Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Letters

Youth’s beginning experience

by Staff writers
21 December 2003
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A

DESPITE being etched in stone since 1942 on the pillars of the cloisters of the former Pius XII Seminary at Banyo (now the Australian Catholic University Brisbane campus), I only recently noticed the Latin inscription ‘Timor’. It means ‘honour’ in English.

My young son recently flew to Atabae parish in East Timor with two other young people. The East Timor Support Group of parishes of Bardon and The Gap/St Johns Wood paid for them to go.

It was a beginning experience for them and for us family members and led me to notice for the first time something I had often passed for 50 years.

The headlines from The Catholic Leader in the past two weeks have focused on youth in terms of schoolies (CL 14/12/03) and World Youth Day (WYD) (CL 7/12/03).

Youth is a metaphor for ‘beginning’ as well as being a beginning in real terms. Events such as WYD, ‘schoolies’ and the East Timor journey embed truth into life and are ‘beginnings’.

Australian Scripture scholar, Fr Francis J. Moloney, published a book in 1992 called Beginning the Good News. He studied John’s prologue, Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives and Mark’s own prologue embedded in chapter 1:1-13.

All claim that the God of Israel was the same God as present in Jesus of Nazareth. To understand the ‘how’ of that claim Fr Moloney said we must read each Gospel story.

Fr Moloney quoted J.R.R. Tolkien to show that the Gospel ‘beginnings’ remind us that we are ‘refracted light splintered from a single white to many hues, endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind’.

This Christmas will be a beginning. Joel, Anna and James will bring to the family Christmas table stories of the East Timorese people just as other young people bring stories from previous WYDs and ‘schoolies’ to their family dinner tables.

May Christmas preserve the story of the Holy Family as a ‘beginning’ that leads us to notice the bright light of truth that has always been there.

Related Stories

Carrying the spirit of Christmas in our hearts every day, Terry Lees writes

NSW euthanasia laws come into effect as bishops release guide for those accompanying Catholics considering euthanasia

Pope Francis’ trip to climate conference in Dubai cancelled due to ongoing illness

VINCENT HODGE

Paddington, Qld

Previous Post

SWAT

Next Post

Stained glass memorial to priest

Staff writers

Related Posts

Pope Francis: Advent reminds us it’s never too late to begin again
Faith

Carrying the spirit of Christmas in our hearts every day, Terry Lees writes

30 November 2023
Doctors make ‘dramatic mistakes’, physician warns ahead of Queensland euthanasia vote
Australia

NSW euthanasia laws come into effect as bishops release guide for those accompanying Catholics considering euthanasia

29 November 2023
‘Don’t be afraid’ pope tells young people at ‘Catholic Woodstock’
News

Pope Francis’ trip to climate conference in Dubai cancelled due to ongoing illness

29 November 2023
Next Post

Stained glass memorial to priest

New world order

Morning after pill raises fears of promiscuity

Popular News

  • Nominations open for Youth Leader Awards for Brisbane archdiocese

    Nominations open for Youth Leader Awards for Brisbane archdiocese

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Angela Moore reflects on her first year as a principal

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Two men ordained permanent deacons for Brisbane

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • NSW euthanasia laws come into effect as bishops release guide for those accompanying Catholics considering euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Pope Francis’ trip to climate conference in Dubai cancelled due to ongoing illness

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping