Sometimes people ask me what a day in the life of a North Canterbury Parish Priest is like. Well, every day is different, and today has been especially satisfying. It...
john oconnor
newsletter Advent III
At this link you will find the weekly (Third Sunday of Advent) newsletter for the Catholic parishes of the Good Shepherd (Hurunui District), and St. Therese of Lisieux,...
Gaudete!
The pope tweeted me this week. It was a brief message expressing his pleasure on opening a Twitter account, and offering his blessing. This first papal tweet went...
newsletter 9 December
Weekly newsletter for the Catholic Parishes of the Hurunui District and the Chatham Islands.http://www.catholichurunui.co.nz/newsletter_9_December_2012.html
from darkness to light
+ a reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent+Â Readings at this link+ other Advent II links belowCan you live without the sacraments?It seems obvious to answer this...
obligation (& big words)
The Year of Faith challenges us to rethink our motives and methods for evangelization. Â To have 'filling our churches' as our motive for ministry, is a tragic reduction...
Marriage – not a human creation
This morning's mailing from Bishop Barry Jones to the priests of the Christchurch contains the New Zealand bishops' Submission to the Government Administration Select...
for God’s eyes only
A few months ago I was speaking to one of the workers involved with demolishing some of the old stone buildings in Colombo Street. Â They were surprised that many of the...
Advent wreath & Advent "app"
"Rome Reports" on how to make an Advent wreath at this link. http://www.romereports.com/palio/what-is-an-advent-wreath-english-8401.html#.ULj36dNesmYand how to download...
run forth to meet Christ
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they...
Latest Posts
God versus Satan
Every now and then I hear from older Catholics stories of their childhood experience of preaching, teaching and parish missions that were more motivated by fear than by love. If you want to get people to avoid certain actions and to embrace other behaviours, fear is a...
prayer
Prayer is much easier than most of us think since prayer is our default setting, the most natural way of being in 24/7 relationship with Jesus Christ. I hope you find this brief video clip a helpful encouragement for your prayer.
desiring desire
The Our Father is the best known Christian prayer and is the prayer that all Christians can pray together. Contained in the prayer is the heart of today's gospel: forgive us as we forgive others. "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As...
hometown stories
Two thousand years ago Nazareth, the home-town of Jesus, was very small with a population of only about 400 people. This means that everyone would have known everyone else. Yesterday was my last Sunday in the Hurunui and the morning Mass at Amberley was my final...
words
We don't often consider the psalm of each day's Mass when reflecting on the scriptures of the liturgy, but the psalm can provides a helpful key to understanding the rest of the readings of the day. In the psalm response today we pray together from Psalm 18: "Lord you...