Two years ago I arrived at Mundelein University in Chicago for a six week study stint as part of a sabbatical. Â I am now back for further study in the Master's Degree...
john oconnor
study
I was not a good student at high school. On a good day my exam results reached average. Â Many of my teachers taught me what I had to learn, but no one thought of...
Corpus Christi newsletter
Weekly newsletter for the Catholic Parishes of the Hurunui District and the Chatham Islands. Â Feast of Corpus...
Corpus Christi
Orvieto is a beautiful settlement where all roads lead to the magnificent medieval Cathedral. The ‘treasure’ of this church is the corporal onto which the host was said...
Queen Elizabeth 60 years
I met the Queen in 1977 in her silver jubilee tour of NZ. A group of four of us scouts had been chosen to stand at a camp fire cooking sausages on Caroline Bay Timaru....
Revised order of the Mass
Over the past couple of years, the revised texts of the prayers of the Mass has taken our time and effort. In communities where the effort has been made, the fruits are...
community: the fruit of communion
If someone were to ask you to say something about the Trinity in a sentence or two, what would you say? I have spent many hours sitting in classes studying the Trinity,...
to be human
A front-page Press story today told of two Christchurch people who found almost $60.000 in coins on a Christchurch street.What would you do?The writer almost seemed a...
Dona Nobis Pacem
Earlier this month, on the Holy Land pilgrimage, 20 pilgrims from Christchurch, New Zealand prayed our way around the Holy Land. Â Â We travelled not as tourists, but as...
Pentecost, Orvieto, light, alabaster
A couple of years ago I spent a few days in the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto. Â The town's cathedral is a remarkable building. Â There are so many 'bloggable' reflections...
Latest Posts
what to do?
A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to take part in the annual Hearts Aflame gathering of 100 young NZ Catholics aged between 18 & 35. I was asked to share a few thoughts on discernment and I am happy to share the video with you at the link below. While it is a...
deep sadness
Last evening we received the tragic news of the death of one of our youngest priests in a road accident. Graeme Blackburn was ordained on 1 July last year. Our prayers are with and for Erin his mother, his family, his many friends, and for us his diocesan family of...
the pointer
My paternal grandfather knew his way around the night sky. In New Zealand, the Southern Cross is the most recognisable constellation. Â I remember grandad showing me this cross, and the "Pointers", the two stars that seem to point to the Southern Cross. Many artistic...
180 years ago
180 years ago, 13 January 1838, the first Catholic Mass was celebrated on Aotearoa New Zealand soil. Bishop Pompallier had arrived in the country a couple of days earlier. Here is the account of the event in from his diary: "On Wednesday, the 10th of January, 1838, we...
Encounter
One of these years I will make it to the New York Encounter. The 2018 event will be held over the next two days and "strives to witness to the new life and knowledge generated by the faith," following Pope Benedict's claim that "the intelligence of faith has to become...