Fr Frank Brennan | Public figure
Fr Frank Brennan
Reviews
to load big map
25.01.2022 Now that the Government has published the complete list, here is another matter to consider. If you are running a restaurant, ie if you are charging people to come into your establishment having them eat and drink and be attended to by staff, up close and personal: ‘You can have up to 70 people outdoors and up to 10 people per indoor space with a maximum of 40 people per venue indoors. The two and four square metre rules apply. Indoor spaces must be separated by permanent ...structures (should reach floor to ceiling or be at least 2.1 metres high) or be a discrete area of the premises.’ But it you are simply inviting them, without fee, to come inside and pray in your rather large church, then.why not 40? And if you are inviting them, without fee, to be outside under the heavens with you and pray..why not 70? I just don’t get it. Is there some science and common sense I am missing here, restricting worshippers inside to 5 and worshippers outside to 20? See https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/summary-of-the-changes-to-restr
25.01.2022 Tomorrow is World Day of Migrants and Refugees On Sunday evening, the North Sydney Parish is hosting a webinar event asking if there is a time for grace in our public policy, our theology and our own actions in relation to migrants and asylum seekers. All welcome. Speakers:... Introduction by the Bishop of Parramatta, Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Australian Jesuit Priest, Human Rights Lawyer, and Academic Nishadh Rego, Policy, Advocacy and Communication Manager, JRS Australia Julie Macken, Research and Projects Officer, Justice and Peace Office, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney For further details, see https://www.nangami.org/events/ All welcome, and it’s free. Sunday 5pm 6.30pm Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/a-time-for-grace-refugee-an
25.01.2022 The text of my Sunday homily is now available at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-4-october/
25.01.2022 My homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-6920
25.01.2022 The video of our webinar for World Day of Migrants and Refugees is now available. My own contribution commences at 17:00. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJxggJWDivY
25.01.2022 Homily for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday Today we celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday with the theme ‘Together in the Spirit’. On this day 250 years ago, 5 July 1770, Captain Cook’s Endeavour was stranded undergoing repairs in what he then named the Endeavour River. Tupia the Tahitian navigator and the English botanist Joseph Banks went ashore looking at botanical specimens. Tupia was happy to try out using a gun, hunting for wildlife. ...Continue reading
25.01.2022 My homily for the Second Sunday of Advent. The photos show the room where Pope Francis spent his time in the wilderness at Cordoba for one year, ten months and thirteen days (but who was counting?): https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-6-decembe/
24.01.2022 My reflection on Ignatius Loyola on his feast day in an age of pandemic commences at 6:30 on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqnfODurbSs
24.01.2022 On this day 35 years ago, I was privileged to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving in Musgrave Park Brisbane at the invitation of the Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Council. It was a great celebration. Not even the Queensland Police cars driving through the crowd caused any upset, just quiet bemusement. It's good to see that some things have changed, and for the better.
24.01.2022 Homily for Guadete Sunday: Today’s Entrance Antiphon at Mass is: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near.’ In Latin, the antiphon commences with the word ‘Gaudete’ which means ‘Rejoice’. That’s why this is called Gaudete Sunday the Sunday mid-way through our Advent waiting and preparation for Christmas. The liturgical purple of fasting and penance is temporarily suspended. The priest wears rose coloured vestments which, like rose colo...ured glasses, help us to put a more joyful spin on our surroundings and our world. As we wait joyously and expectantly for Christmas, we take heart from those words of Isaiah in today’s first reading: ‘For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.’ We won’t put the world right by Christmas. We won’t even put the parish right by Christmas. But as we joyfully wait on Gaudete Sunday, we delight in the grace that we have it in our grasp to put some things right, and so we should. Let’s ride that wave together. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/fra/homily-for-gaudete-sunday-131220
23.01.2022 My homily for the 75th anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing is now available on line at https://jesuit.org.au/finding-peace-amid-the-storm/
23.01.2022 My homily for today, Gaudete Sunday: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-13-decemb/
23.01.2022 A wonderful video prepared by our embassy to the Holy See for the 10th anniversary of the canonisation of Mary MacKillop. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeXTTeWLpqI&feature=youtu.be
23.01.2022 Homily for Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kings 3:5,7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52 Here in Victoria, we’ve had a tough week with 3 to 4 hundred new COVID-19 cases each day. Our health professionals are doing an heroic job, but the stress is showing. Old people in our hospitals and nursing homes are dying almost alone, with no prospect of their loved ones being allowed to gather at their bedside. The Treasurer’s announcement this week of ‘eye-watering’ econo...Continue reading
22.01.2022 You can listen to my homily for this weekend on Soundcloud: During the week, I participated in a Webinar entitled ‘The Light from The Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia’. Zoom conferences and webinars are now common place for those of us enduring the pandemic lockdown. This webinar was run out of the offices of a large law firm in Sydney. The proceedings were chaired by the distinguished broadcaster Geraldine Doogue. More t...han 150 committed Catholics tuned in. There was quite a buzz to the proceedings. And most of the time, the technology worked well. Geraldine introduced the keynote presenter Francois Kunc who is a judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court. He had the unenviable task of providing a 15-minute overview of the 208 page report containing 86 recommendations for improved governance of the Catholic Church in Australia. I was one of nine responders. The other responders included three of the key authors who were part of the seven-member Governance Review Project Team commissioned to provide this report to the Church’s Implementation Advisory Group which had been set up by our bishops after the royal commission. Another responder was one of the theological advisers to the review team. The discussion was lively, informed, and respectful. Men and women were at the table in equal numbers. Appropriately, the laity heavily outnumbered the clergy. The responders in the Webinar included Catholic lay people with outstanding credentials in governance in the corporate sector and in the public sector. And they love their Church. As they spoke, I had a sense that whatever our differences, we all saw our Church as the privileged and graced place to break open the Word prophetically, to break the bread welcoming all sinners to the table, to constitute ourselves as the Body of Christ nourished by the sacraments, to serve the world, especially the poor, and to honour tradition and experience. In truth, a strong motivation detectable in the group was a passionate desire for Catholic parents and grandparents to be able to hand on this uplifting and grounded vision, this fragile vessel, this responsibly governed community to their children and grandchildren. But upcoming generations will be attracted only if we are able to provide both Good News and good governance. Listen at: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-23820
22.01.2022 35 years ago today:
