BROTHER Christian and I have renewed our vows. We have now been professed for three years; and have renewed our vows for a further twelve months and, if we wish to continue and the Order wishes to accept us, we will thereafter make solemn profession – until death. And though the profession formula and the vows remain the same each ... Read More »
I MET a man recently who makes his living by selling expensive household whitegoods. ‘Miele’ whitegoods, as it happens. And he mentioned that, some years ago, he had a colleague who had his left upper arm tattooed with the motto of the company – ‘immer besser.’ (Always better) On learning this somewhat startling fact I asked, ‘And was he made ... Read More »
DURING my days at university I worked night shift at a geology laboratory, in order to keep myself in the semi-impoverished manner to which I had become accustomed. I would spend the early hours of the morning grinding coal samples and loading them into submersible metal canisters, which were then pumped with various elements from the periodic table at differing ... Read More »
What’s wrong with turning stones into loaves bread? If Christ had the power to satiate His hunger in the desert, and doing so was not going to harm anyone, why was it one of the ‘temptations’ that we hear about on the first Sunday of Lent? (Matthew 4:1-11) Why was it something Jesus refused to do? The answer lies in ... Read More »
PREACHING Practice – the weekly highlight of our semesters here in St Dominic’s Priory in Melbourne – affords the student body the opportunity to hone much more than simply our skills in the art of rhetoric. Our collective sense of humility and charity is also fostered by this salutary practice. Being able to receive criticism and offer some healthy fraternal ... Read More »
‘YOU dug up the wrong pipe.’ These portentous words were uttered by the student master on the occasion of a recent student meeting. It was during our ‘break’ from formal studies and the students in the priory had each been assigned a variety of fascinating and engaging tasks, in keeping with the prevailing philosophical disposition of the student master – ... Read More »
WHENEVER the genealogy of Jesus Christ was part of the scriptures proclaimed at Mass – as it will be for the Vigil Mass of Christmas – my Grandfather would come home rather underwhelmed. “Jeconiah was the father a Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abuid, and Abiud the father of Eliakim …” (Matthew 1:12) ... Read More »
November is a spectacular month for the Church. We begin by venerating all the saints – the Church Triumphant. We immediately follow that celebration by beginning to pray for all departed souls – the Church Penitent. Given that these feasts follow immediately after one another, it might be an idea for those of us who are here in the Church ... Read More »
OUR society seems to be going through an identity crisis. When it comes to the questions that shape our lives – “Who am I?”, “What am I doing here?” – many people have come to the conclusion that the answer is either too difficult to discover or too hard to accept. And so, instead, we have started making it up. ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
