Don Smith

Newly Ordained Deacon Don Gomez with his wife Cerisse and Archbishop Christopher Prowse “Let me serve you.” With those four words, newly ordained Deacon Don Mauro Salvador Gomez summed up the ministry he had just accepted before a full St Christopher’s Cathedral.

Mecca ( front, third from the right) during her first mission to Sitio Waring, Oriental Mindoro, the Hanunuo Mangyans helped us carry Christmas gifts into the community. “Bumangon ka na! Kung umulan ng biyaya, wala kang nakuha dahil sa kakahilata!” “Get up! If blessings rained down, you wouldn’t have gotten any because of your laziness!” This is a saying from my mother which served as a reminder to me that doing nothing with what I had would also result in nothing.

Three lifelong Catholics reflect on faith, loss and growing older Sr Betty McMahon then and now — pictured in 1970 and today At 95, Sister Betty McMahon has little patience for romantic notions about growing old. “Take my hand,” she says. “I’ve never been old before.” Across Canberra, Geoff Joy is approaching his 90th birthday. After a lifetime in Catholic education, he speaks of ageing differently.