Deacon Greg Kandra August 20, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 56:1, 6-7 Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 Rom 11:13-15, 29-32 Mt 15:21-28 At first blush, you can’t help but wonder: what kind of Jesus is this? The Jesus in this Gospel isn’t the comforting figure preaching love and mercy, with a light yoke and an easy…
August 15 is the great Marian feast that honours the whole human person, writes Dr Sarah Jane Boss For many centuries, the Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in the Church without any formal definition of the doctrine. In most places, it was the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary and it is…
David Mills Some years ago, a priest sent me occasional criticism of something I’d written. He tended to pick at small points. We’d had dinner a couple of times and were friendly, and I eventually responded that I’d find it easier to hear his criticism if he’d ever offered any comment but criticism. I…
Elizabeth Scalia In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a point where Atticus Finch, seeking to teach his son about making reparation for damaging another’s property (and about something else, too) orders his young son Jem to visit the bedside of sickly old Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose and read aloud to…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: How do we reconcile the story of Adam and Eve and original sin with evolution? A: We can say the creation story in the Book of Genesis – while being true – was not meant as a literal or technical scientific account of how the material world was formed. Although…
A number of years ago, I attended the funeral of a man who died at the age of ninety. From every indication, he had been a good man, solidly religious, the father of a large family, a man respected in the community, and a man with a generous heart. However, he had also been a…
Jem Sullivan August 13 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a Ps 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 Rom 9:1-5 Mt 14:22-33 Utter disbelief was the sentiment deeply felt in the hearts and minds of many as the rapid spread of Covid-19 brought normal life to a shuddering halt in March 2020. We might remember…
Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ In the 1970s, as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I came to know and appreciate the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. He was born in Moravia, like I was, and with a similar Jewish background. Through Husserl, I encountered Edith Stein (1891-1942). As his student, she wrote her thesis…
Thomas McDonald I have a hole in my head – an extra one, that is. It’s in the temporal bone, where a useful skull covers the superior semicircular canals, maintaining an even pressure around the delicate parts of the inner ear involved in hearing and balance. My skull is not up to this relatively simple…
Lisa Hendey In a world where the 24/7 news cycle offers a ceaseless tide of disasters, a natural Christian inclination has become a polarising catchphrase. Whether the news is yet another senseless mass shooting, a disastrous act of nature, or the illness of a loved one, there’s a one-size-fits-all, yet real, response: prayer. Unfortunately, our…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser