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Study after study have concluded that Australians are less concerned about the physical effects than they are about the emotional and spiritual effects of the pandemic and lockdowns, that they’ve been thinking much more about the meaning of life and their own mortality, having more spiritual conversations, and praying more to help them get through. They even say they’re now more likely regularl...

Welcome to St Joseph’s Church, Rosebery, for the Solemn Mass for the Dedication of a Church. It seems only yesterday that I was here installing Fr Paul as your new parish priest: he must have been working the building hard to have broken it already!

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them, because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:35-10:8). Our translation “felt sorry for” misses the mark: it’s both mild and aloof. But our English word ‘sorry’ does share the same root as the word ‘sore’, just as our words ‘sympathy’ and ‘compassion’ share roots with ‘pathos’ and ‘passion’. Link: www.sydneycath...

Theodor Geisel-‘Dr. Seuss’ to those who grew up on his stories-was a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning children’s author. He composed and illustrated more than sixty children’s books, mostly in anapestic tetrameter, the preferred meter of poets like Byron. Over 600 million copies of his books were sold in his lifetime, and translated into 45 languages, including Spanish, so Mexicans and ...

Integrity commissions are all the rage. The states have them and the Commonwealth will too-eventually. Such agencies attempt to root out abuses of office, perversions of justice and other corrupt conduct in public administration. Their investigations have brought down premiers and other public officials. Meanwhile many professional and sporting associations, universities, corporations and chari...

Kings and kingship: they frame the story of Jesus. The New Testament begins with Jesus’ family tree showing He’s a direct descendant of King David, via his step-father Joseph (Mt 1:1-17; Lk 2:4). Link: www.sydneycatholic.org/homilies/2021/homily-for-mass-for-the-solemnity-of-christ-the-king-and-local-celebration-of-world-youth-day-2021/

At the then-customary examination before Confirmation, a child was asked by a bishop to define Matrimony. She nervously recited from memory: “Matrimony is a place where souls suffer for a time after death on account of their sins.” Embarrassed that her pupil had given the definition of Purgatory rather than Matrimony, the nun in charge was about to correct the child when the Bishop intervened: ...

In the sixth century BC a slave named Aesop told the fable of a Fox who, being hard-hunted and having run a long chase, sought refuge from a Farmer who told the Fox to hide in his barn. Presently the hunters came up, and inquired of the man if he had seen the Fox. ‘No,’ says he, ‘I have not seen him’, but all the while he pointed to the place the Fox was hid. Link: www.sydneycatholic.org/homili...

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 sparked the First World War and left his nephew Karl as heir presumptive. Karl had studied law and politics and was a military man. When the emperor also died, late in 1916, he succeeded to the several crowns of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Link: www.sydneycatholic.org/homilies/2021/homily-for-mass-of-the-30th-sunday-of-ordinary-time-year-b-...

They’re at it again. James and John are lobbying for special positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mk 10:35-45; cf. 9:30-37). For the second time in two chapters Jesus exhorts them to let go of any ambition to lord it over others. “Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, anyone who wants to be first must be slave to all.”

CLOSING OF THE FIRST ASSEMBLY OF THE FIFTH PLENARY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA The Hebrew word for wisdom חָכְמָה (chokmâh), the Greek word σοφια (sophia) and the Latin sapientia are all feminine nouns. So, naturally enough, the ancients personified Wisdom as a woman. In the wisdom literature of Israel-the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Sirach and Wisdom-we’re told she de...

HOMILY FOR MASS OF WEDNESDAY OF THE 27TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Year 1

What’s in a word? We use words to name or describe, to reason, learn and remember, and to communicate to others. With words we write or speak our sacred texts, laws and decisions, records and contracts, essays and books, conversations and correspondence, newspapers and audio-visuals, poems and songs-disclosing ideas, norms, feelings and more. We use words to announce, promise, play, exhort, rec...

We like to think of Him as “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”-for He is indeed love and mercy personified. But as Charles Wesley’s hymn continues, “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child, pity my simplicity”. Aware as He is of the vulnerability and innocence of the little ones, Our Lord pulls no punches when it comes to those who hurt or corrupt them. “Anyone who is a stumbling block ...

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 25TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 23RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 22ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS IN TIME OF PANDEMIC ON THE 21ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF SUNDAY THE FEAST OF ST. MARY MACKILLOP

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMN PONTIFICAL MASS FOR THE OCTO CENTENARY OF THE DEATH OF ST DOMINIC

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 18TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Year B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 16TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR MASS OF THE 12TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Year B

HOMILY ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

STATE FUNERAL & PONTIFICAL SERVICE OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL OUTSIDE MASS FOR ROBERT “BOZO” FULTON AM

HOMILY FOR THE MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OF REV DANIEL DRUM FMVD & REV STEPHEN DRUM FMVD