In our roles with the National Liturgy Office Catherine Gibbs and I are co-ordinating a Good Friday online liturgy with people throughout New Zealand leading us in prayer.
priesthood
a kneeling church
And so the church that once stood strong and militant marching in step has been brought to its knees. And in this humility we find ourselves where Christ needs us not standing proud, but humbly kneeling.
in great company
It was a delight to spend time last night with five of our six seminarians for the diocese of Christchurch at Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland, and later in the evening...
cry for help
I often think that I have the best job in the world, not a job really but a life. As a priest I am very fortunate. I have to add that I love my work because I am...
touching eternity
Many of you will read this on Friday morning 8 December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. I am sitting down to write late in the evening of the 7th, the feast of...
what a privilege
"You have been chosen by Christ to receive the imprint of his own priesthood in your souls so that your destiny is linked to him in a bond that lasts into eternity....
ministers of hope
I am grateful to the Christchurch Press for taking the initiative to present a feature this morning on the recent Christchurch ordinations. A brief interview can do...
gratefully
The Monday evening of Holy Week is a highlight for a priest in the diocese of Christchurch. At 5 in the afternoon we gather to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation...
the art of JMH
The response to my post yesterday marking the death of Christchurch priest Monsignor James Harrington was both overwhelming and moving. Many readers were touched to...
priesthood?
Another great little video which will be of special interest to anyone wondering if God might be nudging them to consider life as a diocesan priest. A couple of great...
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Annunciation
A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.
the real centre
Over the last month I have had the opportunity to work with many people across Aotearoa and further afield. In every retreat and seminar I have been with committed and faith-filled people who often feel as though they are on the periphery of the Church
the adventure
It’s easy to make the mistake of seeing life as a treadmill, day after day ups and downs, a movement through time from youth to old age, then death and beyond.
Too often if feels as if we are helplessly captive carried along by the momentum of all that is expected of us and demanded from us, and we risk falling into an existence mode, a daily rhythm of survival, enduring, coping and so the treadmill rolls on.
the bigger picture
Over the years, and even in recent months, weeks and days, I’ve prayed many prayers which have not been answered as I had hoped.
You’ve probably had the same experience: praying and wondering if and when or how your prayer will be answered.
moving waters
Bible questions still pop up regularly in quiz shows and they often cost otherwise sharp players much needed points.
I’m ready for a question asking for the two names for the last book of the Bible. The book often known as Apocalypse is perhaps more often referred to as the Book of Revelation.
It’s common (thanks to movies) to think of an apocalypse as a devastating and unwelcome time of destruction.