Youth: Wasted on the Young?
One thing I’m often asked by young people, and hardly ever by older folks, is why I became a priest. It’s a question that requires a two-part answer, but the first part is easy.
Festival a fantastic first
I joined a group of over 200 young people from the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to join up with 20,000 Catholic youths from across Australia for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) held last December.
Aurora survey reveals all
The survey of our Aurora readers provided some fascinating insights – and your feedback will help us in our efforts to make Aurora as appealing, accessible and sustainable as possible.
Bishop-Elect Brian Mascord: “I always knew there was something more…”
When he wrote to the people of Thessaloniki, St Paul exhorted them, “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5:18)
Lina’s Project continues in 2018
To build on the work of Lina’s Project – which aims to acknowledge the devastation caused to victims and survivors of abuse, their families, friends and the whole community and seek atonement – the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle will be facilitating two regional events in February and March.
“You are either up for it or you are not.”
One of my former UNSW colleagues once reflected: “If you have never experienced good teaching, it is hard to become a good teacher.” My three sisters and I were fortunate to learn from great teachers. I was inspired to become a professional educator by Mrs Maree Crawford at San Clemente High School, Mayfield, and Ms Sherrill Whittington, Mrs Penny Anicich and Mr Larry Keating who taught me at St Anne’s High School, Adamstown.
Spirituality of Ageing
Ever since my grandmother had the first of a series of strokes, beginning when I was just about 12 years old, I have been interested in older people and their well-being. It was one of the main reasons I chose to do nursing, back in the 1950s. It has been a fascinating journey since then.
What does St Augustine have in common with fallen sporting heroes?
How hard it is when our heroes fall.
A just future starts with you
Love helps us to change lives. That’s the message of Caritas Australia which, this Lent, takes as its theme: ‘A Just Future starts with You.’
CSO celebrates a successful 2017
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle have continued in 2017 to experience growth and success in delivering high-quality Catholic education in a caring, pastoral environment.
Where the hell is God? Seven steps to spiritual sanity
Explorations of where or how God can be found in human suffering can be fairly academic.
St. Anne’s girls look back 50 years
Late last year the first ‘guinea pig class’ of St Anne’s Girls High School students met in Newcastle, 50 years after graduating as the first student output of the revolutionary Wyndham Education Scheme. Of the initial 66 students from the school’s first-ever Year 12, 26 ‘old girls’ attended the reunion along with three of the original teaching staff of six Sisters. Apologies were tendered from the other three Sisters, along with those of 12 classmates. Interest in getting together was very high as we’d only done so once before in the year 2000, and all of us very much enjoyed catching up and reminiscing!
Tell him he’s dreaming
In the Bible, God often communicates with individuals through dreams. Joseph (of the coat of many colours) learns through a dream that he has a God-given destiny, and there are many more examples…
Sharing footpath stories
On an early morning stroll through the inner west Sydney suburb of Stanmore a year or so ago, I came upon my first street library. For those who may not have yet seen a street library, it is a place where books can be shared with those in your local community; a cupboard or box on a local street filled with books for reading, perhaps returning and taking another, or if you really loved it, perhaps for keeping! And street libraries love donations. It may be that as you’ve passed by, you have noticed one without realising what it was.
Ten things we don’t do (volunteering gone wrong)
Volunteering overseas is not as simple as some might think. Here are some things Palms Australia, a registered non-government organisation that places skilled volunteers in remote communities, does not do. Palms Australia’s objective is to facilitate the co-operation of people across cultures in order to achieve a just, sustainable, interdependent and peaceful world free of poverty.
Instagram the dawn of a new Aurora era!
Latin scholars among you will know that aurora is Latin for dawn – see what I did there?
