A Catholic Monthly Magazine

Emeritus Pope Benedict’s last WCD Message (0)

47th World Communications Day 12 May 2013
“Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization.”

Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI delivered in January 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As the 2013 World Communications Day draws near, I would like to offer you some reflections on an increasingly important reality regarding the way in which people today communicate among themselves.  I …

Feelings (0)

We’re told that love of God is not so much a matter of feelings but a continuing act of will.  Feelings in your relationship with God are the icing on the cake. That may be true, but I want to have my cake with icing on it.

It takes a lot of willpower to love an infinite being beyond our comprehension, and I admire the …

“I was a stranger and you made me welcome …” (0)

“Why isn’t Mum in the car?”

“She’s found someone new to talk to.”

“Dad, can’t we just leave without her? I’m starving.”

This dialogue was often heard between family members after Mass on Sunday mornings as a child. My mother’s a great talker normally, especially when she has her ‘NPR’ tuned in – New Person Radar. Mum has this uncanny ability to spot a …

Emmaus (0)

After the crucifixion one of Jesus’ disciples named Cleophas is made memorable by this story. He and a companion are walking to a town which Luke calls Emmaus, described by Luke as being sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. He is with a companion who is unnamed. I like to think that this companion is Mary, his wife. John reports in his Gospel that ‘his mother and …

A Jesuit Pope named Francis (0)

After an eventful month the Church has a new Pontiff embodying two great spiritualities of the Church – the first Jesuit Pope and the first Pope called Francis. Not a young man or the first black Pope, but the first Pope from South America, an arena where some of the sharpest dilemmas of the modern Church have been played out: the response to systemic poverty …

Setting out, and setting out again… (0)

Fifty years of missionary service as a Missionary Sister of the Society of Mary
1962, 8 December — Sr Marietta Judith Parsons made her Religious Profession by taking the three vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience, at Heretaunga, Upper Hutt.

by Sr Bertha Hurley smsm

2012, 8 December – fifty years later, Sr Marietta celebrated her Golden Jubilee of Religious Profession, in St Matthew’s Church …

John Ryall, National Secretary of the Service and Food workers Union NZ (0)

MM How would you define the Living Wage? Is it the same as the ‘just wage’ in Catholic Social teaching?

JR  The Living Wage is a wage which is enough for the worker and his/her family not just to survive but to be able to participate in society. This means they are not working hours that are so long to earn this wage that they …

Signing yourself with Holy Water (0)

Having written about the Triduum in the last issue, I was asked why, during that time, the Holy Water stoups (or fonts) by the Church doors are left empty. This has had me thinking about why we usually cross ourselves with holy water on entering and leaving a Catholic Church.

Like many things in religion, crossing oneself is something that is done habitually rather than …

Missionary Audacity – the Mission to Tibet (0)

On September 29, 2012, an exhibition entitled ‘Missions on the Roof of the World’ was opened at the headquarters of the Paris Foreign Mission Society (Société des missions évangéliques de Paris MEP) in Paris. The following is a shortened version of the address given by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples:

In certain countries, evangelization demands a more than …

Resignations – Benedict and Celestine (0)

I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine Ministry…In order to govern the Barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary. I have had to recognize my incapacity to fulfill adequately the ministry entrusted to me. Benedict XVI

How big was …

May Saints (0)

Saint Athanasius (c296-c373)

Saint Athanasius was born at Alexandria, about the year 296, of Christian parents. Educated under the eye of Alexander, later Bishop of his native city, he made great progress in learning and virtue. In 313, Alexander succeeded Achillas in the Patriarchal See, and two years later Athanasius went to the desert to spend some time in retreat with Saint Anthony.

In 319, …

Talking about Spirituality Today: (0)

Self-esteem and self–denial

So far, this series has looked at some basics in Spirituality. We are called to grow in God’s image which means, for St. Irenaeus, to become ‘fully alive.’ And ‘fully alive’ is to live in an ever-deepening or, in Biblical terms, ‘face to face’ relationship with God.

Again, Christian spirituality is about the ‘whole’ person- but ‘whole’ in what way? The answer …

Mary for Today (0)

Mary in the Year of Faith: ‘Conceived of the Virgin Mary’

Concerning the biblical origins of this traditional belief in the Blessed Virgin, two points need to be noted:

1. Only the virginal conception of Jesus is directly mentioned in the New Testament;

2. As a result, for the New Testament, the emphasis is placed not so much on Mary nor on the virginity as …