Tag: Highlights

Hundreds of kilograms of sweets, 40 tonnes of prawns, countless whole lambs, sausages, pork bellies—meet the Sydneysiders who make Easter special from the moment the Mass has ended.

For many years I have been saying the “prayer before a crucifix” to gain a plenary indulgence, observing the usual conditions, but someone recently told me that this indulgence is no longer recognised by the church. Is this true?  

Thousands have gathered in scenes of joy and reverence to pray with the relics of five saints on a national tour to mark 50 years of the Maronite eparchy in Australia. Among them is Salwa Elias, who says she was cured from a painful and crippling condition which plagued her for 12 years, after she asked St Charbel to intercede for her.

Although the Shroud of Turin once seemed to be discredited by carbon dating in the 1980s, new research has cast doubt on the carbon dating and produced dramatic evidence that the Shroud confirms the resurrection of Jesus. I spent five years researching my recently-published book Riddles of the Shroud: Questions Science Can’t Answer, and the evidence suggests the Shroud covered Jesus at the point of resurrection.

A Statement from the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP https://youtu.be/D0aqjclMpLo In many ways contemporary societies are deeply divided. Our politics are often polarised...

Last week, radio station 2DayFM hosted its Wedding for One, an event that featured nine women making vows to love themselves for the rest of their lives. Aged in their 30s and 40s, some of these women had been married before, some have never been brides. Some have kids, others don’t. One even had grandkids.

In Horsley Park the rate of older people who became poor in the last few years more than doubled, with a 220 per cent reported increase. Lurnea-Cartwright saw a 131 per cent increase and Liverpool a 106 per cent increase.

One of the fundamental questions at the heart of contemporary Western culture concerns what it means to be a man. Do men have a place in our culture anymore? How should men act? How can he love and protect those entrusted to his care? How can he air his concerns without them being immediately smacked down because they are different?

Palm Sunday presents for us a time of conflicting sentiments. Both a time for rejoicing in anticipation of Christ’s resurrection and of anxious anticipation awaiting the passion.

God who reigns over all of creation accepts to be one of us, suffering unimaginable pain and distress, and is executed and buried in the depths of the earth. In doing so, the Father reveals who God is to us and opens to us the way to rise with his Son into glory and share in God’s very life and happiness.

In a culture where the phrase “thoughts and prayers” has often become more of a cliche or “I’ll pray for you” can even be expressed as judgement, one parish community has been challenged to go deeper into tradition and experience the true power of Christ-centred prayer.

Catholic Weekly cartoonist Paul Dorin's take on the NSW election