It is six months today since the Holy Spirit, working through the College of Cardinals, elected Pope Francis to be the Bishop of Rome.No doubt, in these 'anniversary'...
john oconnor
pope’s letter to the paper
La Repubblica is one of the best known and most widely read Italian daily newspapers. The paper regularly contains "reflections" on the life of the Church, and...
"war never again, never again war!"
A few hours ago (Saturday evening Rome time) almost 100.000 people gathered with Pope Francis in St. Peter's square to pray for peace, especially with the prospect of...
the successful disciple
three years onDuring this past week we marked the third anniversary of the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Since that date we have experienced well over 13.000 quakes. It...
newsletter
The weekly newsletter for the Catholic parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District, is now uploaded to the parish website www.catholichurunui.co.nz.
meet the Christchurch seminarians
Let's offer a prayer today, and every day, for the seminarians of the Christchurch diocese.You can meet them at this...
three years later
On this day, three years ago, Cantabrians were shaken awake at 4.35am by a 7.1 earthquake. We have had well over 13.000 quakes since then, including the deadly February...
killing, with the tongue…
Pope Francis certainly doesn't mince his words when preaching the gospel. Yesterday, after his vacation, he returned to his early morning celebration of the Mass at...
working for survival, or for fun
"swimming is a strange sport because sometimes you do it for fun, and sometimes you do it to not die.Work is somewhat similar"At the beginning of a new work week, and a...
a heart full of desire
A couple of weeks ago I referred to one of Pope Francis' Angelus addresses. It is the summer vacation in Rome and everything there operates a bit more slowly so this...
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art & beauty & life
One news report says that she lives in “isolation” but she would never say that of herself. As these brief clips below show the heart of her life was relationship with God and therefore she was never alone
love in action
“if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognising God’s closeness…
on the road
The one who journeys with purpose is able to negotiate any obstacle. But the wanderer is forever rudderless, tossed by every whim of fashion in the sea of popular opinion.
Angelus
The Opening Prayer (or “Collect” of today’s Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the concluding prayer of the “Angelus”
the visit
I've noticed that North Americans use the term "visit" in a very broad sense. Whereas in NZ we might plan to visit someone (in person), Americans will also speak of "visiting" with a friend on the phone or by Skype. It took me a while to work out what was unique about...