The Great Wall of China. Hadrian’s Wall. The Berlin Wall. The Iron Curtain. The Korean Demarcation Line. The Israel-Gaza barrier. These are just a few examples of physical barriers people have put up to separate themselves effectively from others. I believe there’s another one planned along the Mexican-American border. When such a massive construction effort is undertaken, it’s usually driven…

It’s the year 2018. We are sitting in a Catholic Church, attending Mass celebrated in the Roman rite but in our native language. Some of us were cradle Catholics and inherited the Catholic faith from their parents, while others converted Catholic at a later stage in their lives. But it can safely be said that none of us here is…

When referring to Jesus’ parable of the Good Shepherd last Sunday, I admitted that my knowledge of farming and agriculture is rather limited. That limitation extends to vine-dressing – with reference to the image as presented in today’s gospel. However, my limited knowledge doesn’t mean that I’m absolutely ignorant of the matter. Thanks to my formal education plus my deep-rooted…

In common with most babies and toddlers, they are very cute and very vulnerable. Oh, I’m obviously talking about lambs! These days a lot of them run carefree in the fields; but the moment they spot danger, like a big man walking his dog, they run to their respective mothers and – oddly enough – suck them for comfort. I…

‘Hell doesn’t exist’ said Pope Francis – allegedly – and then hell broke loose. The words were cited by Eugenio Scalfari, an Italian journalist and self-declared atheist. The Pope had a private meeting with Scalfari just before Easter without, however, giving him a formal interview. The Vatican quickly responded that the article didn’t report the Pope’s words accurately as no…