Faith & Spirituality in Review

God in the Top End

When I first arrived in Darwin, my family took me for fish ‘n’ chips at Cullen Bay. We sat in the grass before the beach and ate golden snapper. As I watched the sun go down, the sky went from blue to pink to a dark purple: God the artist at his canvas

From little things big things grow

Anne Lanyon, Coordinator of the Centre for Peace Ecology and Justice, had been running the formation program Growing a Culture of Peace for about seven years when Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment was published. ‘I’ll tell you what it felt like,’ said Anne of the moment when Laudato Si’ was unveiled. ‘It felt like pushing a barrel of bricks for years, and then suddenly you’ve got someone helping you push it.

The zero waste home

Meet the Carter family. Parents Oberon and Lauren and their three daughters live on an 850-square-metre, flat, suburban block, 15 minutes outside of Hobar

Everything is connected

One of the qualities I most appreciate about Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’ , is his commitment to the very Ignatian belief that everything is connected. Everything belongs. Unsurprisingly, the Pope reveals his Jesuit connection by linking all of us to creation: ‘We are part of nature, included in it, and thus in constant interaction with it (LS 139).

Praise be to you, caring for creation

‘Praise be to you’ is the English translation for the title of the Pope’s encyclical (Laudato Si’) a 184-page document that was released on 24 May, 2015

Our Community of Prayer - June, July, August

The Pope's prayer intentions, calendar of saints and reflections on the liturgical readings for each day of the month. Click here to visit the website

Do gooders and justice doers

There is a distinction between a do-gooder and a person who lives guided by values of mercy and justice. Do-gooders can be motivated by giving from their surplus and simply offering short-term relief. This often keeps the victim indebted. Justice requires us to stand with those who suffer. In such solidarity we are affected and…

Of lutes, language, ouds and odes

He stepped through the door of the room I was using for entry interviews. A young man, dark hair, and the oval face, straight nose, strong eyebrows and lustrous dark eyes of Byzantine inheritance. We shook hands. Mehmet, in halting English, outlined his request.

A colourful box of hope

In Australian churches, there is a colourful little box that makes its appearance at the start of Lent each year. It’s a small box made of cardboard about six inches tall and three wide, conspicuously present near the hymn books at the back of the church

Telegrams from the mission

When the government decided to set up a telegraph station at the New Norcia (Western Australia) mission, they asked Bishop Salvado, its founder, if he could recommend anyone. The bishop thought he knew just the right person. She was Helen Pangerian Cuper, a tall, handsome woman with long black hair, who was already in charge of the post office

Finding Kolkata

Brother Doug Walsh fms is showing me around his place, an old house in Heidelberg West. The brothers’ house. On his table is a letter from the St Vincent de Paul Society about the soup vans. A meal is brewing in the slow cooker