God Gracious

CONTEMPLATING THE DEPTH OF GOD’S LOVE Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who you are? [Not that your physical reflection could answer that question!] I think that many of us have pondered that question and if we haven’t, we need to. Our culture is so tied up with the specter of performance … More Contemplating the Depth of God’s Love

For very many Christians, belief in God is an intellectual assent to the Divinity of Jesus and His redemptive act and resurrection. Faith in God and specifically in Jesus, as God, is a more complex issue that involves trust in God and surrender to His will. It also requires that we cooperate with God’s grace … More TRANSFORMATION – WHO NEEDS IT?

Have you ever pondered the reality of hardened hearts and how to soften them? Jesus certainly did during his ministry. Undaunted by a culture that contributed to the hardening of hearts, Jesus waded into the world of the prostitute, the tax collector and others who were the subject of official scorn and rejection by Jewish … More PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION, PARISH RENEWAL AND THE GREAT COMMISSION

  There is a lot of discussion in Catholic circles today about our diminishing numbers as our institutional Church searches for concrete responses to the bleeding that has been going on now for some years. I read an article on Spirit Daily today [Will the Post Covid 19 Church be smaller?] that pointed the finger … More NAILING THE HEART OF EVANGELISM

At the heart of the search to evangelize in new ways is the notion of “mission” and the cultural soil that nourishes a mission driven initiative. This process contemplates an ending, a period in the wilderness and finally an arrival. The process itself could apply to any initiative that stimulates significant change for significant change … More IN SEARCH OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION: NAVIGATING THE WILDERNESS

  At the very core of the “search for the sacred” is the relationship that each of us has or might have with Jesus. To the extent that we develop this relationship we move forward in our quest for the sacred. We find ourselves asking: “What does this mean in practical terms as we respond … More FORMATION: THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP

Some time has elapsed since my last post. It is time to post once again. Helen and I have helped to facilitate an ALPHA course that commenced on the 19th of September 2018 and concludes this coming Wednesday night, the 28th of November. As many of you will recall from my earlier posts, our parish … More ENGAGING THE CULTURAL SWING

The New Evangelization promoted by Popes JPII, Benedict and Francis and the move to “mission” from “maintenance” advocated by many groups within the Church to facilitate this newness of evangelization requires that we evaluate our “culture” with a view to altering that culture over time to accommodate a new vision of outreach: a new way … More OUTREACH: SUSTAINING THE CULTURAL SHIFT

  It has now been over a month since Helen and I attended a 2 day Devine Renovation [DR} Conference and a day at an International Alpha Conference in Halifax Nova Scotia. The DR Conference attracted 650 delegates from 8 countries around the world, 170 of whom were priests. Numbered among the delegates were representatives … More TINKERING WITH THE PROCESS: ADJUSTING CULTURE