Michael Leunig is one of our truly wise people. He is worth listening to - whether it is through the medium of his cartoons or in person. David Ranson and Michael may be seen in an extended conversation - click here.

Frederic Chopin wrote some of the most sublime piano pieces in a tragically short life of just 39 years. It is particularly inspiring when someone plays Chopin today with a good understanding of his music. It is inspiring when a little girl of 9 does that. Watch the video.

How might you respond to the news that you are expecting a Down Syndrome child? Here is a response - click here.

The Extraordinary Synod on the Family scheduled for October has captured the attention of the faithful like no other synod. Simply because this time the bishops will be discussing an issue on which the laity are experts.

The enthusiasm of the “laity” is plain to see from the numbers of user-friendly surveys that have spun off from the Vatican questionnaire addressed to the bishops last October. As the Catholic Organizations for Renewal, a US-based partnership of 15 Catholic groups observed in a letter to their bishops, “individual Catholics are hungry to make their voices heard”.

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Most political leaders have learned the art of spin these days. We therefore need to apply a careful hermeneutic to what they say. Most of us do not have that skill. I think this many's insights might help. Watch the video.

This is a remarkable video. It begins with a televangelist. It moves to a young South African pastor speaking of, among other things, his association with Pope Francis before he became Pope. Towards the end of the video there is a few minutes of Pope Francis giving a simple and beautiful messahe to this group of pastors. This is the sort of thing that reminds us that we have, in Pope Francis, something very special. Watch it and rejoice! Watch the video

On Sunday February 2 2014, Sr Marie Biddle RSJ and I had the privilege to be present in Newcastle's Christchurch Cathedral for the installation of the new bishop - Gregory Thompson. It was a splendid occasion, certainly, because of the magnificent singing and the enactment of the liturgy. But far more importantly, it was a splendid occasion because we were part of the faith community gathering around a remarkable man who is to be their leader in the diocese. Greg's sermon will tell you much about him and his vision. With his permission it is reproduced below. Bishop Greg sounds more than a little like Pope Francis who recently told the Jesuit journalists from La Civiltà Cattolica that ‘Your proper place is the frontier,’ the cultural frontier, where they were ‘not to build walls but bridges’ to those who did not share their Catholic beliefs or culture. Pope Francis told a group of devout Catholics that we should not ‘lock ourselves up in our parish, among our friends . . . . with people who think as we do’ but instead ‘The Church must step outside herself. To go where? To the outskirts of existence, whatever they may be’.” Michael Whelan SM

Pedro Arrupe probably had more influence on the Catholic Church than any other churchman in the last century – including the popes. The Jesuit Refugee Service was one of his great legacies but I do not think it was his greatest. It was the last important thing he did but I would say that his greatest legacy was to summon the 32nd General Congregation (GC32), the most authoritative body the Jesuits can assemble, which gave a new identity and purpose and redefined the role of the Jesuits for the modern age. Some people rightly call him therefore, 'the founder of the modern Society'.

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Do you know where your clothes are made? And if you know where they are made do you know anything about he people - their wages and conditions - who make them? Watch this video

Maraquita explores a woman's false incarceration in an Australian mental hospital, as remembered by her son Tony. Maraquita spent 22 years of her life in Sunbury Asylum on a diagnosis that was later to be found incorrect. She was separated from her five children and subject to experimental treatment without consent. Now, 50 years later, Tony re-visits the asylum where he first met his mother and tells both her story of injustice and the lasting impact it has had on his life.

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Is there global warming? Is there climate change? How might we think of these and similar questions? They are hardly insignificant questions. Watch this video 

A N Wilson

The paradox is that growing or shrinking numbers do not tell you anything. The Gospel would still be true even if no one believed it. The hopeful thing is that, where it is tried – where it is imperfectly and hesitantly followed – as it was in Northern Ireland during the peace process, as it is in many a Salvation Army hostel this Christmas, as it flickers in countless unseen Christian lives, it works. And its palpable and remarkable power to transform human life takes us to the position of believing that something very wonderful indeed began with the birth of Christ into the world.

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