The wounded: a national day of sorrow 

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Frank Brennan SJ, Rector, Newman College, The University of Melbourne, offered this homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the 2020 National Day of Sorrow and Promise on October 25, 2020. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-251020

At the beginning of his new encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis speaks of his inspiration Francis of Assisi as the ‘saint of fraternal love, simplicity and joy’ who ‘felt himself a brother to the sun, the sea and the wind, yet he knew that he was even closer to those of his own flesh. Wherever he went, he sowed seeds of peace and walked alongside the poor, the abandoned, the infirm and the outcast, the least of his brothers and sisters.’

Was Jesus a wimp? 

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Rex Hackett, Lismore priest, reflects on the sufferings of the crucifixion of Christ in a meditation time he experienced on a retreat. 

So, Father most holy, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son, whom you led through suffering and death on the Cross to the glory of the resurrection and a place at your right hand.Many years ago I was in the middle of an eight day directed retreat somewhere in Queensland and I was having a quiet time listening in the silence.

Eric Hodgens

Grieving for the lost parish 

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Eric Hodgens, retired Melbourne priest, talks about a church in crisis but also in transformation. How will it take shape in a post COVID world? 

Some church groups are pressing for a post-pandemic opening up, others, who have already opened up, are sounding a lament as they find it is not business as usual. There are signs of grieving for the parish – an institution on its knees.