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World Cup 2022
In 1492 Christopher Columbus “discovered” Central and South America. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI gave those territories to the powers of Spain and Portugal and reduced to slavery the native peoples. The beautiful church of St Mary Majors in Rome has a ceiling decorated by gold sent by the Spanish conquerors, so the slaves were …
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The Good Old Days!
St Augustine, writing in the 4th century, asked when the “good old days” were that people talked about, and wondered if the people who lived those good old days thought the same. He knew history. There were no periods he could see: Imperial Rome when the city had 900,000 slaves serving 100,000 Roman citizens; the …
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Church, Mission, Evangelisation & Discipleship
Jesus said “Love one another as I have loved you” – so where there is hatred we bring love, injury/pardon, despair/hope, sadness/joy, darkness/light, doubt/faith. The original meaning of “church” is a gathering of the people and the name “church” was given to the building where they met. If the walls fell down we would still …
Continue reading “Church, Mission, Evangelisation & Discipleship”
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Our Bible
Come. Turn the pages of the Bible with me and wonder at the variety of its many books, styles of writing and glimpses of the people who wrote those books. Book of Genesis:Chapter one is a poem in which the author imagines God’s creating the world’s in a working-man’s week of six days followed by …
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Yesterday
Imagine that we meet and I say “Yesterday.” You smile and ask “Calendar or all yesterdays?” We smile. Of course, ‘yesterday’ has two meanings. Now “Tomorrow”, and the same smiles: “Calendar or many tomorrows?” One of us says “Now” and we understand: ‘Now’ holds everything, the love of yesterday and the love of tomorrow. ‘Now’ …
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Alzheimer’s, Dementia, etc.
“Am I me or not me?” The clarity of her words startled her husband. She did not know who she was, if she was. He had watched her slipping away from him for a while, sudden lucid memories of their life and then a fog that settled over her memory and she did not see …
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Queen Elizabeth II (RIP)
Our gracious Queen Elizabeth, the most loved monarch in the history of the world, has died. Weren’t we blessed to have her for seventy years. She loved us. We always knew that. She shared her life with us, her moments of family sadnesses, accepting the responsibilities of her position with dignity, strength and love. That …
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Loving Hearts
Our world is being reshaped socially, politically, in the startling changes of climate. We can be involved – or withdraw to negative lives of “how things used to be” when we need to be encouraging one another in how the world might become better. Think of our young people. The only world they know is …
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Church Abuse And Guilt (3)
Good Morning All and Fr John, I’m not too happy about some thoughts in this week’s bulletin. If we accept misconduct by a few in the Church as a justification for falling adherence to the faith then by implication the greater fall in attendances in the protestant churches must raise some interesting questions. Today, there …
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Love Is God
You don’t need words, though sometimes they inspiringly help, you simply need to love. Your smile, your look of understanding, your
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Parishes Of The Future (2)
Seven more of our priests are retiring. We pray for them to enjoy the quiet final years of their lives and to have happy memories of serving God’s people. Our organisation in parishes will come to depend on the people whose skills and experience will become ever more recognised and valued. Good people offer initiatives …
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Church Abuse & Guilt (2)
The most condemning words about the Catholic Church that have been spoken in our lifetime are words of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. We shall not hear stronger. The words were spoken at the Stations of the Cross in Rome in 2005, written by Pope John Paul and spoken by his great …
Prayer is Love; I want to Love.