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Mother Teresa’s vision of hell
Who would have ever thought that Mother Teresa had doubts about the existence of God?
I was absolutely fascinated when I read TT Mundakel’s book Blessed Mother Teresa. It was so inspiring to read about how Jesus called Mother Teresa, and how faithfully she lived up to her calling. For many people the world over—Catholics, Protestants and non-Christians—Mother Teresa is the epitome of saintliness and faith in God. It then becomes a shock when one reads about the recent book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. Read more…
Talking with atheists
There is much merit in the suggestion by England’s Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor that Catholics should seek dialogue with atheists to create some mutual understanding (as we reported last week). Read more…
Why I am scared about South Africa’s road carnage
When a major holiday season looms, I must admit that as a parent with children who all have cars, the wholesale slaughter on our roads scares me.
The last lot of holiday statistics I saw showed that instead of 1400 people being killed on the roads, only 1200 had perished. And while this is a positive trend, I don’t think there is any reason to jump for joy, because as long as our road death statistics are presented in thousands for just a single month, that still leaves us as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to road carnage. Read more…
The Unauthorised Life of Celine Dion
Reviewed by Hayden Demes
When Thérèse Tanguay found out that she was pregnant, she was talked out of having an abortion by her parish priest. The nearly aborted child became future megastar Céline Dion. This unauthorised biopic follows Céline from childhood to superstardom with the Titanic theme song, “My Heart Will Go On”. Read more…
Juno Soundtrack
CD REVIEW
Every so often a small independent film grabs a lot of attention. Juno has followed such surprise hits such as Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State. And much like the latter, on Juno the off-the-wall soundtrack is integral to the film. Read more…
The Irish are their own best export, worldwide
If everyone on earth who could claim some sort of Irish heritage went back to Ireland at the same time, there would not be enough space for them all to fit into the island nation.
I don’t believe any country can claim to have quite so many expats living in virtually every other country on earth. Read more…
Rule by divine right?
The president of the African National Congress (ANC) is profoundly mistaken in claiming that his party has been anointed by God to govern South Africa into perpetuity. Read more…
Shame on South Africa
Shame on South Africa. Shame on a country in which mobs are attacking, robbing, driving out and even murdering those who sought a refuge from suffering in a society where a majority of people profess to have faith in God. Read more…
Time for umlungus is over
It must be sad for our archbishop and diocese of Pretoria. In April Archbishop George Daniel turned 75. Canon law requires that bishops tender their resignation on reaching their 75th birthday. He has been the pastor of our diocese since 1975. In South Africa retirement age will soon be 60 for men. Read more…
The Trinity is a bit like a family
This monthly column is called “Family Friendly”, and I try to link faith and life, Church life and home life, the liturgical calendar with the regular national calendar.
This seems a fairly easy and obvious thing to do, and it makes a lot of sense. But I wonder how many parishes included recent national public holidays such as Freedom Day and Workers’ Day in their liturgy in some way and, from our perspective, in some family context. Read more…
