It’s been a big year for St Joseph Pignatelli Parish in Attadale which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its church earlier this month. On December 9, 1962 the church of St Joseph Pignatelli was blessed by Archbishop Redmond Prendiville. The parish had been founded eight years earlier with the Jesuits as the first parish priests. It was this connection which led to the church bein...

By Fr Jean-Noel Marie Our pilgrimage began on November 9 against a backdrop of noise and violence between Israelis and Hamas. We had set out on a journey of a lifetime, eager to walk in the footsteps of the prophets and Our Lord, Jesus Christ. We were determined to cross into the land of the Prince of Peace - the land of the impossible. We, too, had an army of people, at home, prayi...

By Bishop Donald Sproxton The birth of a baby is a time of promise. With the safe arrival of the child, there is a mix of relief and joy, as well as wonder. The mum and dad marvel at the little hands and feet, fingers and toes, and they whisper a quiet prayer of thanks for their healthy baby. Some time later, the parents begin to think and ponder on what will become of their new...

By Fr Raymond J De Souza One of the joys of my life these past 10 years has been the spiritual direction of young women on campus. The soul of a young woman, searching for her own mission and vocation in life, and for a foundation upon which to build her life, has a certain aptitude for discovering the Lord’s love and offering a response to it. Working with the young women at Newma...

Recently my five-year-old son asked me why Christmas is so important and while I think I gave him some good answers I suspect there may be more. How would you answer him? Actually, the Catechism of the Catholic Church answers your son’s question under the heading “Why did the Word become flesh?” It is a somewhat more sophisticated way of putting it but in the end it is the same questi...

Tragedy upon tragedy, evil of evils. The story which flashed around the globe last week of the killing of 20 primary school-age children and six adults at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut was all so sickening. The shock is universal and anyone who tries to contemplate what happened can only cry. There would be no shame in it. In this whole terrible episode, the silence of the ch...

Dave Brubeck, the influential and prolific pianist whose composition Take Five became a standard in the annals of jazz, died on December 5 at age 91, one day before his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure. He was reportedly on his way to visit a cardiologist in Norwalk, Connecticut, with his son Darius when he suffered a heart attack. Brubeck played his “cool” brand of West Coast ...

Phaik Kee Teoh was born near the mouth of the Perak River in Malaya on the eve of the Pacific War. She spent her babyhood in the jungle where the women had to hide to escape the predatory behaviour of undisciplined enemy soldiers. Her birth registration shows she was the second twin. Because of harsh conditions in jungle life, she was fed on rice gruel; there was no milk. According...

When Portuguese missionaries arrived in what is now modern-day Kerala, India, they came face-to-face with an ancient community of Christians dating back to the ministry of the Apostle Thomas. They encountered a Church with a Syriac liturgy, Persian bishops, its own unique form of administration and religious practices which, while Christian, also reflected the Indian cultures amidst which th...

As another year comes to a close we will see the usual back and forth commentary about the cost of fireworks displays in all the major cities of the world to herald in the New Year. The largest display in Australia is put on in and around Sydney Harbour with approximately seven tonnes of fireworks launched. It is estimated that 1.6 million people watch the fireworks at vantage points ...