In a rural parish, funerals are a significant gathering of friends and neighbours with family. This week in the Hurunui I have assisted with two funerals; Katie after a...
Blog
choosing a g(G)od
In 1974 Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh (accompanied by his wife Queen Elizabeth) visited Vanuatu a small archipelago in the Pacific Islands. Newspaper headlines...
SMSM’s@Chatham
By the late 1940's the NZ government was finding it impossible to provide adequate medical care for the people of the Chatham Islands. The government made a request of...
a life of value
When did you last encourage someone to consider that God might be calling them to serve as a priest? This Sunday (“Good Shepherd Sunday”, Fourth Sunday of Easter) is...
Anzac Day
The entire morning of Anzac Day on the Chatham Islands is taken with dignified commemorations. The service at dawn is followed by breakfast. Then the parade from the...
Anzac dawn
Before dawn this morning here on the Chatham Islands, the Islanders gathered to remember that one morning before dawn 100 years ago this morning, New Zealand and...
flat tyres
If you are ever going to get a flat tyre, the Chatham Islands is without doubt the best place. Perhaps it was the fact that the locals saw their priest kneeling beside...
colour of lemons
I have been feeling a bit (as they say) "off colour" for the past week or two. The relaxation of the retreat days during the Easter Octave probably enabled all the bugs...
jubilee of mercy
a Year of Jubilee Whether the papacy of Pope Francis be long or (as he predicts) short, after just two years it is already possible to name the great themes of his...
come live fully
Happy Easter to all of you who follow Food For Faith here on the website and on Facebook. Ria Bancroft's Cathedral of the Sacrament Tabernacle Doors are in safe keeping...
Latest Posts
no trouble
Jesus wishes to say something precise to us. He knows that in life the worst anxiety, agitation, is born from a feeling of not making it, of feeling alone
in human form
All people know loneliness. All people know isolation, despair, All people are afflicted in their hearts or bodies by sores and wounds
touchstone
For many years I have found it helpful to carry a “touchstone” with me, a constant and tangible reminder of the most important thing.
pray big
The emails that have accompanied most of the prayer requests I have received this week have been moving and inspiring.
many rooms
It’s all very well for Jesus to tell us not to be troubled, but when we are feeling troubled it’s not easy to shift the feeling.