Five years on from the devastating Canterbury earthquakes, a number of parishes around the diocese are looking to build new churches to replace destroyed and damaged...
Blog
back to the books
Here in New Zealand thousands of school students are in the last week of their summer vacation. In a few weeks University students will return to their studies. No...
snow Mass
One of the many inspiring stories to come out of last week's snow storms on the US East coast is from a group of young people with priest chaplain returning home to...
God’s “I.D.”
"Mercy is God's identity card." A few hours ago in Rome Pope Francis new book was launched. It is entitled: "The Name of God is Mercy." Thanks be to God, and to the...
in God’s love
Today in a funeral homily I mentioned the death of David Bowie. Death always wakes us up to a greater reality. Earlier today Cardinal Gianfranco Ravisi, the Vatican's...
restoring beauty
New Zealand has many very beautiful churches, however most of those which remain are very small and found in rural communities rather than in cities. I think of the six...
it’s raining
It is early Sunday morning here at Hawarden in the heart of the drought-stricken Hurunui district. Apart from a few hours of periodic drizzle throughout 2014 there has...
the light gets in
These have been days of feasting with the feasts of Christmas, the Holy Family, Mary the Mother of God, and this weekend with the feast of the Epiphany. In secular...
bye, bye, lully, lullay
Surrounded by presents and tinsel, peaceful nativity scenes and Christmas goodwill, it is easy to forget the full reality of the Christmas event. December 28, the feast...
a place for us
Here is this year's Christmas Poster from our CL friends. It's not quite the "traditional" art of past years, but it has got me thinking. Whatever you think of the art...
Latest Posts
to speak or not ?
Christianity is not a programmed code of moral and legal behaviour with black and white answers for every situation.
survive or thrive
Some of my plants have had a bit of a rough few months. However the tomato is doing well and the lettuces will become salads in the next few days.
the little gifts
one parishioner couldn’t make out why the promised eternal banquet would include “fine Australian wines.”
simple & sense-able
The wise and learned character in this ancient tale is not any of the sycophantic subjects of the ruler, but the child
THE conversation
Andrew and John were seekers, full of the restlessness of early adulthood, and confident that there must be more to life than fishing.