Chatham Islands
Pitt Island

Pitt Island

It is now Monday morning and Bishop Barry Jones and myself have spent the weekend on Pitt Island. There is no Church further from Jerusalem and Rome than Our Lady of...

the bishop visits

the bishop visits

It was a pleasure for me to today accompany Bishop Barry Jones to God's furthest outpost, or, using the language of Pope Francis, to the peripheries, since no place on...

bishop to Chathams

bishop to Chathams

It is a privilege to serve as the Parish Priest of the Chatham Islands (Rekohu). Tomorrow morning Bishop Barry Jones and I will be on the plane heading for the Islands....

sinking feeling

sinking feeling

I’m not sure if you have ever been seasick? I will never forget the time I was so seasick that I would have welcomed death. The journey was in a fishing boat late one...

dawn from on high

dawn from on high

It is a glorious morning here in Cheviot. I prayed sitting in the garden, the only sounds coming from neighbour's children no doubt enjoying Christmas presents. The...

This Town – Chathams

This Town – Chathams

In 1997 New Zealand historian Michael King published a well-received history of New Zealand Catholicism. He titled his work "God's Farthest Outpost." If New Zealand is...

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Latest Posts

getting yoked

getting yoked

Christian living is the best way to the loads of life

growing up

growing up

Thomas was not doubting but seeking; expressing his yearning for adult faith

another way

another way

the mortality in our sin is not any action itself, but what we do next

death as birth

death as birth

There was a well-intentioned move a few years ago to replace crucifixes

Kinder & Dante

Kinder & Dante

John talking about Dante: it’s like hearing friends in conversation