22.01.2022 Today is the feast of St John Henry Newman, the patron of our college. This is the first year to celebrate his feast. On 9 October 1845, he became a member of the Catholic Church, and thus the choice of the date. The Passionist priest Dominic Barberi visited Littlemore outside Oxford and heard Newman’s confession that night. What are we to make of his feast day in an age of pandemic and in the clutches of a recession. He had some great insights on waiting, equanimity and turbulence. Lead kindly light amidst the encircling gloom! Happy Feast Day! Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/st-john-henry-newman
21.01.2022 I was a little younger 35 years ago. Mum's vestment is still as vibrant as ever:
21.01.2022 Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and the feast of Mary MacKillop Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35-39; Matthew 14:13-21 In today’s gospel, we hear the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Variants of this story appear in all four gospels. It was a story which resonated with all early Christian communities whether Jewish or Gentile. There is a eucharistic motif in each account. In John’s gospel, the author had no need of a eucharistic institution narrative at the las...Continue reading
21.01.2022 Homily Feast of Mary MacKillop 8 August 2020 Many countries, particularly in Europe, boast a handful of canonised saints. Some even have a string of them. We Australians have only one. Today we celebrate her feast day. Mary MacKillop is now known universally in the Catholic Church as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop....Continue reading
21.01.2022 You can listen to my homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent here: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-201220
20.01.2022 You can listen to my homily for the Feast of Christ the King What a hell of a week it has been for us Australians. To see General Angus Campbell the Chief of the Australian Defence Force with great dignity, discipline and humility trying to retain his composure before the glare of the cameras announcing: ‘Today, the Australian Defence Force is rightly held to account for allegations of grave misconduct by some members of our Special Forces community during operations in Afgh...Continue reading
20.01.2022 Good to be able to return to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit here at Newman College, and with a congregation of 50-60 complying with all necessary distancing requirements.
20.01.2022 Today the Victorian premier Dan Andrews announced that in regional Victoria, ‘People will be able to hold outdoor religious gatherings with up to 20 people’. He also announced that from tonight ‘regional libraries and toy libraries will be able to open to a maximum of 20 people indoors.’ Why couldn’t we open regional churches (many of which are much larger than toy libraries) to allow a maximum of 20 worshippers indoors? The worshippers, like the users of toy libraries, co...uld comply with the provisions: one person per four square metre rule, signage, cleaning and record-keeping. The worshippers would be just as reliable as the users of regional libraries. Sometimes they are one and the same. Religious worship does not render them less reliable. If that is not appropriate, then why not allow up to 30 people to worship outdoors given that the government has also announced: ‘The maximum number of people permitted to use outdoor swimming pools for exercise has been increased by the density quotient to a maximum of 30 people.’ If 30 people in a pool, why not 30 worshippers in a space no less than that of a 50m pool with 8 lanes? These are simple suggestions designed to respect freedom of religion in this COVID era. If I’ve missed something in the government reasoning and discrimination, I’d be pleased to hear it. See https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/statement-premier-77
20.01.2022 My Homily for this Sunday while we do a lot of waiting: In today’s gospel from Matthew, Jesus tells another parable about the kingdom of heaven. This time the kingdom is compared with a wedding feast when the bridegroom is delayed, presumably negotiating last minute financial arrangements with the father of the bride as was the custom in those days and in those communities. As contemporary listeners to the parable with its allegorical overtones for the Church, we, while wa...iting for all manner of things to happen, face a simple choice. We can be like the five bridesmaids who wing it, bringing only our lamps and forgetting or overlooking the need for backup resources, the oil without which the lamps cannot be re-lit at midnight. Though Fr Harrington assures us that a delay was not unusual for a wedding feast, a delay until midnight does seem somewhat out of the ordinary. At least some of those five would have considered what was the more usual delay, thinking there was no need to make provision for a midnight lighting of the lamps. They might not all have been negligent or unthinking about all reasonable future possibilities. Or we can be like the five bridesmaids who while waiting, cover all conceivable possibilities including the very belated arrival of the bridegroom at midnight. Whether the narrator is Jesus himself or later members of the Matthean community, the narrator is wanting the listener to respond: Of course, I would want to be one of the sensible ones; I would not want to be one of the foolish ones. While we await a concession speech by Mr Trump, whether grudging or gracious, let’s refill our lamps seeking to ‘salvage an intelligent, compassionate, and pluralist democracy from the wreckage of so much political habit.’ Let’s be sensible believers in waiting. Let’s maintain the hope that wisdom is near at hand. And if any of you sensible people in waiting have some spare oil, it would be not only generous but also prudent to share it with those whose lamps are flickering in the darkness of our polarised world. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-81120
19.01.2022 Today, we celebrate the feast of Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuits. He started life as an ambitious courtier and fiery Basque soldier. His life was unremarkable, worldly, and ever upward on the social and military ladder until he turned 30. Ignatius had his own COVID and economic crises rolled into one when he was wounded in battle on 23 May 1521. Over the next month, his life was in the balance. He was bed bound for 10 months undergoing various surg...eries without anaesthetic. Over those months, he daydreamed and fantasised about all manner of things. Exploits which previously gave him pleasure lost their appeal. He found himself inspired by Jesus and some of the saints he read about. Once he was able to walk again, he went on pilgrimage to the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat, intending then to make his way as a pilgrim to Jerusalem. After an all night vigil, he set out on his pilgrimage. He arrived at Manresa a short distance away, suspended his pilgrimage, and stayed there for another 11 months. For some of that time he lived in a cave. At one stage he was suicidal. He had some profound spiritual experiences, including a vision by the River Cardoner. He said, ‘This left me with my understanding so greatly enlightened that it seemed to me that I was a different person, and I had another mind different than that which I had before’. Over these 21 months of ‘COVID-recession type’ hibernation, Ignatius learnt the art of discernment, coming to a deep interior freedom, sensitive to the influences (good and bad) which were at work in him. He then focused single mindedly on finding God in all things, and on choosing and doing that which was more productive in the praise, reverence and service of God. This required that he forego dreams like working in Jerusalem and that he do years of study culminating in an MA at the University of Paris and that he place himself and his companions at the service of the Pope. Almost 20 years after Ignatius’s injury in battle, the Jesuit Order was established. It had been a long and winding road. In 1546 Ignatius sent three of his men to Trent to be theological advisers to the bishops at the Council of Trent. But he did not want his men pursuing only theological arguments. He wrote to them telling them: ‘You should teach little boys for some suitable time according to convenient arrangements, which will vary in different places. Visit the hospitals at a convenient hour, one that will not be injurious to health.’ When discussing matters of theological controversy, he told them: ‘it will be better to be slow to speak and to speak little’, and to speak ‘with kindness and affection’. No wonder he still speaks to us in this age of pandemic and uncertainty. Happy Feast Day.
