Over the past 12 months the story that has had the biggest impact on me personally, and hopefully our readers, is that of three ‘forgotten families’ on bridging visas struggling to cope during the COVID-19 restrictions.
As has been said so many times in recent months, 2020 has been a year like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption and change in almost every area of our lives, including the way we have celebrated Mass and the other sacraments. As we approach Christmas we look forward to the hope of a more ‘normal’ 2021.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, recently I have visited two museums with what might be called a religious theme, and an educational sub-theme. One, the Mary MacKillop Museum in Kensington, and, second, more recently, the Jesuit Retreat Centre’s historical display at Sevenhill. Both well worth a visit.
It is 50 years since the SA Parliament debated and passed legislation relating to abortion. A lot has changed since then and the Attorney General Vickie Chapman has decided it’s time to ‘modernise’ the legislation.
Opinion
As we approach the end of the year, a challenging one at that, there is a sense of rounding out the year liturgically as well as with our everyday calendar of events.
Opinion
St Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153 once wrote ‘A saint is not someone who never sins, but one who sins less and less frequently and gets up more and more quickly’.
Opinion
In 1902, at the age of 60, Mary MacKillop suffered a stroke. Her mind was unaffected and her speech intelligible, but with her right side paralysed, she had to make major adaptations to her life.
Perhaps the three most important words that children can learn are ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’, but the attitudes behind these words – respect, gratitude and forgiveness – only develop when they are lived out in the family, in the school, in the parish, and in society at large.
Ten years ago South Australians turned out in their thousands to celebrate the canonisation of Australia’s first saint, Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
As time permits I have been attempting to visit as many Mass centres in the Archdiocese as possible. I’m told there are around 143 different places where Mass is celebrated so this will take some time.
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