Our third quarterly men’s breakfast for the year is on Saturday 13 September at 7am at the Brookfield Centre, with Jeff Lawrence. Breakfast is served at 7.30am. Jeff is the pastor of the Brisbane North Church of Christ in Kedron Qld. He is an accredited spiritual director and an experienced and engaging storyteller. Jeff is acutely aware of…
Through the teaching of Trappist monk Fr Thomas Keating, I became aware of what he calls internal programs for happiness; three ways in which the constructed self constantly props up its incessant insecurity. These are: The need for validation by others through affirmation; the need for security and certainty; and the need for power and control. It works…
This is the third in a series of blogs on the Men’s Rite of Passage (MROP), a unique, five day experience for men to prepare them for the second half of life. In the first blog, “The Rite Stuff: Why Initiation?” I discussed why initiation is so vital in the disconnected, alienating society we have created. In the…
Last time I wrote on why initiation is vital for the modern western man. Not only in adolescence, which, thankfully, is starting to occur, but for older men (anyone over 30, and many who are under 30) who are entering the second half of life without the tools needed for the journey.In this blog I want to talk…
Welcome to new CEO Richard Fay
This is the first in a series of blogs that explores something very dear to my heart. It is for men, but every woman knows a man, and women know that men only go to seek help when they are gravely ill or when their wives/girlfriends/sisters etc. drag them along. “It’s only a flesh wound” we protest, as…
I want to write about faith, but I am plagued by uncertainty.Our brains like certainty. They like to name things, so they can colonise what they name with specific meaning. They hate uncertainty. It creates a sense of powerlessness that is very difficult to sustain for long periods. Neurologically, it’s very challenging.In the past few weeks, my wife…
As a lover of words, the nomenclature of birds has long fascinated me. A parliament of owls. A company of parrots (with Major Mitchell at the fore, eh what, capital!). A cauldron of raptors and a congregation of plovers. On and on, each with a sense of imagination of what that bird represents to the one who named…
My worst moment of parenting, one of the worst moments of my life, happened almost 15 years ago. I was rushing out the door to lead a weekend retreat for 50 people. I had been planning feverishly for months. Everything was ready, except I couldn’t find my car keys. I searched high and low, becoming increasingly frantic as…
A year. That’s all. If you are lucky, my neighbour was told recently. He is my ‘twin’ – born within hours of me. He’s been my neighbour for most of my adult life. Today he called me with the news, so we sat and chatted. Across from me is a friend I will no longer see, very soon….
