This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. As a historian I particularly value the opportunity the church year offers us to consider the creature called Time, receive it as a gift,...

As a historian I am fascinated by how and why things started and even more why they changed. The festivals and ceremonies of the Church are for me one such intriguing subject. Saints` Days are...

We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope,...

At present, being on one’s own — be it in a situation of shielding or vulnerability, or just a question of old age or living in a single household — is the topic de notre jours. It is much...

The other day, quite by chance, a small card photo frame fell out of a book. It was a picture of me, my mother, and the dog Sybil. My mother was standing, I was crouching down beside her hanging...

I have always loved October. Yes, true, it is the month in which I was born but I don’t think that is the main reason, or indeed any reason. After all, once my mother and great-aunt died that day...

Thousands of thousands stand around thy throne, O God most high; Ten thousand times ten thousand sound thy praise; but who am I? About this time of year I begin to notice angels. Not literally so...

I read about a recruitment campaign the Jesuits ran in Oz. They hired a PR firm to come up with an attention-grabbing tagline that would draw people to the Jesuits’ website, where the Order’s...

St John Henry Newman famously said: “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never...

When we were young didn’t we all think we could fly (with or without a magic carpet), turn ourselves into a frog (or a prince/ess) or maybe suddenly, magnificently, be discovered as the long lost...