19.01.2022 The President-Elect's hymn of choice: On Eagle's Wings - Michael Joncas... You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord Who abide in His shadow for life Say to the Lord, "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!" And He will raise you up on eagles' wings Bear you on the breath of dawn Make you to shine like the sun And hold you in the palm of His hand The snare of the fowler will never capture you And famine will bring you no fear Under His wings your refuge, His faithfulness your shield And He will raise you up on eagles' wings Bear you on the breath of dawn Make you to shine like the sun And hold you in the palm of His hand You need not fear the terror of the night Nor the arrow that flies by day Though thousands fall about you, near you it shall not come And He will raise you up on eagles' wings Bear you on the breath of dawn Make you to shine like the sun And hold you in the palm of His hand.
19.01.2022 Given the commitment by all states and territiories to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the Commonwealth need commit only to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in Jervis Bay. Should the tensions in the Coalition be too great, why not compromise and have the Morrison Government committing to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 over just half the area of Jervis Bay? That would be a sensible start.
19.01.2022 Following upon my recent Facebook posts, I was asked to discuss the religious freedom issues here in Victoria this evening. See https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6203065102001
19.01.2022 To be honest, I’ve never quite known what to say when it comes to preaching about the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin Birth, or today’s feast, the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Like most Catholics, I pray to Mary especially at those times when I am in need and when I feel a little overwhelmed by the deity, whether it be God as Father, Son or Holy Spirit, or God as Creator, Redeemer or Sustainer. Afterall, Mary is one of us. She was a young woman with freedom who, while su...bject to all the ordinary expectations and pressures, said the most faith-filled human ‘yes’ to God in history. And she stored everything in her heart, including the crucifixion of her son. Part of my hesitation about immaculate conception, virginity and assumption is that they seem to be attributes which distinguish her absolutely and definitively from any of us, rather than affirming that it was one just like us who said ‘yes’ at the Annunciation and carried all that she did. Over the years, I have found that almost all Catholics are pleased to have Mary at their side and on their lips when they are hospital bound, especially when they be on their death bed. The feminist theologian Elizabeth A Johnson in her book ‘She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse’ has pointed out that many Catholics tend to substitute Mary for the Holy Spirit: ‘this village woman, mother of Jesus, honoured as Mother of God, functions as an icon of the maternal God, revealing divine love as merciful, close, interested in the poor and the weak, ready to hear human needs, related to the earth, trustworthy and profoundly attractive.’ Those of a more Protestant bent are more likely to find this feminine aspect of God in the Holy Spirit. Here is my homily for the Feast of the Assumption. Listen at https://soundcloud.com//homilly-for-the-feast-of-the-assum
19.01.2022 Here is the text of my Sunday homily on the wheat and the darnel. See https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-19-july-2/ Incidentally, here is the life-size bronze statue of George Bernard Shaw, which stands by the National Gallery of Ireland’s Clare Street entrance in Dublin, which was sculpted by the Russian artist Paolo Troubetzkoy, who the playwright described as ‘the most astonishing sculptor of modern times’. Sharing a love of vegetarianism, the two men became friends, and Troubetzkoy would go on to make three sculptures depicting Shaw.
18.01.2022 Here is the text of my homily for today after a week of waiting: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-8-novembe/
18.01.2022 My homily for All Saints Day during an Age of Pandemic and Lockdown: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-1-novembe/
18.01.2022 Sunday Homily Last week, I made my annual eight day retreat here in Melbourne. There’s nothing like a pandemic and a lockdown to help focus the retreatant’s attention on first and last things, separating the wheat from the chaff. Looking back over the past year, I was conscious of leaving many things behind. We closed the Jesuit house in Canberra, the national capital, after 51 years of Jesuit presence on the very edge of the parliamentary triangle. My beloved mother died...Continue reading
18.01.2022 Today is the 9th anniversary of the death of Fr John Eddy SJ. On this day last year, we gathered at his grave in Canberra for an early morning mass as the Jesuits prepared to leave the national capital.
