A Catholic Monthly Magazine

World Day of Prayer for Grandparents and the Elderly – 25 July 2021 (0)

Catherine Wiley founded the Catholic Grandparents Association (CGA) in the early 2000s. At that time, she and her husband Stewart were living near the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, England. They now live in Ireland, in the Archdiocese of Tuam, near the Irish National Shrine of Our Lady at Knock.… More

Br Colin Campbell SM (0)

Colin Campbell was born at Cessnock NSW on 27 April 1922. His father owned a draper shop. He was the elder of two brothers. His mother died of an allergic reaction when he was five years old and his brother three years.… More

Something Old – Something New [1] (0)

A Possible Marist Spiritual Ecology: Part 2 

The second Dimension:
Commitment – Fourvière

Framework 2:
The Marist Story within the Universal Story – Commitment – Fourvière

We are proposing that a paradigm for re-energising our Marist Story is to re-connect it with the Universal Story.… More

Bank Profits, Cheques and Balances (0)

In Aotearoa New Zealand Westpac Bank made a profit of $583 million for the six months ended 31 March 2021. For the same period, BNZ made $660 million and ANZ, $930 million. Such gains are excessive. While their profits have skyrocketed, services provided by the banks to their ordinary customers have become fewer and fewer.… More

World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly (0)

On 2 February we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, when Simeon and Anna, both elderly, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, recognised Jesus as the Messiah.

The Holy Spirit still stirs up thoughts and words of wisdom in the elderly today.… More

“Loving People Back to Life” — Caryll Houselander (0)

Part 1 of 2

In early 1942, an amazing medical referral took place. Dr Eric Strauss, one of Great Britain’s most distinguished psychiatrists and neurologists, quietly began sending emotionally disturbed boys to spend time with a woman who was a spiritual writer, wood carver, poet, and mystic.… More

Euthanasia or Letting Go? (0)

In the past number of years, there have been numerous essays concerning euthanasia in the Marist Messenger, rightly so, because it is a critically important topic. The authors stressed the dangers of legal euthanasia proliferating across the world and thus becoming a norm.… More

Can You Bear It? (0)

A man said to God, “God, is it true that to you a billion years is like a second?” “Yes,” said God. The man asked, “God, is it true that to you a billion dollars is like one dollar?" “Yes,” said God.… More

Celebrating Fourvière Day – 23 July (0)

Early in the morning on 23 July 1816, twelve men crossed the Saône River in the city of Lyons, France. They were making their way from St Irenaeus diocesan seminary to the top of the hill of Fourvière. On the previous day, some of them had been ordained to the priesthood.… More

The Cause of Fr Jean-Claude Colin (0)

Founder of the Society of Mary

Fr Jean Coste speaks to Fr Colin    

Source: jeanclaudecolin.org

Monteverde, Rome, 25 June 1990 - the bicentenary year of the birth of Jean-Claude Colin

Jean-Claude Colin, having been asked to speak of you on this bi-centenary, I have said precious little about your person.… More

MM 50 Years Ago (0)

Uphill struggle of Catholic magazines

The Australian Messenger of the Sacred Heart – the vital little magazine with the spiritual punch – has lately been forced by rising costs to lift its annual subscription to $2.60.

When Fr K I McGrath SM founded the Marist Messenger in 1929, it was the Australian ‘Messenger’ that he had in mind to imitate, though our “Messenger’ swiftly became a person in its own right and has continued to become even more so.… More

Planning for My Future (Comments Off)

Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

Matthew 25:13

The writing group I attend at The Cenacle Retreat House every other week started about ten years ago with a group of about eight women.… More

St John of the Cross (0)

Part 1 of 5

St John of the Cross was born in 1542 in Spain and died there in 1591. He was canonised in 1726 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1926.

Today he is a largely unknown religious figure.… More

Staying Both Anchored and Nimble (0)

Watching young people at play or at sports’ training, reminds me of times past when I could run, jump, kick a footy, bowl a reasonable leg-break and hit a fair forehand – not all at once of course! The athletic flexibility of young people is a joyful gift and I often pray for them that it lasts as long as possible.… More

A Thank You Letter (Comments Off)

Dear Mary and Joseph,

I just wanted to write to you to thank you for setting such a good example for us when we are frightened and unsure of the future. When reading about how you had to flee to Egypt to keep Jesus safe from King Herod, it struck me that you would know all about what we have gone through recently with the pandemic.… More

July Saints (0)

Blessed Vasil’ Hopko (1904-1976)

Vasil' Hopko was born on April 21, 1904, in Hrabské, a small village in Eastern Slovakia. Raised by his uncle, a Greek-Catholic priest, Hopko felt called to the priesthood at an early age. In 1929, he was ordained a priest at the Greek-Catholic Seminary of Presov.… More

Sea Sunday – 11 July (0)

In March, we all heard the news that a huge container vessel was stuck in the Suez Canal for a week. It was high drama with extensive media coverage because the MV Ever Given blocked a vital shipping route.

Not far away was another ship, abandoned for the past four years, on which Mohammed Aisha has been living.… More