John Lennon and Jesus
When the Vatican newspaper LOsservatore Romano recently ran an article praising the Beatles 1968 White Album (officially titled simply The...
Simmermacher
Getting ready for Christmas
The singer Andy Williams would have you believe that its the most wonderful time of the year. Yeah, right. Try...
The Numbers Aren’t Right
Research shows that 25% of Southern Cross consumers are wondering why the newspaper does not conduct a reader survey. Admittedly,...
Striking the right note at a funeral not as easy as it sounds
A diocese in Ireland has banned Cline Dions music from funerals, provoking much ire among potentially bereaved Catholics. The decision...
Culture of bad service
Before I took a wrong turn and stumbled into journalism, I worked for some years in the hotel trade as...
Pope Benedict, style guru for the noughties
Pope Benedict’s sartorial stylings have made news recently, in lifestyle magazines and in the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. Last year Esquire...
The writers great fear of the blank mind and page
Every writer lives in fear. Its a dread that would make dealing with the taxman followed by an unanaesthetised root...
The soundtrack of silence
In 1984 a German filmmaker asked the Carthusian grand prior whether he might film the contemplative monks of the orders...
Requiem for a dog
“What’s your story? It’s only a dog,” exclaimed a family friend upon learning of our grief for Laska, our late...