18.01.2022 Today's homily now available on line at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-21-june-2/
17.01.2022 My Sunday homily: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-2820
17.01.2022 You can listen to my Sunday homily here. On Friday night, there was an online American celebration of the 40th anniversary of JRS and in the style and on a scale which only the Americans can produce. Speakers included President Elect Joe Biden, Dr Anthony Fauci and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Biden told the audience of JRS supporters: ‘The United States has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and the oppressed, a leader in resettling refug...ees and our humanitarian response. I promise, as president, I’ll reclaim that proud legacy for our country.’ Also speaking was Filippo Grandi, now the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Grandi recalled how as a young man he was given a task as a volunteer at Aranyaprathet on the Thai-Cambodian border in 1987 by the regional JRS co-ordinator, the Australian Jesuit Mark Raper. That initial experience opened Grandi’s eyes to a life of service to refugees. Grandi told us, ‘I was tasked with the job of participating in what we called, a bit pompously to tell you the truth, a survey of the refugees’ self-reliance activities or something like that. The most fun part of it was to distribute live chickens and piglets to refugees who had taken part in the survey.’ Having been weighed down all week with the findings of the McCarrick report, seeing the shortcomings of leaders like Pope John Paul II laid bare, and despairing that too many in our Church leadership have been like the servant burying the one talent in the ground, I found myself rejoicing that there are many people of good will who are like those first two servants investing all the talents entrusted to them. To think that a young man like Grandi might look back now as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees with delight and humour to a very modest attempt to make a difference as a volunteer with the Jesuit Refugee Service on the Thai Cambodian border 33 years ago. Those words of Jesus in today’s gospel make sense: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater, come and join in your master’s happiness.’ Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-151120
17.01.2022 Here is my homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent: https://catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-20-december-2/
17.01.2022 Para 197: [P]olitics is something more noble than posturing, marketing and media spin. These sow nothing but division, conflict and a bleak cynicism incapable of mobilizing people to pursue a common goal. At times, in thinking of the future, we do well to ask ourselves, Why I am doing this?, What is my real aim? For as time goes on, reflecting on the past, the questions will not be: How many people endorsed me?, How many voted for me?, How many had a positive image of me? The real, and potentially painful, questions will be, How much love did I put into my work? What did I do for the progress of our people? What mark did I leave on the life of society? What real bonds did I create? What positive forces did I unleash? How much social peace did I sow? What good did I achieve in the position that was entrusted to me?
16.01.2022 I participated in a very helpful webinar on voluntary assisted dying recently. The panellists included: Ms Samantha Connor (Disability Rights Advocate Western Australia); Dr Phillip Good (Palliative Medicine Specialist St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane); Dr Judith McEniery (Retired Palliative Medicine Specialist); Darlene Dreise (chair, St Vincent’s Health Reconciliation Action Plan); Professor Jane Turner (Psycho-Oncologist, Professor and Course Coordinator UQ Royal Brisbane), and Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i73WyyOOdI
16.01.2022 Does this remind you of any recent spectacle? Here is para 15 of Fratelli Tutti: Political life no longer has to do with healthy debates about long-term plans to improve people’s lives and to advance the common good, but only with slick marketing techniques primarily aimed at discrediting others. In this craven exchange of charges and counter-charges, debate degenerates into a permanent state of disagreement and confrontation.
16.01.2022 The world looked so different twelve years ago.
15.01.2022 This Sunday is Social Justice Sunday. Our bishops have issued a statement entitled ‘To Live Life to the Full: Mental Health in Australia Today’. They urge each of us to take three practical steps: 1. Reject stigmatisation of those with mental illness 2. Work for the transformation of social determinants of mental ill-health 3. Call for policies and service provision that meet the needs of the poorest, most marginalised and recognise in them the face of Christ Jesus.... At a loss how to put flesh on these bones, I consulted an experienced psychiatrist. I asked, ‘What can a lay person like me do to support people with mental illness?’ Answer: ‘Once someone is mentally ill, there’s not much you will be able to do. The emphasis must be on prevention first up.’ On one level, it’s very simple. Your mental well-being is more likely to be assured if you have a roof over your head, if you’re warm enough, if you have food in your belly, if you have someone to talk to, and if you are spared domestic violence or abuse. Better still if you’ve got gainful employment and good education. In a time of pandemic, your physical and mental well-being will be enhanced if you have a regular routine, regular exercise, healthy food, hobbies, and mindfulness exercises or meditation. And don’t keep looking at the 24/7 COVID news reports which are sure to make you lose perspective. The determinants of mental illness are biological, psychological, social, and cultural. You can listen to my homily for Social Justice Sunday at https://soundcloud.com/fr/homily-social-justice-sunday-2020
15.01.2022 The text of my homily for the First Sunday of Advent: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-29-novemb/
15.01.2022 This is my homily for the First Sunday of Advent. On Friday after months of lockdown we in Victoria recorded 28 days straight of no new COVID cases. The country is now all but COVID-free and today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the new liturgical year, when our churches are opening up around the nation, we are able to come together to pray, and we are making a fresh start, putting behind us a liturgical year which has included horrific bushfires, the glob...al pandemic and a crushing economic recession. We now spend four weeks preparing for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, filled with apprehension, hope and expectation of things to come, hopefully including much better things to come, though we know not what or how. This past year, we have seen so many massive stones and magnificent building blocks of our pre-COVID world dismantled or destroyed, and on epic proportions at places like Juukan Gorge. But our horizon of hope is the unbreakable rock of the sacred in our lives. As Jesus puts it: ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ ‘It is like a person going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with a particular task, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.’ Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-/homily-first-sunday-of-advent
14.01.2022 Last Thursday the US Supreme Court ruled by 5-4 in favour of the Creek Nation of Indians against the state of Oklahoma. The majority commenced their judgment in JIMCY MCGIRT v. OKLAHOMA with these words: ‘On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise. Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever. In exchange for ceding all their land, East of the Mississippi ri...ver, the U. S. government agreed by treaty that [t]he Creek country west of the Mississippi shall be solemnly guaranteed to the Creek Indians. Both parties settled on boundary lines for a new and permanent home to the whole Creek nation, located in what is now Oklahoma. The government further promised that[no] State or Territory [shall] ever have a right to pass laws for the government of such Indians, but they shall be allowed to govern themselves. Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word.’ And they concluded with these words: ‘The federal government promised the Creek a reservation in perpetuity. Over time, Congress has diminished that reservation. It has sometimes restricted and other times expanded the Tribe’s authority. But Congress has never withdrawn the promised reservation. As a result, many of the arguments before us today follow a sadly familiar pattern. Yes, promises were made, but the price of keeping them has become too great, so now we should just cast a blind eye. We reject that thinking. If Congress wishes to withdraw its promises, it must say so. Unlawful acts, performed long enough and with sufficient vigor, are never enough to amend the law. To hold otherwise would be to elevate the most brazen and longstanding injustices over the law, both rewarding wrong and failing those in the right.’
