A Catholic Monthly Magazine

The Mother of God / Crisis in family life (0)

Venerating the Mother of God Means Learning to Become a Community of Prayer  14/3/2012

The Pope focused his remarks today on the figure of Mary as she appears in the Acts, when with the Apostles she awaits the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Benedict XVI told the more than 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square that “it was with Mary that Jesus’ earthly life …

The Beauty Beyond (0)

by Brother Romuald Gibson fms

Review by Kieran Fenn fms

Beauty Shattered: Life brings many painful situations, but few can be as devastating as the breaking apart of a marriage and the loss of contact with loved children. The coming to terms with such loss and the long and painful healing process forms the story told in this book. While the narration is one …

Sister Ema Konokono DOLC, Prayer Leader for Children (0)

MM: Where were you born, Sister and when did you join the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion?

Ema: I was born in Nukualofa Tonga, and was professed in the Home of Compassion in 1975.

MM: What launched you on your ministry of prayer with children?

Ema: In 2009 I attended a course led by Ruth Fowler from Australia in Wellington at Island …

Justice in the Workplace (0)

“The rights of workers must take priority over the maximisation of profits”

Pope John Paul II

In New Zealand at present there are several major industrial disputes happening. These include the Ports of Auckland standoff, the Affco Meat Company works lockout, and The strike by resthome workers, and at least one other. Because it is unusual to have several major disputes at the same time, …

Chalice versus cup (0)

One of the characteristics of the new translation of the English mass is the formality of the language. The translators seem to have taken delight in employing rare and obscure words and phrases. I think some of it is poorly chosen, but one of the most striking words has made me think they are on to something.

In the Eucharistic Prayer the Latin word calix …

New Marist Laity Leader Commissioned (0)

MM: What background do you bring to this job as Coordinator of the Third Order of Mary and Marian Mothers?

Bev: I have been a Lay Marist since the early 1990’s when I was involved with a group fired with a Marist vision which actively reached out in evangelisation and mission. Some of us went on a pilgrimage to the Marist founding places in France. …

Who Are You Going To Vote For In Heaven? (0)

IN A MOMENT of madness the other day it struck me that heaven would have to be among the most undemocratic places on earth till I stopped mid-thought to remind myself just where earth is and just where heaven may or may not be – if you follow my drift.

What got me thinking about this was my pondering on some of the commandments and …

The Ports of Auckland dispute (0)

From the statement of the Auckland Catholic Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace 

Considering the Ports of Auckland dispute
in the light of Catholic social teaching 

New Zealand’s industrial framework no longer has processes to require compulsory arbitration or mediation of protracted disputes, which is why offer of mediation by the Anglican and Catholic Bishops of Auckland is important.

Media reports have not done justice …

Global Warming Response (0)

A Climate of Social Responsibility

As a climate scientist for more than thirty years, I cannot agree with Pat Barrett’s “Climate of Fear” in the April 2012 Marist Messenger. As a catholic for more than twice as long, I have to say that climate change means there is now a growing need to love our neighbours.

Pat is right that “science is never done”. We …

Going to the Cave (0)

In March,1522 Ignatius Loyola, a noble Basque soldier, recently recovered from war injuries, went on pilgrimage south to Montserrat, a monastery and Marian shrine near Barcelona. So he left the north of Spain, his own Basque country which he loved ardently as all Basques do, and went to Catalonia where they spoke Spanish, away from his old life. He was now a pilgrim, desiring …

A Poem by Lalla Loeffen (0)

O Wondrous God, Almighty Lord,

How can this mystery be -

That in this world You died and rose again,

To help and rescue me.

O Holy Bread and Pure Sweet Wine,

How can this mystery be -

That in this bread and wine I find the God

Who now can dwell in me.

May Saints (0)

Saint Francis Coll y Guitart (1812-1875)

Francis Coll y Guitart was born in 1812 in Gobeny, Spain. When he was only four, his father died, leaving a widow and ten children in dire straits. Francis’ mother raised him as a devout Catholic and he was confirmed in 1818. Four years later he entered the seminary at Vichy, France, earning his own way by teaching catechism …

The Monk and the Bible (Comments Off)

A Story from a 4th Century Desert Father

Here is a story taken from a Thomas Merton book titled The Wisdom of the Desert and it comes to us from the fourth century desert father, Abbot Anastasius.

There once was a wise monk, Abbot Anastasius, living alone in the desert, who had a very nice bible made of parchment that was worth, say about $100. …

Mary for Today (Comments Off)

At the Council: At Vatican II two patterns of approach to Mary came into conflict, and the first millennium won as the pattern for the third Christian millennium.  Let us examine the two in more detail.  Of the 2,500 bishops at the Council, 600 asked for a specific statement from the Council on Mary, 400 wanted a new title or role defined.  A document …

How to meditate (0)

(Editor’s Note: this is one of the last articles in this series. In it Fr John summarises a lot of earlier material.)

In former articles I have strongly emphasised that in my view both John Main and Thomas Keating have offered us forms of passive meditation or contemplation that can be profitably used by everybody. But I confined myself largely to theory. I …