Columns

  • The roots of corruption and destruction are fed by greed

    Sep 29, 2018

    Some of the biggest problems in Malaysia today can be traced back to rampant corruption which has bled the nation almost dry.

  • Bridging the unbridgeable gap

    Sep 28, 2018

    “Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.”

  • Chastity and love

    Sep 21, 2018

    Woe to chastity that is not practiced out of love, but woe to love that excludes chastity.

  • A tale of three banquets

    Sep 21, 2018

    Malaysia is widely regarded as having a diversified fairly open trading and market economy based largely on manufacturing and services.

  • An ode to the Church

    Sep 14, 2018

    Carlo Carretto was an Italian monk who died in 1988. For many years he lived as a hermit in the Sahara Desert, translated the scriptures into the Tuareg language, and from the solitude of the desert wrote some extraordinary spiritual books.

  • Towards a more meaningful, inclusive Malaysia Day

    Sep 14, 2018

    This Sunday, we celebrate Malaysia Day, the first in the new Malaysia. The celebrations this year take on a new tone as we celebrate the diversity in our federation – comprising the Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak – in the spirit of inclusivity.

  • How to respond

    Sep 08, 2018

    Sometimes, all you can do is to put your mouth to the dust and wait. That’s a counsel from the Book of Lamentations and, while perhaps not the best response to the recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church, it seems the only helpful response available to me as a Roman Catholic priest today. Beyond prayer, I’ve been hesitant to respond otherwise to this current situation for three reasons.

  • Conservative backlash against Francis?

    Sep 07, 2018

    This has been an uncomfortable time for the Catholic Church, in particular the Bishop of Rome, Francis, who is fresh from a trip to Ireland.

  • Uri Avnery — a prophetic voice in a troubled region is no more

    Sep 01, 2018

    The great Israeli peace writer and peace activist Uri Avnery passed away on Aug 20 at the age of 94. He may not be familiar to many of us here. But his work for the cause of a just peace in the Middle East should be an example for us all.

  • Beautiful stoics

    Aug 30, 2018

    There’s a rich literature being written today by some highly intelligent, sensitive men and women who might best be described as agnostic stoics.