Ordination Anniversary of Julian Tenison Woods
Twenty-four-year-old Julian Woods [1] was ordained a priest by Bishop Francis Murphy in Adelaide’s St Patrick’s Church on 4 January 1857. From his mid-teens, Julian’s one goal and longing had been ordination. Raised in London by his Irish parents with the general conviction of Christian faith, he had no clear denominational identity. His mother was […]
Mortgaging a Future of Hope – Debts Today, Peace Tomorrow
Pope Francis’ 2025 World Day of Peace message, “Forgive Us Our Debts: Grant Us Your Peace”, is a powerful invitation to everyone – individuals, communities, and nations – to engage in the transformative act of forgiveness. It is a call to embrace the principles of justice, reconciliation, and peace, not as lofty ideals, but as […]
A Reflection on the Beginning of a New Year
On 1 January 2025, this day will be an opportunity to look back and to look forward… The Romans chose to name the first month of the year January after the god Janus who is depicted as having two faces, one looking back, the other forward. On 1 January each year, we can take the […]
New Year 2025 – Pilgrims of Hope
As we begin this New Year, we give thank for all the blessings, memories and gifts of 2024. It was year filled with many joys and many challenges as people faced economic hardship, the loss of loved ones, war and climatic changes among other things. There were also moments when we rejoiced in the good […]
Sesquicentenary of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration: Launch of Heroic Women
Launch by Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Heroic Women: The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration 1874–2014, by Mary Cresp rsj – Brisbane 8 December 2024 In the late afternoon of a hot Sunday, around 70 people attended the launch of Heroic Women: The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration 1874–2014. It was 32 degrees outside, but the heat did not […]
Educational Book of the Year Winners Announced
Congratulations to Sr Mary-Ann Casanova PhD whose book, We Care for God’s Earth, has been jointly selected as Garratt Publishing’s Educational Book of the Year! Sr Mary-Ann shares the award with Kathryn Robinson and her book, Know Your Bible. We Care for God’s Earth and Know your Bible are both part of Garratt Publishing’s Living […]
A Reflection for International Migrants Day 2024
Honouring the Contributions and Upholding the Rights of People who are Migrants: A Reflection for International Migrants Day 2024 Every year on 18 December, the world comes together to observe International Migrants Day – a day to celebrate the incredible contributions migrants make to societies across the globe and to reaffirm our collective responsibility to […]
Human Rights Day
The year was 1945. I was 10 years old that year, old enough to understand the horror of Hiroshima, to remember the newspapers showing young soldiers with limbs amputated, to learn about the holocaust, to watch the pain of our neighbour’s children when their father, a prisoner of war, returned a different man, a man […]
Christian Hope – Jubilee 2025
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your good and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 As Pope Francis expressed many times, we are currently living in a world that needs hope. As pilgrims in this world, we are all journeying and experiencing […]
An Advent Reflection for Year C
May the Lord be generous in increasing your love…1 Thessalonians 3:12 These are the opening words from Paul in the second reading for this First Sunday of Advent in Year C (1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2). It seems that here, Paul is suggesting that being human is more a verb than a noun, more a human becoming […]
The Call to Get Our Hands Dirty
The 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality has concluded. Since Pope Francis convoked this Synod, it has been different from the other 20 plus Synods since the Second Vatican Council. The framework, timeline and strong emphasis on consultation marked the Synod on Synodality as an emerging way of being Church. This Synod unfolded in stages across three […]
Tolerance
The International Day for Tolerance is commemorated annually on 16 November. I don’t tolerate a blowfly in my soup. I don’t tolerate a flat tyre while driving. If Mrs Kafoops comes along and starts to sound off about a neighbour, I could do more than tolerate that: I could join in the character assassination. However, […]