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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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Reflection on Peace, Guest Speaker, at celebrations for the Buddha’s Birthday, Darling Harbour Sydney – 2 May 2026.
At this moment in our world, the longing for peace is no longer an abstract ideal. It is an urgent necessity. We feel it in the background of daily life: in the anxiety of nations, in the strain between cultures, in the quiet unrest within our own hearts. And so it is deeply significant that we gather in the context of the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday and this Multicultural Festival. These are not merely cultural observances; they are reminders that humanity has always searched for a path to peace. In a multicultural society such as our own, peace cannot be presumed. It must be cultivated. It requires more than tolerance;…
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Homily for the Thanksgiving Mass of newly ordained Fr Huy Tran – 30 April 2026
In recently commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decree on education, Pope Leo encourages us all “to cultivate a heart that listens, a gaze that encourages, and an intelligence that discerns.”[1] Wonderful attitudes for each us to develop but especially for those who are beginning a life of ministry – a heart that listens, a gaze that encourages and an intelligence that discerns. These attitudes of heart and mind are especially important, too, as we approach some of the primary questions of our time. One of those is the question of personhood. What is the human person? How do we define the nature of personhood? It is a question that has…
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