A Catholic Monthly Magazine

After the Resurrection in Stained Glass (0)

Luke tell us that on the same day that Jesus rose, He appeared to walk with Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus. This window [1] from St Genes-des-Carnes, Clermont-Ferand, France shows what the encounter might have been like.… More

Fr Donald Forbes Hamilton SM (0)

Born in Hastings 2 December 1931

Professed 2 February 1952

Ordained 25 July 1956
by Archbishop McKeefry

Died in Hastings 24 January 2018

Donald Hamilton was the ninth of Bill and Nell Hamilton’s thirteen children. The Sisters of St Joseph schooled Don in his primary years at St Joseph’s Convent, Hastings, and in the later 1940s he attended the old St John’s College.… More

Reflections on Emmaus (0)

We lament the state the world is in, understandably. There is so much sadness. So many people suffering as victims – of floods, fires, road accidents; or of mental, physical and sexual violation, hunger and malnutrition, homelessness; of slavery, sex trafficking, environmental destruction … the list of human misfortune and exploitation makes for truly sad reading.… More

The trust of St Martin de Porres (0)

We must also have the courage of the many young people of Peru who were not afraid to love and risk everything for Jesus. How many examples you have! I think of Saint Martin de Porres. Nothing prevented that young man from achieving his dreams, nothing prevented him from spending his life for others, nothing prevented him from loving, and he did so because he had realised that the Lord loved him first.… More

The Problem with Euthanasia (1)

A seeming paradox

Recent phone polls asking New Zealanders if they favour legalised euthanasia found about 70% in favour and 30% opposed. Interestingly, these figures are an exact reversal of the more than 20,000 personal submissions to a parliamentary sub-committee last year where 70% opposed any change to the legislation.… More

Can You Bear It? (0)

A man went to apply for a job. After filling out all of his applications, he waited anxiously for the outcome. The employer read all his applications and said, “We have an opening for people like you.” “Oh, great,” the man said, “What is it?” “It’s called the door.”

Interviewer: “You have no experience in this field - and yet you’re asking for a rather high salary.” Applicant: “Yes, work is so much harder when you don’t know what you’re doing.”

The young boy was spending a Sunday afternoon with his grandad.… More

The Sabbath in the Jewish Tradition (0)

On the seventh day God finished his work … and he rested … So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work of creation.

The Sabbath, as it has been observed over the past 2,000 years, has two elements: the positive elements involve the observance of the celebration, while the negative involve the observance of restrictions.… More

Bishop Paul Martin SM (Comments Off)

Pope Francis has appointed Father Paul Martin SM as the 10th Bishop of the Christchurch Diocese, and he will be ordained Bishop in Christchurch on Saturday 3 March.

He succeeds Bishop Barry Jones who died in February 2016.

Bishop Patrick Dunn, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference is delighted with the appointment.… More

Good Old St Ignatius (0)

A favourite millennium joke concerns a tableau staged in Heaven to celebrate 2000 years since the birth of Christ Jesus. As I remember it, it goes like this:

It was a great celebration. The angels were in fine voice, and Jesus consented to be a baby again.… More

A Thankful, Sunburnt Country? (Comments Off)

“Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,” invites the priest at each Mass. We reply “It is right and just.” In this brief exchange, we capture the essence of Christian prayer and the essence of a Christian way of being in the world.… More

A School for Prayer (9) (0)

Evagrius of Pontus (346—399)
and the Eight ‘Thoughts’

By Fr Craig  Larkin SM, 1943 - 2015

Hardly known in the West, Evagrius of Pontus nevertheless is one of the most significant influences on spirituality in both East and West.

Evagrius belongs to the third generation of Desert Fathers.… More

Who Are You, Jesus? – 4. God who shares in our humanity (0)

We continue an earlier discussion on how Jesus identified, not only with victims, but with all of us in our weakness, struggles and failures.

We share the divine life through the Holy Spirit ‘living in us.’ The other side to that is the mystery of God in Jesus who partakes in our humanity.… More

April Saints (0)

Blessed Luigi Boccardo
(1861-1936)

Luigi Boccardo was born in Moncalieri, Italy, the seventh of nine children. Although his parents were farmers, they encouraged Luigi in his desire to study and enrolled him with the Barnabite Fathers.

When the young man wanted to study for the priesthood, however, his parents were reluctant but Luigi entered the diocesan seminary in 1877.… More

The Fight Against Slavery and Human Trafficking (Comments Off)

By Sr Anne Powell rc 

Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ.

Pope Francis, 10 April 2014.

The situation

Human trafficking is now the second most significant organised type of crime globally, with an estimated ‘income’ of $150 billion annually.… More

Another Invitation from the Lord … (0)

... for those of us who are heavily burdened

In one of his catechetical instructions recently, Pope Francis spoke about Jesus’ invitation to those of us who experience heavy burdens in life’s journey, an invitation to come to Him.… More