I always feel a bit short-changed when a public holiday falls on a Monday as they mostly do. Today in New Zealand is the Queen's birthday holiday - even though the...
Blog
the big picture
So much of our struggle and anxiety each day comes when we lose sight of the big picture. I like the story about the wise old man who was asked by the boy to explain...
seasons & feelings
It was only a few short months ago that I posted some pictures taken at this spot (in the Cheviot Hills Reserve) on the Food For Faith Facebook page. The pictures were...
tempted ?
At the risk of you turning off even before we begin, I want to offer a word of encouragement about temptation. We all experience temptations. Jesus was tempted. I enjoy...
love is…
One of the great privileges in the life of a priest is to celebrate weddings. I am very aware that the last thing that the couple or their family and friends gathered...
mothers & Fatima
A few years ago I rediscovered one of the most beautiful and intimate Catholic prayers: the Memorare. It was one of the prayers my father taught to me as a very small...
from the desk
It's Saturday morning here in Amberley and over coffee looking out from my office to the Autumn garden I am thinking back over a few of the moments of the week. Some...
new ChCh website
It was twenty years ago that the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch launched its first website. At the time I was working for a few hours each week at the diocesan...
Vocations Sunday
When did you last suggest to someone that God might be calling them to serve as a priest? This Sunday (“Good Shepherd Sunday”, Fourth Sunday of Easter) is celebrated...
in whose eye ?
A question: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? In recent days I have watched a couple of videos from Brian Holdsworth who is passionate about getting the message of...
Latest Posts
a lonely place
That’s an interesting choice of words from Jesus, not just a call to be alone, but an invitation to embrace loneliness.
real & essential
H easy it is for humans to forget what is essential and to become preoccupied with what is less necessary and even trivial.
a new month
Knowing that we are held in God’s loving embrace in every moment we have no need to turn to superstition
THE sign
The Sign of the Cross is not simply a tidy way of beginning and ending times of prayer, but a prayer in itself
fully alive
Jesus did not make the disciples into uniformed robots capable of satisfying little more than the letter or religious law