1. The betrothal of Joseph to Mary Joseph was the most privileged of men. He was not called, but was one of the few who are chosen. He was chosen by God to be the spouse of the purest of creatures, who was to be the mother of the Son of God. 2. Joseph accepts that Mary is to be the mother of God. Joseph, the humble carpenter, son of David, was chosen by God to fulfill the words of the ...

By Tom Gourlay “I am no murderer... Why is it that a doctor should be made to feel like an executioner?” Outspoken pro-euthanasia advocate Dr Phillip Nitschke, founding director of the euthanasia support group EXIT International recently mused over his life’s work and the direction in which he is hoping to take it into the future at a lecture of a recent conference of the same organisati...

I was scrolling through Facebook this week and I saw the following message; “KEEP people in your life that truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, inspire you, enhance you & make you happy. If you have people who do NONE of the above, let them go.” These sort of short inspirational messages are all over the internet and I have posted up a few of them myself. However as I read...

I read recently that a Russian has written an alternate version of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, with the evil demon-god Sauron as the hero. In this, Sauron, aided by the evil wizard Saruman, is trying to trying to bring modernity and industrialisation to Middle-Earth, in the face of the medievalist obstructionism of Gandalf, Aragorn. etc. My first thought was this seemed ...

It began as an ordinary conversation at a Sunday afternoon parish social function. I was chatting with one of the ladies who had arranged the festivities, and the subject came around to Mass that morning. “Oh, we didn’t go;” she quipped, “we felt like having a lazy morning, so we slept in.” I was taken aback by her casual admission. Since she and her husband were very active in the...

As part of her sophomore English Literature course, my teenage daughter has been studying The Tell-Tale Heart, a short story by 19th century American Gothic fiction author, Edgar Allan Poe. For those not familiar, this tale is written in first-person narrative by a character, who (whilst insisting he is not mad) exhibits classic symptoms of monomania and paranoia, if not psychopathy. ...

By Fr Tadgh Tierney OCD Carmelite priest Fr Joseph Kelly was born in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, on January 9, 1929. His father, also named Joseph, was an inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary. After attending the local primary school, he was recruited for the Carmelite Juniorate in Castlemartyr, Co. Cork, which he attended from September 1942-47. He had a twin brother Frank...

Felix and Rita Calleja survived the terrors of the German bombing of Malta during World War II to start a new life and family in Australia. PHOTO: Paul Calleja[/caption] Seventy years ago Felix Calleja and Rita Grech stood at the altar of the Hal Lija Church of the Transfiguration in Malta and took their marriage vows, promising to be true in good times and in bad, for richer, for poorer, ...

During 35 years of legal practice, Gus Irdi has never yelled “I object” in an open court room but he is eager to debunk the myth of the stereotypical, power-hungry lawyer. The man behind Irdi Legal and a graduate of the University of Western Australia in Law and Jurisprudence, Mr Irdi tells Juanita Shepherd how his faith has helped him during his career and the struggles and triumphs he has...

A Morley woman has come out swinging against the best selling book Fifty Shades of Grey, saying erotic fiction is not the harmless fun it purports to be. Consecrated virgin Maureen Togher shared her personal experience with hundreds of online friends last week, citing the book’s massive sales and her own desire to prevent harm to others. Dubbed “mummy porn” by much of the mainstream m...