It is a remarkable thing that arguably the most overtly spiritual director of the 1970s and ‘80s was a product of the decidedly atheist USSR. Andrei Tarkovsky imbued each film with a yearning for spiritual truths, even while cultural authorities policed films for such ‘subversive themes’. Two of Tarkovsky’s films make the Vatican’s 1995 list…

The myth that only religious can be saints is one that’s well and truly on its way to being busted, with the Church making a renewed effort to highlight the many, many people who’ve walked the path of holiness in many different forms of life. July 8, a missionary, married couple from the early Church…

Susan Hines-Brigger Ten years ago, I travelled to Assisi, Italy, on pilgrimage, to follow in the footsteps of St Francis. For days, we immersed ourselves in the words and actions of St Francis throughout his life. Of all the moments that resonated with me, though, there was one story that seemed especially challenging – both…

Emily Stimpson Chapman In Rome, the churches are legion. Little parishes and great basilicas alike meet travellers on every block of the ancient city, their facades mingling with shops and restaurants, apartments and ancient ruins. Although unique visions of beauty and faith greet all those who cross the thresholds of these churches, on the outside precious few…

The real world that we experience firsthand and every day is a real setting in which faith really is meant to take form and grow. But does our firsthand acquaintance with our real world leave us wondering how it possibly could serve as an authentic faith environment? Think about it. Does your real world bear a full share of…

Saint of the week Arguably the most famous of the Church’s saints on June 29 we celebrate the feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Their influence permeates the entire Church and the world – Peter being the ‘rock’ upon which Christ chose to build his Church, Paul’s letters of guidance and encouragement being read out…

Effie Caldarola St Charles de Foucauld became one of Catholicism’s newest saints on May 15, 2022. This Frenchman was murdered in Tamanrasset, Algeria, in 1916 where he lived in a hermitage among the remote Tuareg people. At this point, eyes may glaze over. A saint who was a hermit? In the Saharan desert? What possible…

Fr Solanus Casey, a Capuchin Franciscan, moved closer to recognised sainthood with his beatification November 18, 2017, in Detroit, Michigan. Declared venerable in 1995, Fr Solanus (1870-1957) and his cause for canonisation remain important to many US Catholics. A soft-spoken Capuchin priest and son of Irish immigrants, he is one of the currently few native-born…

This mysterious, yet illuminating, figure of the early Church is heralded for two reasons: his writings in defence of what would come to be established Church teachings and his martyrdom. Strangely, we know much more about his writings than we do about his martyrdom – about which we know next to nothing, other than that…

Christian vision of the good life includes the reality of suffering, making it central to our flourishing; if we want to live a good life, we must follow Christ’s example and take up our cross. Perhaps surprisingly, a film from a culture (Japan) largely unfamiliar with Christianity offers a beautiful example of this truth of…