforded the papacy Read more
Whatever side of the he-said-she-said divide you’re on, or whichever side ultimately prevailed, the last few weeks of US political theater prove one thing: what we believe most often depends on who we believe. Once we’ve decided to trust someone, we are likely to believe that whatever they tell us is true. Even if it Read more
Irish Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said the Church should be “restructured and destructured” in order to bear more effective witness to the Gospel. “Newness and life will not come out of a Church which still wants to look on itself as an institution of power, even a renewed institution, or from a Church which is Read more
The Holy Father told participants of the World Seminar for Civil Aviation Chaplains focussing on new forms of evangelisation, to embody the world’s airports in the Church’s mission, to make airports as places where people encounter God. Airports “are places that increasingly reflect the globalised reality of our time. Here one finds people of a Read more
Monday evening in the Vatican Basilica, Pope Benedict presided at Vespers for the opening of the academic year in pontifical universities. His homily focused on priestly ministry. The Pope then went on to identify three preconditions for a priest’s life to ensure its conformity to Christ: “the aspiration to collaborate with Jesus in spreading the Read more