By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: The story of Dives & Lazarus is only in Luke’s Gospel. We might find this story troubling for a number of reasons. One reason is that people, like ourselves living in the developed world are like the Rich Man in Jesus’ parable. We dress smartly and eat well – it is so easy to become “blinkered” in our vision without noticing it. However, when we think on the global scale, most human beings live on meagre amounts each day. While we may no longer see a p

Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli Today the Victorian Court of Appeal, in a 2:1 majority decision, dismissed Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his conviction for assaulting two choir boys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in late 1996 and early 1997. I respectfully receive the Court’s decision, and I encourage everyone to do the same.  That there have been two trials, and now today’s decision in the Court of Appeal, the complexity of the search for the truth in this matter has tested

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey Sometimes when reading a paper or other material you come across a phrase that pulls you up short! I came across such a phrase the other day, it said quite starkly : “What the world most needs today is PRAYER”. The French author supported that claim by saying “It is prayer that will give birth to all the renewals, deep and fruitful transformations we all want for society today. This world of ours is very sick, and only contact with heaven will be able t

With joy and thanksgiving, Bishop Les Tomlinson has appointed Very Reverend Associate Professor Shane Mackinlay as the eighth Bishop of Sandhurst. Shane Mackinlay was born in Melbourne in 1965, attended a local government school in Ballarat before moving to St. Francis Xavier Primary School and then St. Patrick's College where he was dux in 1982. He studied at the Catholic Theological College and also obtained a physics degree at Monash University. He then served the parishe

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: I begin today with a quote from Francis Sullivan. (quote) * You may be wondering: “Who is Francis Sullivan?” He is the CEO of the Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council. Listen again to the quote. As we ponder about the culture of the Church, the parable from the gospel about the fig tree is spot on. Our god is the patient gardener who says “Don’t cut it down!” God promised to fertilise the tree. “Give it time!” He pleads. It is so good to know th

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: “How many people perhaps without realising it, are arrogant, are rough, do not have cordial relationships with others? This must be overcome by carrying out concrete gestures of reconciliation … and request forgiveness for our faults”. That was a statement of Pope Francis on 10th December last year. There is a huge challenge in the Scripture Readings this weekend. They are about the path towards Reconciliation. In the 1st reading, David could easily ha

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: Parents are always encouraging their children to make good choices. At school, our teachers are also helping the children to know the difference between what is good and what is not so good and hopefully to learn how to choose “the good”. Our lives are composed of many journeys. Mum goes shopping, Dad goes to work, and the children come to school. On holidays, families often go to some favourite place or visit friends or relatives. We do not rush the j

By Mons. Peter: There is a New Zealand-Australian artist (Angela by name). She updates, in one of her paintings, the classic Greek myth about Narcissus who is preoccupied with HIMSELF. In the night, in one of her paintings, she has a film crew at a Sydney swimming pool watching and getting a close-up of Narcissus gazing into the blackened water of the pool. Easy to put that into a contemporary setting. These days so many stretch out their phones and take multiple “selfies”. I

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: We know more about Jeremiah, the prophet, as an individual than we know about any of the other prophets. He stands out as a lonely, tragic figure, whose mission seemed to have failed utterly. Yet, that seeming ‘failure’ was his triumph. More than any of the other prophets, he felt the burden of his call and mission. It led to feeling alone and abandoned. Jeremiah is the supreme example – until Jesus – of the ‘triumph of failure’! We seek to live and to

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey Rather suddenly we move in the Liturgy from the infancy of Jesus with the visits of the Shepherds and then last week the coming of the Wise Men from the East to the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. Yet today’s celebration is telling us something very significant about ourselves. Let me tease that out a little. Because we have been baptised in Christ, we can apply to ourselves what we heard about Jesus at His baptism at the Jordan. The Father l

By Mons. Peter Jeffrey: It caught my eye. The heading was “From exclusion to Encounter”. It is a chapter in Jean Vanier’s reflections on “Seven Paths of Hope in a Troubled World”. Intrigued by that heading, I found myself musing on the meaning of the words. To encounter another we need to be truly present to the other person. We need to meet on an equal footing. It is not a superior talking down to an inferior. It requires that we genuinely listen to one another. This leads t