The news of the week in our local Church of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch is that every attempt will be made to save the nave of the earthquaked Cathedral of the...
john oconnor
media release
There is a moment in Gerard Smyth's "When a City Falls"Â which for many Christchurch Catholics captures the devastation of the earthquakes. Gerard has led us through...
spirit speaking
A couple of hundred years before the Pentecost event, a decree of King Ptolemy V of Egypt was inscribed on a large granite slab. Because the same inscription was etched...
present reality
Our gathering for the Spiritual Exercises continues today after a full Friday evening and Saturday. Late in April more than 25.000 people met in Rimini (on the Adriatic...
living intensely
It is a great pleasure and a privilege to be with friends in the Philippines once again. This time we are gathered at the Trappistine Monastery near the southern city...
Ascension Thurs?
I often re-read the books that I consider to be spiritual classics. Some of these were written decades or centuries ago. Others, including Pope Benedict’s second “Jesus...
in Christ alone
I was a bit stunned today to see this sign outside one of the local churches. Think of the first disciples of Jesus arriving in Rome after Pentecost. These simple...
lights
At the Hawarden church early morning on the Sixth Sunday of Easter. Street light, tabernacle light, but soon the light of the rising sun will overwhelm all other...
priests@prayer
A few times each year priests of the regions of the Christchurch diocese meet to reflect, discuss and pray together. These regional meetings hear from and report to the...
many storeys
Even fifty years after his untimely death, Thomas Merton remains one of the great Christian writers and teachers. In Christchurch we feel a special connection with him...
Latest Posts
a bit of colour
I usually spend a day with the following day’s scripture so that in the evening I have something to share in these FFF posts.
just pruning
Perhaps the pain you are experiencing today is not a cutting that causes death but a pruning that is preparing you to live more freely and fully ?
no trouble
Jesus wishes to say something precise to us. He knows that in life the worst anxiety, agitation, is born from a feeling of not making it, of feeling alone
in human form
All people know loneliness. All people know isolation, despair, All people are afflicted in their hearts or bodies by sores and wounds
touchstone
For many years I have found it helpful to carry a “touchstone” with me, a constant and tangible reminder of the most important thing.