“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 »
BRENDAN Gormley was grabbing a coffee on the Via della Conciliazione in Rome when a swarm of people crowded round the shop. He thought the worst but let out a sigh of relief when it was just Pope Francis wandering freely through the streets. “He’s a bit impromptu like that,” the 46-year-old deacon said. Deacon Brendan has lived in Rome ... 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 »
SHE danced before taking a step. That’s what Presentation Sister Carmel (Jean Marie) Hodgkinson knows about her early years. “My parents said I’d hold onto the bar near the radio and bounce, up and down, to the beat,” the sprightly 76-year-old said from Holy Spirit Home, Carseldine, in Brisbane’s north. “I’ve got rhythm, I’ve always had it.” The toe-tapping sister ... Read More »
MASS etiquette suggests Catholics turn off or silence their mobile device before entering the church, but that rule doesn’t apply to Canadian priest Fr Francis Ching. Every time the 45-year-old Chinese-born priest celebrates Mass, or when it’s time to say his prayers of the Office, the iPad is on and right at his fingertips. Without it, Fr Francis couldn’t fulfil ... Read More »
“YOUR car or your life?” was the ultimatum armed rebels had for Mabel Saah as they stormed through her neighbourhood in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia in West Africa. She had no choice; she handed over the keys and left her home with her six children – never to return. That was 27 years ago, and now the Annerley Ekibin ... Read More »
DAVID Miller is an Aboriginal man who wasn’t raised in his people’s traditional ways and he wonders how different his life may have been. He’s a man well-known to many Brisbane Catholics as the one who breaks the silence playing the clap sticks at the start of Masses and liturgies for major celebrations in St Stephen’s Cathedral. It’s a ritual ... Read More »
MIDWIFE Beth Burt has been at countless births over more than three decades, but she’s also seen many deaths, and she feels privileged about every one of those experiences. Finishing up at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital after more than 37 years and heading towards retirement, she’s been thinking back over those times with gratitude. “We (midwives) always say – and I ... Read More »
“TO contemplate and to pass onto others the fruits of contemplation.” Those words of St Thomas Aquinas encapsulate the essence of Dominican life – what it means to be a friar in the Order of Preachers. We are essentially contemplatives. We are called to be men who live lives of profound and intimate prayer with God. By virtue of a ... Read More »
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