I have said here before that some of my best Sunday homily ideas come to me on Sunday night. Â I suppose the pessimist would say this is a few hours too late. The...
john oconnor
40k
This morning my blog hit 40.000 visitors. Now I know that is not a lot. There are some websites that have this number of hits in  a minute or two!But it's not about the...
newsletter
Sixteenth Sunday of the Year, Newsletter for the Catholic Parishes of the Hurunui District and the Chatham Islands now uploaded at this link.
harbinger of hope
Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvationReadings for Sunday July 15You will be reading this on or after Sunday July 15. I’m writing on Wednesday,...
newsletter
The weekly newsletter for the Catholic parishes of the Hurunui district and the Chatham Islands is available at this link.
soul by soul and silently
I have had a tune floating around in my head for a couple of days, and only today took the time to work out how it got into my head.You will recognise the tune. Take a...
God particles
At the time of Jesus there were many preachers wandering the countryside of Galilee and Judea. It seems they had one primary message; how to free the people from the...
death or life?
I read once that humans have only one fear: the fear of death. Every fear, anxiety, worry etc, is a face of this one fear; the fear of death.In my blog reflection...
Newsletter (13th Sunday O.T.)
The weekly newsletter for the Catholic parishes of the Hurunui District and the Chatham Islands for Sunday 1 July (Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time) is now uploaded...
just have faith
Later this year (October 11) the Church will mark fifty years since the opening session of the Second Vatican Council.Many of us were taught to see this gathering of...
Latest Posts
hope for a church
As I prepare to leave the Hurunui after six years I am aware of the great needs of Christian communities in rural New Zealand. If one of our large Christchurch churches were to close then a few hundred people have a choice of a dozen Masses every Sunday within a ten...
chapel update
A follow-up on the new St. Margaret's College chapel, formerly St. Mark's Anglican Church in Rotherham here in the Hurunui. It's the church that I saw go past last week and reported at this link. Click on the image below to watch a brief CTV video clip showing the...
doorstep surprise
I arrived back home yesterday afternoon after Masses at Cheviot and Culverden to find a box on my doorstep. I could never have guessed what was inside. Someone (I have no idea who) had left me a complete set of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica in 22 volumes! I am very...
Nazareth chapel
Today the new Nazareth House Christchurch chapel was dedicated. The chapel is an attractive heart of the rest-home community. The simple, dignified design includes the altar, stained-glass windows and stations of the cross from the old earthquake-damaged chapel. The...
moving church
A very strange sight here in Amberley on Tuesday evening. I was mowing the lawns in front of the church and a church went past. This does not happen often and I was pretty surprised, but had enough presence of mind to grab my phone from my pocket in time to take a...