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Submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion – June 2026
On the evening of 14 December 2025, the Catholic Parish of Chatswood in NSW, along with members of other Christian Churches in the city of Willoughby, gathered on the civic concourse at Chatswood for an evening of Christmas Carols. The night resounded with the sense of gentleness and peace, both of which lie at the very heart of the Christian Christmas story. At exactly the same time, on the other side of the city, at Bondi, others, too, were gathering with festivity to mark the Festival of Lights, Hanukah, itself a narrative of memory and hope. Their evening finished with unimaginable pain and distress. How do we reconcile these two experiences…
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Corpus Christi Sunday – Homily before Eucharistic Procession and Benediction – 7 June 2026
Today the Church throughout the world celebrates the great feast of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. One of the most beautiful feasts of the Christian year, it invites us to contemplate the mystery that lies at the very heart of our faith: the gift of Christ himself in the Eucharist. Thus as we begin our devotion today, it is important to reflect on what it is that we are doing and why. The great tragedy would be if we came to Mass every week, received Communion faithfully, adored the Blessed Sacrament reverently, and yet remained fundamentally unchanged. For the Eucharist is not simply an object…
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Corpus Christi Sunday – Parish First Holy Communion Homily – 7 June 2026
Today is a very special day. It is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the feast on which the Church celebrates the greatest gift Jesus left us before He returned to His Father: the gift of his very life in the Eucharist. And today is especially joyful because our children will receive their First Holy Communion. Children, today is a day you will remember for the rest of your lives. You have received many gifts over the years. Perhaps a favourite toy, a special book, a bicycle, or a gift for your birthday or Christmas. But today you are receiving something infinitely greater than any present anyone could ever give you.…
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Trinity Sunday – 31 May 2026
On first glance, the connection between theology and technology might seem very slim indeed. What link could the mystery of the Trinity which we celebrate this Sunday possibly have with the rapid rise of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence? It is rather remarkable, however, that in this last week leading to our celebration of Trinity Sunday this year, Pope Leo has released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Just as, in May 1891, Pope Leo XIII saw in the industrial revolution an unmistakable turning point for humanity and published his encyclical Rerum Novarum, “Of New Things”, so now Pope Leo XIV sees ourselves,…
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Farewell Address for Archbishop Randazzo – 28 May 2026
Your Grace, Fathers and Deacons, Friends I have long reflected on the power of the imagination and its significance not only for our ordinary life but also for our life of faith. The images we carry shape our character and our behaviour; they also capture the sense of our self and others. And, indeed, certainly our experience of others leaves us with an impression which translates into an image, and that image holds our memory of the other. There may be many images of Archbishop Anthony that we carry this evening, and may we not embarrass him by calling them forth! Yet, there is one particular image that is uppermost for…
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Ascension Sunday – 17 May 2026
Our celebration of the Ascension comes to us at a strange and uncertain moment in our world. It can feel at times as though our horizon has narrowed, as though we are becoming increasingly trapped within fear, division, and uncertainty. Yet, into this world, the feast of the Ascension speaks a word of hope. How might we understand this hope? Imagine for a little while a moment in our life which was full of possibility. Maybe it was when we first started school, or began our first job, or left home for the first time. Perhaps it was when we married, entered religious life, became a parent, or made some important…
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6th Sunday in Easter – 10 May 2026 (Mothers’ Day)
The tenderness of Jesus towards his friends strikes us from today’s gospel. As he prepares them for his departure, he says to them: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you.” In the midst of all their uncertainty, fear and loss, Jesus assures them that they are not abandoned. His love will remain with them, even when they cannot see him. We know only too well that one of our great fears is the fear of being alone, of being forgotten, of being left without anyone to hold us when life becomes dark or confusing. Yet from the beginning of our lives, most of us first…
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75th Anniversary of St Edmund’s Wahroonga – School for Children with Special Needs – 8 May 2026
The great storyteller JR Tolkein in Lord of the Rings has Sam say at one stage, “the brave things in the old tales and song, Mr. Frodo: adventures as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of sport, as you might say. But that’s not they way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them usually‑their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect…
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Vigil for Fr David Taylor – Forrestville – 3 May 2026
There is something quietly sacred that happens at a Vigil. We gather in the presence of one another, in the presence of memory, and in the presence of God, and we begin to listen again to a life. Indeed, one of the most extraordinary experiences at a time such as this is hearing the story of the one whose life we celebrate. It is like standing for a moment at the window of their life. We glimpse something of its radical uniqueness, its relationships, its turning points, its joys and burden, and we realise that the world is not quite the same because this life has been lived. How much…
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5th Sunday of Easter – 3 May 2026
The Gospel we hear today, from the fourteenth chapter of John, is spoken at a moment of deep uncertainty. Jesus senses the anxiety of his disciples. Everything familiar is about to change. The one they have relied upon, the one who has gathered and guided them, is speaking of departure. And into that unsettled moment he says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” This is not a denial of reality. It is not a reassurance that nothing will change. It is, rather, an invitation to trust in a deeper presence that will remain even when structures shift and visible leadership passes. Perhaps, this gives us a window by which to view…
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