Reflect Veronica Lawson rsm3 October 2011 An absentee landowner with slaves to do his bidding is not a very attractive hero for a story, at least not from a 21st century perspective. The chief priests and elders, Jesus’ audience, make this character even less attractive than Jesus may have intended. They complete Jesus’ story by […]
Frank Brennan4 October 2011 Ultimately, hope is an act of the imagination. We are forever moving from a past, into a present and towards an imagined future. We have always done this. Serious illness does not suddenly bring the sense of hope into focus. In an illness where there is despair or depression or a […]
Bernard Leuthart4 October 2011 Stand in here beside me and take the strain. – Seamus Heaney. My mother, Cushla, was fond of pictures. She had a smart collection of NZ artworks and, having my eye on at least a couple, it was my standing joke to suggest often that she get out her stickers and […]
Archbishop John DewOctober 2011 In the last few years I have been privileged to have been invited to a number of book launches. The First Sunday of Advent (November 27) will be more than a ‘book’ launch. It will be the opportunity to pray in a different way and hopefully to have a new sense […]
Palmerston North Fr Kevin Neal4 October 2011 I’m walking back to my car after a visit to the library. I can see that there is a group of people, mostly men, standing around on the pavement. They are excited but silent. Some are busy taking shots with their phone cameras. Nobody wants to be photographed. […]
Palmerston North Cecily McNeill4 October 2011 As Bishop Peter Cullinane approaches his 75th birthday in November, the age when priests can expect to retire, he launched his latest book Openings to Renewal at the Let Us Pray symposium in August.Church historian John Broadbent’s comprehensive review will be published in Wel-com next month. Meanwhile, Cardinal Tom […]
Reflect Veronica Lawson rsm3 October 2011 The catastrophic famine in the Horn of Africa is challenging us and indeed the whole developed world to consider our use of the planet’s resources. Today’s gospel brings a warning. Like the invited guests in Matthew’s parable of the wedding banquet, we are in danger of turning our backs […]
Palmerston North Mary Betz3 October 2011 In the Let Us Pray symposium in Palmerston North in mid-August, Mgr Gerard Burns looked at how to pray in a world of injustice. He began the workshop on prayer and justice by posing several questions. In this article, workshop participant Mary Betz dialogues with him in response. What […]
Palmerston North Jackie Harrigan1 October 2011Building a community space was the impetus behind the Feilding Passionist Family Groups developing the courtyard behind Feilding’s new St Brigid’s church. The groups have spend the past year fundraising and running working bees to concrete the floor of the north-facing courtyard, reflecting the church’s cross motif in the concrete, […]
30 September 2011 Wellington’s Sr Anne Powell has beaten a large number of entrants as runner-up in a lucrative writing competition for her latest book of poetry, Tree of a Thousand Voices. The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust, with the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA), offers one of the largest monetary prizes for literature in […]