The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life“, the Vatican II council tells us (Lumen Gentium). If the Catholic Church, in a particular place, does not sufficiently educate the laity and clergy about what the Eucharist is, …
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Last year at our school I had a really interesting conversation with one of our school Mums who was not a Catholic. Her children attend our school as their father is baptised, but he is no longer practicing. The Mum felt it was really important for her…
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Yesterday, stuff.co.nz reported that John Key wants to have the gay ‘marriage’ debate, essentially in order to usher it in. You can read it here: John Key supports gay ‘marriage’ Where will the NZ bishops stand on this issue…
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Some really interesting developments going on in politics. The whole saga around John Banks and anonymous donations was a good sideshow for a while, and whether he will resign or be forced out is yet to be known. However, the real consequence of the Ba…
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In an interview for a teaching RE at a Catholic school, a friend of mine was once told that certain people thought that he was on the “right” side of things. By right, they meant conservative. Fundamentalist. The implication was that the &#…
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I think it is a bit of a worry that our government has been trampling over basic constitutional principles of democratic societies for a while. From it’s use of emergency powers that it granted to itself following the Christchurch earthquakes, to…
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A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a fellow parishioner after Mass. He told me that he actually tries to sit somewhere different in the church every week as it helps him see things in a new way, and in a way it helps him pay attenti…
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Hi all, I saw this article today and thought you might be interested in reading it. The more I see of how this is panning out – i.e. quietly and with a great deal of prudence and thought – the better pleased I am. The Anglicans have had…
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Very interesting, well-covered piece on 60 Minutes last night about exorcism in a Pentecostal church in the US. May 6 – Teenage Exorcists Brynne, Savannah and Tess are exorcists – all-American school girls who slay demons in their spare time. A…
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My parents recently left to go on pilgrimage, and I am thrilled for them. I think we desperately need to recover the idea of participating in physical manifestations of faith. Of course, the supreme example is our participation in the mass, specificall…
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Work is seen by many people as almost a punishment, a toil, perhaps imposed on man by sin (Genesis 3:17). However, if we look further back, we can see that work is an initial part of human life (Genesis 1:28 and 2:19-20). The feast day of St Joseph the…
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Happy May all! I was lucky enough to come through school when nuns were still teaching – not many, but we had a convent over the road with two or three nuns living in it and I was lucky to be taught by one of them for Form 1 and 2. She taught m…
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The Catholic priesthood is, pre-eminently, connected to sacrifice – specifically, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Having a little time to spare recently, I examined the rites of ordination to the presbyteral order from the Missal of 1962, set aga…
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Good response to last weeks short post folks!! To follow up, I would like to ask what Catholic speakers your diocese HAS had recently… Is the calibre of speakers what the majority of faithful Catholics would like to see? Or do our more liberal br…
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Okay something is going wrong with the formatting in this editor, apologies if that makes it difficult to read. Michael Voris is the founder of “Real CatholicTV”, an internet television production studio which provides a great number of shows, some…
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It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a dawn parade or ANZAC service but this year saw me heading out at 5.45am with a group of teachers and children from school. Knowing that I would be writing this blog I was keen to take note of any…
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It makes for a good story. From the US: The Vatican appointed an American bishop to rein in the largest and most influential group of Catholic nuns in the United States, saying that an investigation found that the group had ‘serious doctrinal p…
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I’ve long been calling for a change in the way the Church delivers its messages on moral issues – not change the position, but the way its communicated. Seems young women in the US are already doing it. McGuire, 26, of Alexandria is part of…
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If you could get any Catholic speaker to come to your diocese, who would it be and why? I hope I get some responses!!
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For many people today, a common complaint is that “I’m too busy to pray”. I know, I think it all the time! For people, who are living in time, and who are worshiping God, who is beyond time, “wasting time” by pray…
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