In this season, we spend a lot of time congratulating others on their graduations, or their upcoming jobs or their new marriages. That’s all lovely, but there are times when, while genuinely glad for others, we feel a bit mired in our daily muck, wondering if there is anything new and exciting in store for…
This is a subject that I have bounced around my brain for a long time and I mean, a really long time. Throughout your life it takes on many different meanings. When you’re a child, being a man is mostly defined by your father, someone who for most of us, the ones that are privileged…
What’s the difference between a homily and a eulogy? The difference usually seems very clear-cut — until you go to a priest’s funeral (or a bishop’s). For a clergy funeral, the homilist eulogises and homilises, all at the same time. As a fictional homilist-eulogist might put it, “Fr X was a mighty priest, who was nice…
Heidi and Cory Busse The images of love and marriage that surround us in popular culture reinforce the idea that real love is easy, and experiencing hardship means you’ve married the wrong person. The reality is, we are all human beings struggling to find our way through relationships. Successful spouses know that putting time…
I think it was Vincent Browne who wrote about the importance of writing. Grand plans emerge when people hear about new ideas, but these ideas have to be crystalised into print first: hence the importance of giving time and attention to writing. Writing precedes the making of plans: good writing helps get ideas off the…
Scott P. Richert My family never watched It’s a Wonderful Life when I was growing up. I saw it for the first time when I was around 30 years old, at a special Christmas. I found myself in tears at the end, and not because I had been emotionally manipulated. The film is a near-perfect…
Sr Josephine Garrett CSFN New Year’s celebrations can be a mixed experience. On one hand, the holidays have brought us opportunities to be renewed in our relationships with family and friends. On the other hand, secular media can present this sort of ‘new year, new you’ approach that may not really jive with our actual experiences. Catholics must stand…
‘Exceptional’ ancient bronze statues emerge in Italy Archaeologists in Italy have found more than two dozen beautifully preserved bronze statues dating back to ancient Roman times in thermal baths in Tuscany, in what experts are hailing as an “exceptional” discovery. The statues were found over the last two weeks in San Casciano dei Bagni, a…
A Parent’s Perspective November can be a dark, bleak month, situated between the mellowness of October and the excitement of the lead up to Christmas. With all its dreary days and inclement weather, it is a month I quite enjoy as the wind and rain provide the perfect excuse for snuggling up on the couch…
Children’s Corner Quicksand is created when water is trapped in sand or marshy earth, thus creating a soil that is halfway between a solid and a liquid.Although the name quicksand would indicate it is in fact created with sand, it can be any mass of clay or dirt particles that contain trapped water. It is…
Maria Byrne
Chai Brady