Experienced and long-time migrant chaplain Fr Anthony Paganoni CS ponders what Australia’s latest attitude to refugees and asylum seekers says about us…

When it comes to church architecture, a Sydney academic says, the surest safeguard of all that is good is the “shock of the new” – sort of. Robert Hiini explains.

Perth woman Geetanjali Arora developed an unexpected desire to walk a pilgrimage that’s over 800km from start to finish. By the time she had reached her goal – Spain’s famous Santiago de Compostela – she felt all the pain and suffering had been worth it for the lessons she learned along the way…

God tells us to “love your neighbour as yourself”, yet the Universal Prayer attributed to Pope Clement XI says “Give me good God, love for you, hatred for myself…” It seems to be a contradiction. Can you shed some light on this?

British philosopher Timothy Chappell says it is becoming increasingly necessary to insist on the personhood of people. You don’t get your personhood switched off just because you fall ill, he says. In the real world, it just doesn’t work that way.

David Cameron was right to pledge to force internet companies to cooperate to protect children…

There is a federal election on, as most people will have gathered by now, and it is somewhat interesting to reflect how far politics in Australia is dominated by issues of pure accounting and economics – as if the life and culture of the nation are reducible to nothing more than statistics such as tax rates (and for whom), GDP, GNP and how far China’s demand for Western Australian iron ore will save the nation – if at all – from financial woes.

When Pope Francis went to the Marian shrine of Aparecida, he mentioned that some fishermen had found the statue of Our Lady that is venerated there. Can you tell me more about it? Did Our Lady appear?

Some friends tell me that with Darwin’s theory of evolution, we no longer need to believe in God as a creator, since natural selection explains how the different species came to be. I have trouble with this but am not sure how to answer them. Can you help me?

The astonishing variety of weight-loss devices tells us something about false gods. Spiritual health is much more important.