14.01.2022 My Sunday homily: Let’s be wary of those who are confident that they are always right. They may be wrong in the moral assessment they make of their predecessors. Contemplating first and last things in a time of pandemic and lockdown, let’s pray for our community leaders who need to discern when to separate the wheat and darnel, when to lockdown for the good of health, and when to open up for the sake of the economy. They face difficult and fraught choices. No doubt, in hindsight when the plague has passed, we will once again think it looked so simple, separating the wheat from the darnel. If only, here and now, it were. The good farmer in the parable knows it’s not. https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-19720
14.01.2022 Today is the 10th anniversary of the canonisation of Mary MacKillop at St Peter’s in Rome Mary the down to earth Aussie who was fond of saying, ‘'Never see a need without doing something about it.’ I happened to be in Rome for a regular Jesuit meeting at the Jesuit headquarters ten years ago. A couple of Australian pilgrims called into to say g’day. In the television coverage of the canonisation, we all saw the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, the sisters and political ...Continue reading
13.01.2022 Even the Aussie Bishops get a run at para 205: We need constantly to ensure that present-day forms of communication are in fact guiding us to generous encounter with others, to honest pursuit of the whole truth, to service, to closeness to the underprivileged and to the promotion of the common good. As the Bishops of Australia have pointed out, we cannot accept a digital world designed to exploit our weaknesses and bring out the worst in people.
12.01.2022 Today is the National Day of Sorrow and Promise. My profound thanks to Wendy Holder, a survivor, who reached out to me, kindly agreeing to share some of her insights and poetry, providing some enlightenment in this darkness. Here is my homily: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-25-octobe/
12.01.2022 Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 K 4:8-11,14-16; Rom 6:3-4,8-11; Mt 10:37-42 This weekend we mark the 8th anniversary of the death of our beloved Peter Steele, priest, poet and prophet. The Provost Sean Burke, on the urging of Professor Margaret Manion IBVM, has asked that we remember Peter at this Eucharist. Peter was the Jesuit scholar in residence here at Newman College for many years having spent a lifetime as a teacher and professor in the English De...Continue reading
12.01.2022 This day 35 years ago it was a very crisp, clear winter morning when I was ordained deacon in the Xavier College Chapel here in Melbourne. After 30 years away, I returned to Melbourne this year just in time for the lockdowns.
12.01.2022 As our Parliament prepares to meet for the first time without members having to attend in person, let’s recall the first motion passed in the new House of Representatives on this very day 32 years ago: 23 August 1988. There is still work to be done: Mr HAWKE (Prime Minister)(2.04) I move: That this House- (1) acknowledges that:...Continue reading
12.01.2022 Today's homily available at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-23-august/
11.01.2022 You can listen to my homily for the 10th anniversary of the canonisation of Mary MacKillop at https://soundcloud.com//tenth-anniversary-canonisation-mar
11.01.2022 My homily for the feast of Mary MacKillop is available here: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-solemnity/
11.01.2022 Today is the first anniversary of the death of my beautiful mother Patricia. You can listen to my homily at her funeral at: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/mums-funeral
11.01.2022 This weekend we mark the 8th anniversary of the death of our beloved Peter Steele, priest, poet and prophet. The Provost Sean Burke, on the urging of Professor Margaret Manion IBVM, has asked that we remember Peter at this Eucharist. Peter was the Jesuit scholar in residence here at Newman College for many years having spent a lifetime as a teacher and professor in the English Department at the University of Melbourne. Peter’s favourite platform was this pulpit in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. In one of his last homilies here, he mused, ‘We might say that Christ is part of the eloquence of God.’ The centrepoint of his day was the celebration of the Eucharist usually at this altar or in the Lady Chapel here at Newman. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-28620
11.01.2022 Just one more: Para 26-7 Our world is trapped in a strange contradiction: we believe that we can ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust.... 27. Paradoxically, we have certain ancestral fears that technological development has not succeeded in eliminating; indeed, those fears have been able to hide and spread behind new technologies. Today too, outside the ancient town walls lies the abyss, the territory of the unknown, the wilderness. Whatever comes from there cannot be trusted, for it is unknown, unfamiliar, not part of the village. It is the territory of the barbarian, from whom we must defend ourselves at all costs. As a result, new walls are erected for self-preservation, the outside world ceases to exist and leaves only my world, to the point that others, no longer considered human beings possessed of an inalienable dignity, become only them. Once more, we encounter the temptation to build a culture of walls, to raise walls, walls in the heart, walls on the land, in order to prevent this encounter with other cultures, with other people. And those who raise walls will end up as slaves within the very walls they have built. They are left without horizons, for they lack this interchange with others.
