Am I against smacking? Yes. Have I smacked any of my children? Yes, at one time or another. Few topics are sure to ignite debate among parents than that of physical, or corporal, punishment for children. Some people are calling for the resignation of Dr Kevin Donnelly, the co-chair of the national curriculum review, on the back of his…
Month: July 2014
Age doesn’t matter between friends – a tribute
My friend Sr Josepha Clancy passed into eternal life on June 25. Her obituary and my small tribute were published in last week’s The Catholic Weekly: About ten years ago I was working at my desk in the Catholic Weekly office when my phone rang. It was my friend Sr Josepha, who came in on Mondays…
Cheapskate school holiday challenge
A recent Sydney Morning Herald article about the huge range of holiday activities on offer for kids these days suggested that the cost of feeding and entertaining children during holidays is around $100 per day. It featured three typical Sydney families spending roughly this amount – one with three children, one with four, and one with five. This was just the cost of doing…
Families the source of ‘essential virtues’
Published recently in The Catholic Weekly. I had a scan through the Instrumentum Laboris, which is the working paper that the bishops will use when they meet for the synod on the family in October. It is a huge document with a lot to take in and not all of it is relevant to Australian…
Marilyn Rodrigues 