Jesus: The Warmth that Saves
In the southern hemisphere we may lose a bit of the “feeling” of Christmas, which falls in the middle of the exuberance of year-end holidays. Long summer days and warm nights invite us to...
Category: Sarah-Leah Pimentel
Lesson In Humanity From A Cat
I am cat-sitting a gorgeous, elderly ginger cat for a year while his owner is overseas on a work assignment. Sparky has brought me a huge amount of joy. Like all cats, he has...
A Potential Loss of our Catholicity? Amazon Synod Reflections
Shortly before the start of the Synod on the Amazon, a message popped up in one of my Catholic WhatsApp groups. It was a video calling for prayers for the failure of the synod. ...
How We Can Bring Hope to People
Last week we celebrated Heritage Day. This holiday was created in 1995 to celebrate our many cultures during a time of difficult transition for our country. It was meant to bring healing to a...
Saints Are Not Made in a Day
Redemptorist Father Larry Kaufmann launched his new book, Become Love, at my parish recently. His talk is a fitting conclusion to my trilogy of articles on conversion and the journey into a deeper life...
This is My Story of Real Conversion
In last month’s column, I wrote that conversion is more than a single moment. Conversion often comprises many small events and encounters throughout our lives that lead us deeper into the heart of God. Yet,...
Conversion Can Change the World!
The film Amazing Grace (2006) recounts the efforts by William Wilberforce to convince late-18th century England to abolish the international slave trade. But it wasn’t Wilberforce’s plight that draws my attention, but rather the...
What Does Really Matter in Life?
What really matters in the measure of a life? A few weeks ago, I attended the funeral of a 95-year old lady. It was a quiet affair, attended by a few of her family...
Don’t Blame Church if We’re Lukewarm
Waiting in line for confession a few weeks ago, I witnessed two adults sharing their relationship with the Church with the children who accompanied them. At one end of the line, a little boy...
As We Prepare to Vote
A few months ago one of The Southern Cross’ followers on Facebook asked whether South Africa’s only weekly Catholic newspaper would tell readers who to vote for in the upcoming 8 May elections. As...
7-point Plan to Keep Sane on Social Media
Every year, one of my colleagues gives up Facebook for Lent. The rationale is quite simple; she wants to use the time she would normally spend on social media to make more time for...
Lessons from a Virtual Reality Game
I played a virtual reality game for the first time at a recent team-building event at work. At first it was really strange putting on the headset which immerses you in the virtual reality...