10.01.2022 My homily for the feast of John Henry Newman: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-the-feast/
09.01.2022 My homily for this Sunday: During this past week, Pope Francis issued his new encyclical Fratelli Tutti, literally translated as ‘all brothers’. In his previous encyclical Laudato Si, Francis wanted us to see how everything is connected. He reflected on his choice of the name Francis, following in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi who ‘shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace’. I...n Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis wants to demonstrate how everyone is connected, particularly those who lead the Church and those who are poor or marginalised, those like the disabled, the unborn and the elderly; the unemployed, the migrant and the refugee. He wants us to be able to see everyone as brothers and sisters. Francis challenges us: ‘Every brother or sister in need, when abandoned or ignored by the society in which I live, becomes an existential foreigner, even though born in the same country. They may be citizens with full rights, yet they are treated like foreigners in their own country.’ (#97) Should we not be first attentive to those who feel that they are treated like foreigners in their own Church? Francis’s universal vision and invitation in this encyclical, echoing today’s parable in which all are invited to the wedding feast, is clouded by the continuing incapacity of our Church and its leaders to fully and equally include women at the table, demonstrated by their exclusion even from the title of the document: Fratelli Tutti. Pope Francis writes: ‘[T]he organization of societies worldwide is still far from reflecting clearly that women possess the same dignity and identical rights as men. We say one thing with words, but our decisions and reality tell another story.’ Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-111020
08.01.2022 Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kings 19:9,11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33 After the commotion and upset of the beheading of John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples were keen to get away for some peace and quiet. They tried, but the crowds followed, and Jesus insisted that they feed them. Having collected twelve basket loads of scraps, they were despatched by Jesus to head to the other side of the lake in a boat. In the middle of the night, they...Continue reading
08.01.2022 The text of my homily for today is now available at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-11-octobe/
08.01.2022 The eagerly awaited social encyclical of Pope Francis entitled Fratelli Tutti is now available at http://www.vatican.va//papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-f
07.01.2022 In this Sunday’s gospel from Matthew we hear yet another of Jesus’ parables about the kingdom of heaven. In this one, the landowner needs workers for his vineyard. As the landowner becomes more benevolent to the latecomers, we’re left wondering if he is being less just to the early birds. As he displays more mercy to those who hardly worked at all, we’re left wondering where’s the justice in that for those who worked their guts out all day? Whether we’re first or last in the ...queue for work or in the queue for payment, we Christians know that we depend on our God who displays all three attributes: justice, mercy and benevolence. All three are signs of the kingdom breaking in here and now, and of the kingdom which is to come. And all three should be aspects of our own lives too. In what proportions, only each of us can discern before our God. I must confess I would still prefer a landowner who pays out the long-term workers first, according justice to them, and mercy and benevolence to the others without needlessly brandishing that mercy and benevolence before those who will receive only their just deserts. My Sunday homily is available at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-20920
07.01.2022 My homily for this Sunday: In the midst of our present woes and challenges, we hear a couple of brief punchy parables in today’s gospel about the kingdom of heaven. The field labourer discovers a treasure in the field. He knows what he wants. He sets about achieving his goal. He sells everything he owns. Then, and only then, is he able to buy the field on which he had set his sights. The jewellery merchant discovers the pearl of great price. She knows she wants it. She... sets about achieving her goal. She sells everything she owns. Then, and only then, is she able to buy the pearl on which she had set her sights. This week, we celebrate the feast of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Ignatius was like that field labourer and that jewellery merchant. He knew what he wanted. He gave up everything to get it. And he went for it. In hindsight his path looks clear and straight. It was anything but. Ignatius had his own COVID and economic crises rolled into one when he was wounded in battle on 23 May 1521. Over the next month, his life was in the balance. He was bed bound for 10 months undergoing various surgeries without anaesthetic. Over those months, he daydreamed and fantasised about all manner of things. Exploits which previously gave him pleasure lost their appeal. He found himself inspired by Jesus and some of the saints he read about. https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-26720
06.01.2022 Let's hope Para 23 prompts not only reflection but also action in the Catholic Church: '[T]he organization of societies worldwide is still far from reflecting clearly that women possess the same dignity and identical rights as men. We say one thing with words, but our decisions and reality tell another story.'
06.01.2022 Para 186: If someone helps an elderly person cross a river, that is a fine act of charity. The politician, on the other hand, builds a bridge, and that too is an act of charity. While one person can help another by providing something to eat, the politician creates a job for that other person, and thus practices a lofty form of charity that ennobles his or her political activity.
06.01.2022 On ABC radio this morning, I was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss these comments of Pope Francis: Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God. You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered. I recalled the discussion we had about the matter here in Australia in 2017. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgcbZbI0AKk Referri...ng to the stand he took with his fellow bishops in Argentina in 2010, Pope Francis said, ‘I stood up for that.’ Listen at https://www.abc.net.au//programs/mornings/mornings/12773212 commencing at 39:45. See more
06.01.2022 Eleven years ago today, I joined our secretariat from the Attorney General's Department at Magna Carta Place in Canberra and we electronically transmitted our National Human Rights Consultation Report to the Attorney General. The Government ran with some of our recommendations, including the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and the procedures for scrutiny of bills for human rights compliance. But the government decided not to implement Recommendation 18: 'The Committee recommends that Australia adopt a federal Human Rights Act'.
