Author Archives: Church Mouse

An article by Jeremy Hartcher in Issue 2/2004 of The Southside News, a publication of the University of Technology Sydney Journalism program.

Sydney’s Aboriginal Medical Service has waited thirty three years for a new centre in Redfern.

This month it opened its doors with the help of a major donation from a nun. Sister Pat Durnan sold her home for $145,000 to donate to the service which had been looking for Government help since the 1970s.

In the 1920s the term ‘fundamentalism’ was first coined to refer to the Protestant denominations and sects in the US who advocated the return to what they claimed were the ‘fundamentals’ of their faith.

They believed that the Bible should be taken literally, that it was dictated by the hand of God, that morality was to be strictly adhered to, and that Darwin’s theory of evolution contradicted Holy Scripture and should never be taught in the schools. They were profoundly conservative and hated pluralism, materialism, relativism and libertinism of all kinds.

The term fundamentalism has … Continue reading →

Prayers of the Faithful

The priest and he alone decides if the prayers of the faithful are to be opened up to the congregation and he decides when the prayers are to be concluded. There is no right to publicly express your own private prayers at Mass. Whenever you are invited to pray it is not necessary to give explanation or introductions to your prayer. God knows what you are praying for. The prayer need to be brief and to the point. This is now the practise[sic] in this parish irrespective of what … Continue reading →

John Crothers, parish priest of St Declan’s, Peakhurst and Penshurst, in southwest Sydney has bravely spoken out against Pell’s leadership style in a letter to Online Catholics last week. The letter from which the following paragraphs were taken may be read here.