I READ a terrifying story recently. It recounted the story of a couple who, rejoicing in the birth of their first-born child, learnt but a short while later that she suffered from a rare, terminal illness and that she was unlikely to live beyond her first year. As predicted, their daughter died when she was seven months old – she ... Read More »
Cycling into the theological college every day brings with it many unexpected benefits. It is a 22km round-trip and this affords me the opportunity to have many an interesting interaction with my fellow road-users; sometimes we even exchange words as well as hand-gestures. A few months ago, I was rather taken aback by a question posed to me by the ... Read More »
“WHO said poverty couldn’t be tasty?” These were the profound words of one of my fellow student friars as he sank his teeth into an expertly assembled ham-and-cheese sandwich, while resting in the shade of a gum tree on a knoll overlooking Apollo Bay. Our common student holiday this year entailed a prolonged, scenic drive along the Great Ocean Road ... Read More »
THE brilliant Marist Brother who taught me Latin while I was in the seminary celebrated his 80th birthday a few years ago. At the party held in his honour there were people from all walks of life – men and women whom Br Roger had met and ministered to over the many years of his religious life, as well as ... Read More »
WHEN attending Mass in Brisbane a few months ago I had my first experience of déjà vu. Every time I left the church, a local parishioner would grab my arm, fix me with an enquiring look and ask with great earnestness: “What order are you from?” After a few days of repeating the words “Dominicans” or “Order of Preachers” I ... Read More »
I HAVE been asked to write a column about being a “young person of faith”. I have found it an odd request. Not least because we never seem hear the corresponding alternative – “old person of faith”, or even “middle-aged person of faith”. Perhaps they sound less flattering. I suspect people enjoy adding the age-specific adjective to highlight what they ... Read More »
I HAVE recently had a number of conversations with different people from all walks of life; all those disparate individuals repeated the same refrain, almost word-for-word: “It’s hard for me to be a Christian in public these days”. In the office, on the jobsite, at the dog park: they are surrounded, they tell me, by people who mock and belittle ... Read More »
“BUT are they being formed for the real world?” This was a question apparently posed to one of our friars by a parishioner after Mass a few weeks ago. We are “they” – the student friars studying theology and philosophy, undertaking various forms of pastoral work and generally undergoing the Dominican order’s process of formation. This question provoked rather a ... Read More »
BROTHER Christian and I made our first profession a few weeks ago, during Mass on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. At the very beginning of the Rite of Profession, having thrown ourselves prostrate, cruciform on the floor – with noses pressed firmly into the carpet before our eyes – the provincial asked a very simple question: “What do ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
