Tag Archives: Nativity

The Christmas story of asylum seekers

By Fr Maurizio Pettena CS

Yesterday, I stood in front of the Nativity scene that is displayed in front of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney and considered it for a moment. The Christmas story, as always during December, is much on my mind and in my prayer this week. Even David Jones just down the road has a beautiful display in its windows of puppets re-enacting the Christmas story, complete with baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the three kings and the angels. A huge group of tourists had gathered to watch the mechanical puppets, taking photos and in some way, celebrating what Christmas is about. Continue reading

A vandal at Christmas

By Bishop Greg O’Kelly

This article was first published in “The Witness” of Port Pirie and is used with permission

At Christmas five years ago, people entering St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide were shocked to discover that the nativity crib had been vandalised. Someone had urinated over the statues of Mary and Joseph, and the statue of the baby Jesus in the crib had been smashed into pieces. Continue reading