E.M. Forster is not generally considered an author of high comedy, but I do recall one particular line from A Passage to India that caused me to laugh out loud when first I read it. In describing the attitude of a certain character toward questions of faith, Forster wrote, “Ronny approved of religion as long as it endorsed the national ... Read More »
WHEN a former Governor General was baptised at the age of 85 last year – a man who had previously been an avowed atheist – I was interested to hear not only what had drawn him to the Church, but also what had driven him away from her in the first place. He mentioned in an interview that he had ... Read More »
A FEW years ago, while I was visiting some family members on the Gold Coast, one of the household had turned on the television and was deeply engaged in that favourite past-time of so many people; providing a running commentary on the program being viewed for the benefit of those around them. In this instance, the show in question was ... Read More »
IF, as a result of the vagaries of the academic timetable at the theological college, I am unable to cycle back to the priory in time to attend the daily Conventual Mass, I instead stroll down the few blocks that separate our university campus from St Patrick’s Cathedral and attend Mass there. On certain days of the week, I am ... Read More »
“SOME people who have no faith are more Christian than Christians.” These were the interesting words of a parishioner who was a regular attendee at the Lectio Divina groups a friend and I were organising in our local parish. They are expressive of a thought that is often bandied about; the idea that a “good person” who performs a many ... Read More »
EVERY Friday night during my novitiate in Hong Kong we would gather to discuss the readings from scripture that would be proclaimed at Mass on the following Sunday. We were expected to have prayed with the Word of God, contemplated the meaning conveyed by the scriptures, perhaps read a biblical commentary or two and – if we were able – ... Read More »
SOMETIMES I feel that Advent may be the forgotten liturgical season. Lent has fasting, prayer and almsgiving; Easter exults with the joy of the resurrection; Christmas has so many gifts, baubles and decorations associated with it that to recount them would almost be redundant; and for the rest of the year we seem to readily respond to the whirligig of ... Read More »
“WELL that was a waste of time!” I recently overhead these emphatically exclaimed words. I am reluctant to provide further details as to the circumstances that gave rise to that utterance, lest some individuals reading this be able to name the culprit. It suffices to say that a deceptively pedestrian phrase set me thinking. For a Christian, can anything ever ... Read More »
FOR those of you who have visited Salisbury Cathedral, I need not relate the fact that the thirteenth-century spire of the building towers over the surrounding countryside. It is readily visible from the local train station, making it a helpful guiding landmark for any visitor who – like myself – is unable to catch the bus due to budgetary ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
