Our Lady, Mother of Priests

Our Lady, Mother of Priests

In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope St John Paul II dealt with the matter of “The Formation of Priests in the Circumstances of the Present Day.” Towards the end of that document he said this: Every aspect of priestly formation can be...

To Love the Church

To Love the Church

The Church is the mother of our faith because she generates us, she nourishes us, she strengthens us in the faith (Lumen Gentium, n. 6-7). Saint Cyprian affirms: “One can not have God as Father who does not first have the Church as mother.”{{1}} And he adds: “we are...

Jesus is Lord: Living his Life

Jesus is Lord: Living his Life

Dear Brothers in the Priesthood, Deacons, and brothers and sisters of the lay faithful: It is with this act of worship, taking our part this evening in the unending sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which the Church on earth offers to the one True God in and...

The bright darkness of God

The bright darkness of God

Such was the enthusiastic response to our 2009 Inaugural ACCC Annual Retreat that opened our observation of the Year for Priests that it was decided again to invite the Emeritus Bishop of Christchurch, NZ, to direct our 2010 ACCC Annual Retreat for...

Take the plank out of your own eye first

Take the plank out of your own eye first

My Dear People, With Christmas in the now approaching, I address an issue which causes me some concern. In the year 112 AD, Trajan was the Roman Emperor, Pliny one of his Provincial Governors. Pliny was constantly writing to the Emperor seeking advice in handing...

The inner life of G. K. Chesterton

The inner life of G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton was a prolific writer on all manner of subjects, and my particular focus will be on one vital part of his life and thought; namely, his inner life or spirituality. When Chesterton was asked to explain why he had become a Catholic, a step which he took...

Perspectives on the priesthood

Perspectives on the priesthood

Introductory remarks Having had the honour of previously addressing some members of this august body in Perth, Australia, a number of years ago, it is a distinct privilege to address you, in a more international grouping, “sub umbra Petri”, here in the Eternal City of...

Pope Benedict XVI on Love and St Gregory of Nyssa on Eros

Pope Benedict XVI on Love and St Gregory of Nyssa on Eros

Let me put a question that I have put to others with interesting results: What would you say is the central Christian affirmation, the most definitive confession of the Christian Faith? The central Christian revelation, I suggest, is that the divine absolute is both...