I have spent the weekend in the Philippines (Manila and Cebu) and today head home to NZ. The brief visit was an opportunity to meet with friends in both cities and to...
Philippines
Filipino evangelists
In the parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui, a significant number of our parishioners have arrived here in recent years from the Philippines. Their presence is a great...
present reality
Our gathering for the Spiritual Exercises continues today after a full Friday evening and Saturday. Late in April more than 25.000 people met in Rimini (on the Adriatic...
NZ speaks in Rome
I picked up a copy of the Vatican Newspaper yesterday and was not surprised to see an interview with Cardinal John Dew. Pope Francis is attracted to peripheries and New...
a Saturday…
The Catholic communities of the Hurunui district are small and spread around a large rural hinterland. Since my arrival in the parish just over three years ago the...
Filipino farewell
Yesterday the Philippines farewelled Pope Francis after three remarkable days of friendship. It is worth searching the visit online for some of the video clips and...
loss & hope
When I passed St. Joseph's Papanui yesterday morning there was very little remaining of the church building, just the doors through which so many have passed seeking...
Filipino faith
Pope Francis is in the Philippines today and over the past couple of hours he has been celebrating the first Mass of his three-day visit in the Cathedral Basilica of...
pressing on
Late last week I arrived in the Philippines for a series of retreats / spiritual exercises with communities in General Santos, Manila and Cebu. Yesterday I completed...
Philippines – light a candle
In the last few minutes news reports have estimated that the death toll in yesterday's Philippines Typhoon is in the vicinity of 10.000 people. A number of readers of...
Latest Posts
sorrowful
Sometimes in the middle of the night, even without waking, I feel the cross with the figure, the dead Christ, and remember
cafe protagonist
Last year I suggested that people might like to take the initiative to organise gatherings at cafes and bar
Last Supper
“If the Eucharist is just a symbol, then to hell with it.”
Transfiguration
This Mystery of the Rosary opens the door between earthly routines and ordinariness and divine eternity and life.
walking together
Recent popes don’t speak much about the “kingdom” of God. Instead their language is new, fresh and relevant.