Useless pursuits versus the basics

To doomscroll or to cook for my family – that is the question We are told that Gen Z spends a lot of time doomscrolling. And bed rotting. They fritter away the day. But even those of us older folk who are not actively frittering, are nonetheless susceptible to being distracted and spending our time […]

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Domestic Dog as idol

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a dog lover myself. Indeed, I love all animals; will even make kissy noises as I pass by the sheep in our rural neighbourhood. But what I don’t like is the absolute reverence now paid to dogs, as if they were small little deities. We include them in activities once […]

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My Will Be Done

God is dead, said Nietzsche. And when he said it, it was not in celebration. It was not a rally cry for atheists, but rather a lament regarding what was ahead for humanity without a shared moral framework. The ‘madman’ who uttered these words in Nietzsche’s narrative was mocked by a society that no longer […]

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LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY

On self-restraint preceding grace. God seeks three things from the baptised: from the soul – genuine faith; from the body – self-restraint; and from the tongue – truth. – St Gregory the Theologian The first and last of these are plain to see, and most people would not dispute them. Yes, they’d say, if we […]

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15 Minute Cities for the Brain

I’ll sit with a book awhile, but if I hear my master’s call – the beep of an incoming text – I’ll drop it like a hotcake. The younger generation don’t even do as much. Many of them have given up entirely the notion of reading a book. They are fully committed to the screen […]

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This (homemaking) Life

A small article I wrote, defending home-making, which was published in The Australian on 17 May 2025.

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The miraculous fresh start we have been given with Pope Leo XIV

Growing up in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, which saw major changes wrought upon the Catholic Church and the Mass of the Ages, I had only ever been exposed to the ‘Novus Ordo’ – the new order Mass. As a teenager, I was decidedly unimpressed by my weekly attendance at Mass and had trouble […]

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How the jester shines light on truth

Jesters: On the surface they exist simply to entertain, to poke fun at us and show us how silly we can be, but their added value lies in aiding society’s conscience, by illuminating the truth that may be right under our noses but which we’ve somehow missed or chosen to ignore.

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