06.01.2022 I offer some reflections on the McCarrick Report in today's homily, as well as celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Jesuit Refugee Service which has done a power of good on the borders of life: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-15-novemb/
06.01.2022 Here is the text of my homily for World Day of Migrants and Refugees. See https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-27-septem/
05.01.2022 You can listen to my homily for this Sunday where Jesus tells us to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. In recent weeks, we’ve heard the series of parables about the Kingdom in Matthew’s gospel. They’ve been mainly directed at the chief priests and the elders. And they’ve had a gutful. So now we move to a series of conflict stories between Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees who have decided that it is time to move against him. They try various ...means to trap him, so that he will fall out either with the Roman authorities or with the mob. As you’d expect, Jesus is too deft to be caught out. He does not tone down his attack. He labels them hypocrites. Once the last of the conflict stories is told, Jesus unleashes a barrage of criticism of the Pharisees and Sadducees labelling them as hypocrites and blind guides. He then rounds out his critique describing them as serpents and a brood of vipers. In today’s conflict, the Pharisees start with a charm offensive: ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you.’ Jesus smells a rat immediately. He is aware of their malice. They ask if it is permissible to pay the poll tax to the Roman authorities. If he answers yes, he will alienate the mob. If he answers no, he will alienate the authorities. He names the set-up for what it is: ‘Why do you set this trap for me?’ He asks to see the coin with which they pay the tax. They produce the coin with the image and inscription of Caesar on it. The scripture scholar Daniel Harrington tells us: ‘In Jesus’ day the most widely circulated denarius bore the image of the emperor Tiberius and the Latin inscription Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti Filius Augustus Pontifex Maximus (Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest). Tiberius reigned as Roman emperor between A.D. 14 and 37.’ Some scripture scholars tell us that Jesus cleverly highlights the hypocrisy of the Pharisees from the beginning of the encounter as they are the ones who secretly possess the coin with the image and inscription of Caesar thereby demonstrating their allegiance to Caesar while publicly trying to keep in with the crowd. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-181020
05.01.2022 Homily forTwelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 20:10-13; Matthew 10:26-33 In the Church’s liturgical calendar, we now return to the Sundays in Ordinary Time. We haven’t celebrated a Sunday in ordinary time since 23 February 2020. Since then we have been taken up with Lent, Easter, the Ascension, the Trinity, Pentecost and Corpus Christi. Now we are back to the Ordinary Sundays. Today is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and for the first time in months, restrictions ar...Continue reading
05.01.2022 Today's homily: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-26-july-2/
05.01.2022 The text of my Sunday homily is now available at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-18-octobe/
05.01.2022 Para 168 Fratelli Tutti: Para 168: 'The marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith. Whatever the challenge, this impoverished and repetitive school of thought always offers the same recipes. Neoliberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to the magic theories of spillover or trickle without using the name as the only solution to societal problems.. The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom. It has also shown that, in addition to recovering a sound political life that is not subject to the dictates of finance, we must put human dignity back at the centre and on that pillar build the alternative social structures we need.'
05.01.2022 Today is Social Justice Sunday. Our bishops have issued a statement entitled ‘To Live Life to the Full: Mental Health in Australia Today’. Here is the text of my homily: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-30-august/
05.01.2022 My Sunday homily on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs. The image is the ‘Bombed Mary’, the head of a wooden statue of Mary from the Urakami Church in Nagasaki: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-9820
05.01.2022 Panel: How can institutions regain our trust? On RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly Religious bodies and banks have both been sullied in recent years, now perhaps our most trusted and celebrated institution, the Australian Defence Force, is in the spotlight - its integrity undermined by allegations of heinous crimes committed by our servicemen. ... So what do these institutions have in common and how have they let things come to this? Guests: Father Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and professor of law at Australian Catholic University Ming Long is chair of AMP Capital Funds Management Limited and a non-executive director of the Australia Pacific Board for QBE Insurance Samantha Crompvoets is a sociologist whose report sparked the Brereton Investigation Listen at https://www.abc.net.au//breakfast/panel-instituti/12922228
05.01.2022 There will be a lot of food for thought and action in this encyclical. Para 155: 'Lack of concern for the vulnerable can hide behind a populism that exploits them demagogically for its own purposes, or a liberalism that serves the economic interests of the powerful. In both cases, it becomes difficult to envisage an open world that makes room for everyone, including the most vulnerable, and shows respect for different cultures.'
04.01.2022 My homily for this Sunday addressing Peter’s question ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me?’: We’ve had a week of hearing about unforgivable things being done by all manner of people: the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia; Donald Trump’s lies about the Corona Virus; the Andrews government’s bungling of the quarantine arrangements; the refusal of the Queensland premier to allow a young woma...n to attend her father’s funeral while at the same time putting out the welcome mat for footballers and their entourages. It may be that in a time of pandemic with the isolation and lockdown, things seem more unforgivable than usual. The inexplicable seems unforgivable, and only once made explicable does it become forgivable. Then again, maybe more unforgivable things are done by those who exercise power in a time of crisis when there is no sure right answer to every predicament. In this age of pandemic, lockdown and isolation, let’s be attentive to the unforgivable or inexplicable as the privileged ground where God’s mercy might erupt in our presence precisely because human justice and truthful accountability are just not enough to explain or redeem the situation at hand. Let’s pray for the grace to forgive the person who does the unforgivable act or commits the unforgivable omission. See https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-13-septem/
04.01.2022 Last post for the night from what looks on first glance to be a very rich encyclical from Pope Francis: Paras 208-210 The Basis of Consensus:... 208. We need to learn how to unmask the various ways that the truth is manipulated, distorted and concealed in public and private discourse. What we call truth is not only the reporting of facts and events, such as we find in the daily papers. It is primarily the search for the solid foundations sustaining our decisions and our laws. This calls for acknowledging that the human mind is capable of transcending immediate concerns and grasping certain truths that are unchanging, as true now as in the past. As it peers into human nature, reason discovers universal values derived from that same nature. 209. Otherwise, is it not conceivable that those fundamental human rights which we now consider unassailable will be denied by those in power, once they have gained the consensus of an apathetic or intimidated population? Nor would a mere consensus between different nations, itself equally open to manipulation, suffice to protect them. We have ample evidence of the great good of which we are capable, yet we also have to acknowledge our inherent destructiveness. Is not the indifference and the heartless individualism into which we have fallen also a result of our sloth in pursuing higher values, values that transcend our immediate needs? Relativism always brings the risk that some or other alleged truth will be imposed by the powerful or the clever. Yet, when it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the ‘poorest of the poor’ on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal.[202] 210. What is now happening, and drawing us into a perverse and barren way of thinking, is the reduction of ethics and politics to physics. Good and evil no longer exist in themselves; there is only a calculus of benefits and burdens. As a result of the displacement of moral reasoning, the law is no longer seen as reflecting a fundamental notion of justice but as mirroring notions currently in vogue. Breakdown ensues: everything is leveled down by a superficial bartered consensus. In the end, the law of the strongest prevails.
