Author: Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett

Come, let us adore

Come, let us adore

Posted by | January 2015 | , , |

“The Magi, seeing the star, said to each other: this is the sign of a great King: let us go and seek Him, and let us offer Him gifts, gold, incense and myrrh.” — Antiphon to the Magnificat. Dear brothers in the priesthood, deacons, and brothers and sisters of the lay faithful: It is very appropriate on this eve the Solemnity of the Epiphany, as we commence our Conference, that we should be placing ourselves before the Lord in adoration. That was the stated purpose of the Magi: “we have seen his star when it rose and have come to...

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Liturgy and evangelisation

Liturgy and evangelisation

Posted by | May 2012 | , , , |

I have no doubt that the Sacred Liturgy is dear to the heart, and central in the expression of faith and the ministry of each one present, priests and seminarians. For me this has been so from as young as I can remember: the seeds of this awareness germinating in my consciousness well before I became a Catholic at the age of 26 and forming a strong impetus attracting me to full communion with the Church. As I look back, my own life has been, under God’s grace, itself a story of personal evangelisation through the liturgy — through...

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Pugin at the antipodes

Pugin at the antipodes

Posted by | May 2012 | , |

Homily at St Patrick’s, Colebrook, Tasmania The London Tablet of 2nd September 1848 published a long letter under the name of A. W. Pugin, Esquire. At a time when his views were being opposed by churchmen in high places, Pugin makes a sustained and eloquent argument for the restoration of true Catholic architecture. He has in his sights what he denigrates as the cold paganism of the Classic style, decrying, in one of his colourful turns of phrase, the “adaptation of heathen temples by infidel architects.”? “Revive true Catholic faith and devotion …” writes Pugin, … restore the old...

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Jesus is Lord: Living his Life

Jesus is Lord: Living his Life

Posted by | November 2010 | , , , |

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 through His eternal Son our Great High Priest, that we commence our International Conference of English-speaking clergy here in Rome in this Year for Priests. For my own part, I have been looking forward greatly to this week, from Australia where our Confraternity is celebrating its first 25 years. The priests who...

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St Maria Goretti

St Maria Goretti

Posted by | November 2007 | , , |

Such is the embrace of the communion of Saints that today’s commemoration of St Maria Goretti, whom the Church reveres for her witness to virginal chastity one century ago, easily takes the Christian mind back to the memory of the martyrs of her early centuries — those whom the Roman Church has so specially loved and honoured that from an early date their names found their way into the Canon of the Mass: Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia. The veneration of these and thousands more across the centuries of course bears witness to the faithfulness of...

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