Winter 2016

The Pope's prayer intentions, calendar of saints and reflections on the liturgical readings for each day of the month. Click here to visit the website

There is a distinction between a do-gooder and a person who lives guided by values of mercy and justice. Do-gooders can be motivated by giving from their surplus and simply offering short-term relief. This often keeps the victim indebted. Justice requires us to stand with those who suffer. In such solidarity we are affected and…

He stepped through the door of the room I was using for entry interviews. A young man, dark hair, and the oval face, straight nose, strong eyebrows and lustrous dark eyes of Byzantine inheritance. We shook hands. Mehmet, in halting English, outlined his request.

In Australian churches, there is a colourful little box that makes its appearance at the start of Lent each year. It’s a small box made of cardboard about six inches tall and three wide, conspicuously present near the hymn books at the back of the church

When the government decided to set up a telegraph station at the New Norcia (Western Australia) mission, they asked Bishop Salvado, its founder, if he could recommend anyone. The bishop thought he knew just the right person. She was Helen Pangerian Cuper, a tall, handsome woman with long black hair, who was already in charge of the post office

Brother Doug Walsh fms is showing me around his place, an old house in Heidelberg West. The brothers’ house. On his table is a letter from the St Vincent de Paul Society about the soup vans. A meal is brewing in the slow cooker

When it comes to me putting my foot in things I am a centrefold

Doña Tere is probably in her late 60s, but looks more as if she would be in her early 80s. She stands every day for several hours on a very busy intersection in one of the wealthier suburbs of San José, the capital of Costa Rica, where I have spent the past couple of months. I have always encountered Doña Tere in the same spot. In a way she has looked pretty much the same for the past ten years or so

Dear Charlotte, This letter I won’t give you until you are much older, but I write it while the thoughts are fresh in my mind. You won’t realise how wonderful – and trying – motherhood is until you become a mother yourself (if that’s what life and God have in store for you)

Fr Peter Day doesn’t mind taking on unpopular causes. His writings attest to his willingness to challenge anyone, including church leaders, when he thinks truth is in jeopardy.