Let the Holy Spirit Teach Us
Happy Pentecost! That is my wish and prayer for families as we explore how we have managed our spirituality during these months of lockdown. My hope and dream at the start of the lockdown...
Author: Toni Rowland
To Love Is To Give Life
In response to two current social issues that need serious attention we came up with the 2020 theme for MARFAM: “Our World, A Family Of Families”. Everyone knows that family life is undergoing changes...
Treasure The Gift Of The Beloved Son
In his latest document, Pope Francis reflected on the Nativity scene. (Photo: Andreas Böhme) December is almost over and we have gone from preparation mode to the peace of Christmas. Maybe our preparation wasn’t so...
The Church and Family: Let Me Speak Boldly
Before I started writing this article I was reading the October 16 issue of The Southern Cross. A few things in particular struck me as particularly interesting. The Southern Cross enters its centenary year;...
How Do We Deal With Death and Loss?
Do you and I feel at peace with those we have loved and who have died? What about us who are left behind after a death or a separation or divorce?
What is Our Heritage?
Our family and our cultural backgrounds have a great influence on the new families we form. Ways of being and traditions — social and religious — in marriage and family relationships from two families...
July is for Grandparents
Working with family themes month by month has been quite useful for me to reflect more deeply on the domestic church, or the little church of the home, on how God is present in...
Mercy in All Areas of Life
I had never been a very dedicated follower of the popular Divine Mercy devotion. But around 2016, the time of the Year of Mercy, and even before when I got hold of a copy...
How to Make ‘Sacrifices of Love’
Someone said to me the other day that your Lenten sacrifice should be your secret with God. That sounds fine, to a point. I also know that in my family over very many years,...
Every Family Matters!
It’s quite a number of years now that I have been submitting this column under the heading “Family Friendly”. Apart from the feedback I get from time to time, I do sometimes wonder whether...
Is Ubuntu is Jesus’ Worldview?
This will be the last of my columns for 2018, a journey that has attempted to “Catholicise” the concept of ubuntu. At a conference early in the year I asked sodality members if ubuntu...
Joy of Families is the Joy of the Church
The Australian writer and gender activist GD Anderson observed of that empowerment: “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
