On an ordinary September morning in Salzburg, Austria, the improbable happened. Three elderly women, once cloistered nuns, packed their bags, left a retirement home, and marched back to the convent they had called home for most of their lives. They didn’t come alone. Cameras, journalists, and – in a detail that makes the whole episode…
I was organising some personal notes the other day, to updated my schedule for the next few weeks, and I saw this little note on my calendar: ‘St Michael’s novena – September 20 to September 29’. That – combined with a conversation we had in the office about miracles and St Michael’s Feast Day taking…
Readings: Amos 8:4-7 1 Timothy 2:1-8 Luke 16:1-13 On the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, in the prophet Amos, we read about dishonesty, and from St Paul, about prayers for rulers. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the dishonest steward. Surprisingly, He praises him. What is the common denominator of all these…
Dear Editor, I am responding to Mr Duffin’s letter from the August 14 edition, where he made the suggestion that perhaps the readings at Mass were too long, confusing and quite incomprehensible, and that shorter readings would be better for the lessening attention span of Mass goers. I think this thought is exactly one…
Eight centuries ago, St Francis of Assisi composed a poem that remains familiar today, inspiring hymns, art, and the titles of two of the late Pope Francis’ teaching documents on integral ecology. The Canticle of the Creatures includes tributes to ‘Brother Sun,’ ‘Sister Moon and Stars,’ ‘Brother Wind’ and ‘Sister Water,’ all of whom give…
My father died when I was twenty-three, a seminarian, green, still learning about life. It’s hard to lose your father at any age, and my grief was compounded by the fact that I had just begun to appreciate what he had given me. Only later did I realise that I no longer needed him, though…
“The support of my parish and family carried me all the way to ordination,” hears Pedro Esteva It takes a village to raise a priest,” said Rev. Tiernan Burke, reflecting on the long journey which recently brought him to the transitional diaconate – just one year away from full priesthood. Now 40, Rev. Burke described…
Q: Does a person’s mortal sin prior to becoming Catholic follow him or her until confession and absolution? In particular, if a non-Catholic friend paid for someone’s abortion during the 1970s under the false belief that the foetus was just ‘tissue’ and not a baby yet, should the friend now acknowledge that his or her…
The Feast of St Therese of Lisieux has a special significance in this Centenary year of her canonisation, which took place on May 17, 1925. At the time of her canonisation Therese would have been only fifty-one years old. She was so popular it seemed the people had pre-empted the Church in recognising her as…
I’ve been catching up on a few TV dramas of interest, an entertaining break from the grim real-life dramas dominating news and current affairs. Many of them of course take their inspiration or background from such real-life events, and I hope they don’t in turn trigger such events. None of them are family entertainment –…
Renata Steffens
Fr Dominik Domagala
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Brendan O’Regan