04.01.2022 I was in the Washington Mall 12 years ago the night after the election of Barak Obama. It was heartening to run into the young Australian activist Brett Solomon who was there to make a difference. This was the reflection I wrote. See https://www.eurekastreet.com.au//obama-s-dream-at-the-linc Much has changed in those 12 years. Let’s keep the hope alight.
04.01.2022 Homily for Susan Ryan Newman College, University of Melbourne Fr Frank Brennan SJ, Rector...Continue reading
04.01.2022 Today's homily online at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-frank-brennans-homily-n/
03.01.2022 Re Lawyer X: The final report of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants will be presented to the Governor of Victoria on 30 November 2020 at 10.00am.
03.01.2022 Today is the feast of Mary MacKillop. My homily commences at 7:55 on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URw-7PZDdas
03.01.2022 Tomorrow is the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Pope Francis has published a message entitled, ‘Like Jesus Christ, Forced to Flee’. Even during this time of the COVID pandemic with closed borders he has urged us to do more to welcome, protect, promote and integrate people who are displaced. His message is not some soft left political manifesto. It is a spiritual challenge to us as Catholics, no matter what our nationality or political perspective. Why are we as Catho...lics called to show grace and compassion towards migrants and refugees? What is it in Catholic Social Teaching and our theology that underpins this orientation? When our governments are tougher and less generous, and when we are enjoying the financial and other benefits of secure borders and tightly regulated migration, we need to be more generous personally to those beyond our borders who are deprived the opportunities which are ours in abundance. We can be helped to do that by seeing those on the other side of our secured borders as ones with the face of Jesus, ones like the Holy Family fleeing into Egypt. My homily is available at https://soundcloud.com//homily-27920-world-day-of-migrants
02.01.2022 My homily for Susan Ryan is now available at https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-honouring/
02.01.2022 The full text of my homily for the feast of the Assumption is now available at https://jesuit.org.au/the-assumption-of-the-blessed-virgin/
02.01.2022 The text of my homily for today's Feast of Christ the King: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-22-novemb/
02.01.2022 Here is the text of my homily for today: https://www.catholicoutlook.org/fr-franks-homily-20-septem/
02.01.2022 I don't do Twitter. But I look at it from time to time. I've seen some weird tweets in my time but this one from James A Ph.D ThB,ThM,PhD Calvary Christian College *NSW-IS3912 ParalegalBaptist KJVMarriedChumash Indian/Jew MMAEX-Anonymous Hacktivist#MAGA=Make America Godly Again must go close to taking the Christmas Cake:
01.01.2022 My homily for this Sunday: For the fourth Sunday in a row, our gospel is a parable from Matthew. Three weeks ago, it was the parable of the unforgiving debtor who was forgiven a massive debt only to take it out on his companion who owed him little. Two weeks ago, it was the labourers in the vineyard, with those who worked only one hour at dusk receiving the same pay as those who had worked all day under the hot sun. And last week, it was the two sons one of whom said Yes bu...t didn’t, and the other of whom said No but did. Actions speak louder than words. Today it’s the parable of the wicked tenants in the vineyard. The Matthean community in the decade 80-90AD when Matthew was composing his gospel were probably ‘a once strongly Jewish Christian church that had become increasingly Gentile in composition’. They’d have been well familiar with the prophet Isaiah’s description of the vineyard in today’s first reading. In Isaiah’s account, the owner has done everything right, investing all he could, hoping to produce superb grapes, and presumably the finest wine. But the vineyard produces nothing but sour grapes. So he abandons the vineyard completely. It will lay waste, unpruned, undug, and overgrown. The prophet Isaiah leaves the chosen people in no doubt: the Lord’s vineyard is the House of Israel and the people of Judah. Instead of justice and integrity, only bloodshed and distress are to be found. By their fruits you will know them. By our fruits, individually and collectively, we will be known. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-41020
01.01.2022 Para 220 Indigenous peoplesare not opposed to progress, yet theirs is a different notion of progress, often more humanistic than the modern culture of developed peoples. Theirs is not a culture meant to benefit the powerful, those driven to create for themselves a kind of earthly paradise. Intolerance and lack of respect for indigenous popular cultures is a form of violence grounded in a cold and judgmental way of viewing them. No authentic, profound and enduring change is possible unless it starts from the different cultures, particularly those of the poor. A cultural covenant eschews a monolithic understanding of the identity of a particular place; it entails respect for diversity by offering opportunities for advancement and social integration to all.
01.01.2022 My homily for 2nd Sunday of Advent is now available for listening on Soundcloud: In a time of pandemic emerging from lockdown as we are, we would do well this Advent to focus on ‘the ambivalence of the wilderness as the place of testing, rebellion, and renewed love’. I’d like to do it through the lens of Pope Francis. This week Francis published a little book entitled Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. He describes three COVIDs or wilderness experiences in his life. T...he third was his time at Cordoba after he had completed many years in Jesuit leadership in a very divided province in Argentina. He had been novice master, then provincial, and then superior of the major house of formation for students studying theology. This is the way he describes this wilderness experience: ‘This time had its roots in my way of exercising leadership, as provincial and then rector. I’m sure I did a few good things, but I could be very harsh. In Cordoba they made me pay [they sent me the bill] and they were right to do so. ‘I spent a year, ten months and thirteen days in the Jesuit residence there. I celebrated mass, heard confessions, and gave spiritual direction but hardly ever left the house, just to go to the post office. It was a kind of lockdown, self-isolating as so many of us have done lately, and it did me good. It helped me to develop ideas: I wrote and prayed a lot.’ Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-61220
