St Anthony of Padua On 13 June, the Church calls to mind one of its Doctors – St Anthony of Padua. This remarkable man, but a very ordinary one, too, in so many ways, is one of the most quickly canonised saints in the Church’s long history, with Pope Gregory IX canonising him less than…
The Sunday Gospel 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Ex 19:2-6a Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5 Rom 5:6-11 Mt 9:36-10:8 The Roman catacombs are unique, unlike any other place, where the faith, courage and love of the early Christians is evoked powerfully. In these ancient networks of tunnels and chambers deep beneath the eternal city of Rome one encounters…
It’s widely held today that faith, or spirituality as it’s more commonly put these days, is a private matter. Rightly perceived as an important element of the inner lives of individuals, our culture’s view of the topic is this: faith or spirituality is an expression of the individual’s relationship with God, the universe or some…
Here before us are the relics of St Therese of the Child Jesus, universal patroness of missions. It is good that this happen while we are reflecting on the passion for evangelisation, on apostolic zeal. Today, then, let us allow the witness of St Therese to help us. She was born 150 years ago, and…
We all need to learn how to forgive and how to be reconciled in this imperfect world, writes Dr Joseph White Forgiveness is a thread that runs throughout the story of our faith. In the Garden of Eden, we see the frailty of human relationships, both with God and one another. Throughout our history, we…
Faith in film What’s a western doing on a Vatican film list? A genre that typically praises the triumph of individualism and a non-conformist Protestant culture might seem ‘anathema’. But Stetsons, stoic heroes, fantastic landscapes and engaging action have some Vatican sanction with its inclusion of the iconic western Stagecoach (1939) on a 1995 list…
Although not too many people might recognise this, the #MeToo movement is, in essence, a strong advocate for chastity. If chastity can be defined as standing before another with reverence, respect, and patience, then most everything about the #MeToo movement speaks explicitly of the non-negotiable importance of chastity and implicitly for what our sexuality is…
Saint of the week One of the host of remarkable men the early Church offers up is St Ephrem the Syrian, who is now known far and wide for his remarkable hymns and poems that offer us a profound glimpse into the Divine. Probably born in the year 306 in the city of Nisibis (modern-day…
Deacon Greg Kandra June 11 – Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 1 Cor 10:16-17 Jn 6:51-58 Years ago, I heard the story of a priest who was getting ready for Sunday Mass. While puttering around in the sacristy, he reached into a storage cabinet, took a plastic…
Too many of us have too limited a conception of conversion. We often think of it as something for other people, maybe especially for people who adhere to other faiths than Catholicism. This is certainly an element of conversion, and possibly the form we’ve read the most about. After all, history is full of peoples…
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser