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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2 August 2026
There was a time, only a few years ago, when the word “unprecedented” seemed to dominate every news bulletin. It described drought, devastating bushfires, a global pandemic, floods, and the upheaval that followed. Today that word has largely disappeared. Not because life has become easier, but because uncertainty itself has become normal. We have almost grown accustomed to living in a world where stability can no longer be taken for granted. Our uncertainties are different now, but they are no less real. Many wonder what the future will hold for their children. Within the Church, too, recent events have left many feeling unsettled and disappointed. Trust has been wounded. Questions about our…
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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 26 July 2026
These weeks will not be easy for us as the Church in Australia. Last week the trial of the former Bishop of Broome commenced in Perth. On Monday morning an ICAC inquiry will commence involving a number of Catholic entities. We do not know how wide the scope of the inquiry may be caste. At such a time, there can be a temptation to lose heart. The scrutiny directed towards our communities can so dominate our vision that we begin to believe there is little else to see. It is understandable. Wounds demand our attention. Yet if we look only at the wounds, we can miss the quiet work of…
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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 19 July 2026
We do not have to look very far to recognise that evil is a real presence in our world. It confronts us every day. We see it in the continuing wars that devastate nations and uproot families; in acts of terrorism and violence; in the growing disregard for human life; in the exploitation of the vulnerable through human trafficking and modern slavery; in the loneliness that silently claims so many lives; in the deep polarisation that fractures communities; and increasingly in a digital world where misinformation, manipulation, anonymous cruelty and the distortion of truth can spread around the globe in moments. Yet if we are honest, we know that evil…
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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 12 July 2026
The Australian social researcher, Hugh Mackay once gave a reflection on how difficult it is to get other people to hear what we are trying to say.[1] As he observed, how many times have we said in frustration, “If I’ve told them once, I’ve told them a hundred times. It just seems to go in one ear and out the other!” As Mackay says, what we may be really saying, of course, is, “Guess what, I know a message that never works. It doesn’t seem to matter how often I say it; it never has any effect on the people I’m talking to. But I don’t give up easily. It’s…
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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 5 July 2026
Today, the Church in Australia celebrates National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday. We give thanks for the oldest continuing culture on earth and for the profound gift that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples offer to the whole Church. Their witness reminds us that God was already at work in this land long before the Gospel was first proclaimed here. And in their own tradition we are given a way to enter Jesus’ message today. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest . . . Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest…
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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 28 June 2026
The story is told of a king who ruled a small kingdom. It was not famous for its wealth or its power, but it possessed one treasure unlike any other—a magnificent diamond that had belonged to the royal family for generations. The king displayed it where everyone could admire it. People travelled from across the land simply to gaze upon it, and over time the diamond became more than the king’s possession; it became the symbol of the people’s dignity, hope and identity. Then one day a soldier came running to the palace with terrible news. Although the diamond had remained under constant guard and no one had touched it,…
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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 21 June 2026
Around this time, twenty-one years ago, nine Catholic monks were martyred in Algeria. Thay were Trappist monks who got caught in a conflict not of their making. Kidnapped amidst the violence of civil war and eventually executed, their deaths might have become simply one more tragic footnote in a long history of innocent victims of violence. Yet what continues to move people around the world about them is not simply the manner of their deaths, but the way they lived. The monks knew the risks. They could have left. Others urged them to leave. Yet they remained among the Muslim people whom they had come to love and serve. They…
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Four Podcasts on Educating in Contemporary Culture – 2026 series
Podcast One – An Exciting Age, a Challenging Culture Through this series of four podcasts, we want to explore the culture in which we live and work, the culture in which our young people are born and grow, the culture in which we are seeking to educate our young. Our education seeks to address the whole person, to enable them to become who they are truly, to assist them to become agents of change for a society that enables human flourishing and cultivates the common good of all, and, ambitiously, to encounter Christ and to led into discipleship of him. However, this project is not possible unless we take seriously the…
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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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