Available Light

The tomb of  William Larnach, the builder of Larnach's castle. He was a Member of Parliament who shot himself because of financial and family difficulties. His tomb is based on the design of First Church, Dunedin. Late last century this tomb was vandalised and Larnach's skull stolen. The skull, complete with bullet hole, was later found in a student flat. The tomb has since been restored. My friend and colleague Jim White has made a thoughtful submission  on the petition of Maryanne Street's and others to legalise medically assisted suicide. Much of what Jim says I agree with. He bases his argument on the morality of suicide, saying that while suicide is usually regarded as morally repugnant, there are times when it is not. He mentions, for example, Father Maximillian Kolbe who, in Auschwitz, willingly went to his death in order that another man could be spared. Indeed, Jesus says that the greatest expression of love is to lay down ...

I look at the date at the top of my last post and realize how long it was since I put anything on here. There's a reason for that. There are in fact a dozen reasons for that and I can't mention one of them. In the parish I dealt with people's life issues on a daily basis and was trusted to share their struggles and concerns and joys and pleasures. Once in a while, maybe once every couple of months or so, there would be something big; I would be invited into one of those issues which, when the narrative of that person's existence was told, that event would have a place in the story. Sharing those issues was both compelling and draining, requiring me to plumb the limits of my reserves of empathy and understanding, but also invigorating me with fresh insights into the workings of us, peculiar, sentient islands of consciousness that we are. Now, in this office into which the Holy Spirit has, for bizarre and obscure reasons called me, I share such moments on an almost dail...