I was a multi-tasking student in my twenties. I worked at least three jobs each week, bicycling between venues: teaching RE at a girls’ college, researching bioethics at the St Vincent’s Bioethics Centre and alternatively pulling beers or popping champagne bottles at the Arts Centre…
There are reports, images and videos emerging gradually from the recent back-to-back “superstar” conferences in London recently. Australia’s Professor Tracey Rowland’s article, “A Week at Canary Wharf”, in the always topical Catholic World Report captures very well the “vibe”, the promise and the adroitly skimmed philosophical and theological differences…
At the time of writing, Pope Francis at 88 is critically ill. On the hour news commentators report him rallying, slipping and improving by small and swinging increments. It seems like the end of an era, but who can tell? In the wider world, something…
This week London Docklands, once a flurry of the creaking timbers, navvies and tarred rigging of imperial trade, has become a busy hub of big ideas by notable figures across many fields. We have yet to digest all this mind-exchange, debate and speech-giving, and perhaps…
Last Christmas, my generous and book-loving husband gave me a reprint of a now-classic book. The book, The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation, by the eminent Italo-German priest and theologian Fr Romano Guardini (1885-1968), has been reprinted by the Brooklyn-based publishers, Angelico Press.…
There was a sense of a convivial but important moment in the room earlier this week in Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the launch of Dr Kevin Donnelly’s edition of Defend the West: The Culture of Freedom with my husband, Anthony. The…
In 1943, Australia was living in the shadow of World War II which it had entered as a nation in 1939 under prime minister Robert Menzies. The global war against tyranny had become all too real for Australia. In 1942 there was the Japanese bombing…
An experienced and grounded mental health professional remarked in an informal and recent conversation: “Everyone I speak with is weary and anxious … they are certainly not ready for 2025.” I have noticed this phenomenon. Even though time waits for not one of us, it…
When I was young, I often wondered how it was that my father, Francis Xavier Duffy (1927-99) – a father of 11 children with a travelling full-time profession, a garage full of furniture repair and making, and a garden that was as close to self-sufficient…
My last public appearance for the Thomas More Centre in 2024 was a joyful one. It started with an invitation from Katrina Currell (from St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Timboon) to talk about the vision and the work of the Thomas More Centre with representatives from…