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Research affirms what makes great parishes: Good Community Good Teaching and Preaching Good Music. In other words, an experience of love, an experience of truth, an experience of beauty. With Christ at the centre of our community, teaching, music and art, we shall – with the help of Almighty God – create great parishes. Recently, the pope visited the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Rome. It was Pope Leo XIII who asked St. John Bosco to establish the parish near Termini T

The Gospel of John can be divided into the Book of Signs  (John 1-12) and the Book of Glory   (John 13-21). The first sign is given at Cana (John 2). The last sign is given at Bethany (John 11). We witness ‘water turned into wine,’ and now ‘death put to death.’ Lazarus has been dead for four days, but now finds himself resuscitated: Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a

200 Words: Soulful Sensitivity The Gospel of John has seven signs. John prefers to call them signs since all events are exterior and interior by nature. This accounts for the different reactions and responses people can, and do, have to them. The healing of the blind man from birth is earthy, tangible and dramatic: As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus spat on the ground, made a paste with spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, and

Bishop Erik Varden gave the Papal Lenten Retreat 2026 and spoke about biblical paradox. The word comes from the Greek: Para - Beyond Doxos - Opinion. It is one among many literary techniques that is able to express profound truths, not open to conventional language. For example: Less is more. Apparently, Adolf Hitler hated the Bible because it is full of paradox. Life is full of paradox, and so we find metaphorical language to express it. John’s Gospel highlights the paradox

John will be the dominant evangelist for Lent from hereon in: Today the Woman at the Well, then the Healing of the Blind Man, followed by the Raising of Lazarus. The Holy Thursday Gospel features John. Good Friday always rolls out John. On route from Judea to Galilee Jesus ‘had to pass’   through Samaria – a common phrase in John, indicating Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father and the Father’s will. We should not underestimate, for a minute, John’s alertness to Jesus’ humanity:

Pope Leo XIV, on annual retreat, has been sitting at the feet of Bishop Erik Varden (Norway) who reflected on the question: What is truth? Christ is truth itself and so truth is personal – both objective and subjective. When I can say, ‘I am not a thief,’ I have taken the objective truth – ‘Thou shalt not steal’ – and internalised it perfectly. Varden makes this claim: Ambition represents a particular form of capitulation to un truth. Why would this be the case? Because humil