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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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,…