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…

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…

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…

Each ANZAC Day we gather with both grateful hearts and heavy memories. We remember those who went to war from Australia and New Zealand—many of them young, many of them never returned, and many who returned forever marked by what they had seen and endured. We honour their courage, their sacrifice, and the cost of the freedoms which all too often take for granted. Yet ANZAC Day is not only about remembering the past. It is also about interpreting the present in the light of that sacrifice and asking what kind of world we are now building with the legacy they left us. Once again, our world is marked by…

In 1986, an extraordinary film was released, Babette’s Feast. Babette, a French Catholic, is a Parisian chef who gets caught up in the riots in the French capital in 1871. Her husband and son are killed in the fighting. Babette is assisted to escape to Denmark where members of a strict Protestant sect take her into their remote village. The founder of the community has died, but his two daughters engage Babette as their cook. The mysterious woman assumes the nature of a servant. They have no idea who she is, or what has bought her to their home. Having been in the village for 14 years, Babette wins 10,000…

As I reflected in my Australia Day homily, on 8 November last year, a small group of men stood outside the New South Wales Parliament dressed in black, their faces covered, their banners carrying the symbols and slogans of Nazism. I was in Rome at the time, but the shock of the incident stayed with me for many weeks. It was shocking not because hatred is new, but because of the sheer brazenness of the incident. Shocking because it demonstrated that, for whatever reason, our society had now become a place where the simply unthinkable had now become possible. The events of 14 December 2025, and the subsequent legislative reform…

On 8 November last year, a small group of men stood outside the New South Wales Parliament dressed in black, their faces covered, their banners carrying the symbols and slogans of Nazism. I was in Rome at the time, but the shock of the incident stayed with me for many weeks. It was shocking not because hatred is new, but because of the sheer brazenness of the incident. Shocking because our society had emerged as a place where the unthinkable had now become possible. The events of 14 December 2025, and the subsequent legislative reform of only last week, have now made such a public protest more difficult.  But legislation alone…

Last Sunday evening, our parish along with members of other Christian Churches in the city of Willoughby gathered on the concourse at Chatswood for a beautiful 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. Our evening finished with the sense of harmony and hope. 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…

In a couple of weeks’ time, our Parish of Chatswood will host again a Youth in Council. A number of students across years 9-12 have already participated in two earlier occasions of such a gathering. The mornings on which we gather senior students from both Pius and Mercy College aim to encourage conversation about some of the most important things.  At our first Youth in Council we focussed on what helps us belong.  At the second one a few months ago in March we focussed on Hope. And in our third on 22 May, taking the lead from the students themselves, we will focus on mental wellbeing. I am excited…