Last weekend Bishop Paul announced his decision for the re-arrangement of the parishes in our city and south of Christchurch. In light of the feedback he received he decided that St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Parish and Mairehau Parish should be amalgamated into a new Cathedral Parish. What does this mean for us at St Francis of [more…]
There are many Saints who have played a huge role in my faith journey; they have become my friends and companions. I feel that I know them well, I have read their life stories; I know their suffering and pain. I have watched videos of their lives and I even have pictures of them around [more…]
After much prayer and planning our Mission led by John Pridmore was held last week. As a parish we prepared for this event by praying for its success, considering how to become better evangelisers, and equipping ourselves for going out to family, friends and neighbours to invite them to attend the Mission. Whether you went [more…]
We take a good amount of time to care for our physical selves: showering, personal grooming, exercising, cooking and eating food, clothing ourselves and getting good amounts of sleep. We care for our emotional selves by taking time-out, whether that be on a screen, reading a book, lying on the couch, being in nature, doing [more…]
In years past, parish missions were a big event in the life of a parish. Once every couple of years, guest preachers would come to a parish for a few days and preach a mission. This September, our parish is going to be having a parish mission with John Pridmore. So what is the point [more…]
In our part of the city we’ve been through a lot following the quakes of 2010/2011. But I believe it’s precipitated a rather amazing journey for us as a community. We lost so much, but it has led to the realisation that a lot of the stuff we thought was important actually isn’t. To be [more…]
About a hundred and twenty years ago a French portrait artist named James Tissot exhibited a number of religious paintings. All of these were entitled, “Scenes from the life of Christ”. Tissot had lived in many countries including the Holy Land. In the latter place, he studied the landscape and the environment most intently, the [more…]
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also called the Good Shepherd Sunday, because Jesus speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:27-30). It helps us meditate on the life of Christ after the Resurrection which means that he cannot die again. He is the Good Shepherd who is capable of leading us to eternal [more…]
There are two things that stick out for me in this Sunday’s Gospel reading of Jesus appearing to his disciples after his resurrection. The first is that Jesus appeared to them and worked amongst them while they were about their normal everyday business. He didn’t wait till they were in prayer, or at the house [more…]
“He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive, and he wants you to be alive! He is in [more…]