Too many New Year resolutions falter because they fail to address what really needs changing: the internal disposition that compels us into unwanted habits. A few years ago, we received a letter from an irate reader. We were tempted to point out his clear misinterpretation that led him to conclude almost the direct opposite of our intent. But we recognised in his words the wounded heart of a person imprisoned by ...

Advent is a season of anticipation. The birth of any child, not least the Messiah, gives us cause for hope. Earlier this week, we heard the testimony of Chris and Natalie Stefanick, a couple who had journeyed through dark seasons in their marriage. Having survived sexual abuse as a child, Natalie found she needed many years of therapy and healing. She recounted one of her darkest times, when she doubted that ...

Hostile Territory, the latest offering from actor, director, and writer Brian Presley, has all the right dads-for-kids ingredients. Set in Missouri in the mid-1860s, the 2022 film is an award-worthy western with a crisp contemporary edge. The well-thought-out script follows battle-hardened Union army Captain Jack Calgrove, who, at war’s end, finds his kids gone and his wife dead. As he was presumed KIA, Calgrove’s children were dispatched by the US Army ...

Christmastime is difficult for many people suffering loss and separation from their loved ones. If you are in pain, turn to the Christ Child Who was born in a stable, far from home; the Father Who loves us so deeply no matter how far we may wander; and the Holy Spirit Who set the stars in the heavens and Who dwells in your heart. Every Christmas, I have one song which ...

Christmas is a blessed season to pause and soak in the loving presence of your family, recalling the quiet joy of the first Christmas in the humble abode of the Holy Family. As the song says, “Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.” For many families, this is true. You see, kids love family. It’s what they instinctively long for. Christmas is really the celebration of what many in ...

God stepped into the messiness of humanity through His very human family, full of scandalous forebears. This Christmas, let us imitate Jesus and love our family members despite how annoying they may get! The Christmas Vigil Mass features the Gospel of Matthew (1:1-25). Depending on whether you get the long or short version, you might hear the genealogy of Jesus Christ — a rather long list of the forebears of Jesus, ...

It’s November, which means next month is Christmas. It will come sooner than you think. Here’s a Christmas recipe to tuck away, ready for the silly season. Recently, I had a crazy idea of creating a Christmas nativity scene out of chocolate. If I’m honest, I’m no food blogger. I have previously shared a photo of my Christmas shortbread: it was as black as the ace of spades. That’s what happens ...

Let me begin this article by saying to you that the journey that healed my wounded heart has only ever happened once to me, and I believe it was for a very specific reason. I am by no means a spiritual visionary! The Healing of A Wounded Heart As I mentioned in my introduction, the first big cracks in my façade of perfection occurred with the birth of my second child. I ...

Editor’s Note: This is a profoundly real and self-revelatory article for those fathers who are grappling with the deeper issues of fatherhood. Full congratulations to Rod Lampard for sharing his journey with us. This is a case of strong meat for strong men. ___ “You’re just like your father.” This was the fictional narrative of my formative years. Instead of using my name when things got heated between us, my family ...

Thanks so much for all the wonderful help with the End of Financial Year ‘Help the Children’ Appeal. Your giving will help Dads4Kids to keep going. The good news is, we are just over halfway to our target. I am sure we will get there in the end, but it just might take a bit more time. If you would still like to support the Dads4Kids Help Children Appeal, please DONATE ...

Byrd Bagget says, “Work hard, do your best, live the truth, trust yourself, have some fun… and you will have no regrets.” Only twelve more sleeps till Christmas. All the more reason to live life with no regrets. Warwick, why are you talking about no regrets, twelve days out from Christmas? I thought you would never ask! Recently, my wife and I were invited to speak together at a church by ...

Some time ago, Steve De Keijzer told me a humbling but wonderful experience he had with his 16-year-old daughter. Steve’s daughter had an assignment from school to write a story on a person who had a profound impact on her life. She chose to write about her dad. Steve’s story is printed in full below: “My 16 year-old daughter came home recently and told me of an assignment that she had ...

The single hardest thing for any Dad is trying to get the balance right between love and discipline for his children. I often use the expression ‘grace and truth’. Grace is really another name for love. The challenge becomes more difficult the more children you have, and I think especially the more boys you have. Boys seem to find your limit and then take you past it. Boys, for wont of ...

Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as ‘King of the One Liners’ once said, “I was an atheist for a while, but I gave it up, no holy-days.” Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week’s newsletter – Easter Family Holidays. Most of us celebrate Easter holidays but where did they come from and why do we celebrate them? Most countries in the world celebrate ...

Eric Clapton sang, “If I could change the world.” Many men dream about changing the world, but very few actually attempt it. Some succeed in bringing change, but is that change healthy, or does it create more problems than it solves? As a student radical, growing up in the late sixties, I believed it was possible to change the world. Of course, when you are young, and want to change the world, ...

I have a dream to change the world. Before I tell you what I believe the secret to changing the world is, let me share with you a few other perspectives. The radical feminists have developed a very simple solution to changing the world. They watched which gender was responsible for most of the violence, theft, rape, war and crime in the world. After identifying that the greatest proportion of evil ...

We are in the middle of celebrating Easter.  Our children think that Easter is all about chocolate eggs and rabbits, but of course it is really about something far deeper and stronger.  Good Friday is called ‘good’ because it celebrates the death of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross, and Easter Sunday is a celebration of his resurrection.  Many people think of Jesus as effeminate, or as Larry Norman said, ‘a ...

Men are leaders. They will either lead goodly or badly. For almost 40 years men have been demonised by radical feminists and a compliant media because the radical feminists have rightly observed that almost all of the world’s problems have come from inerrant men. Look at the long list of dictators responsible for the deaths of 153 million people in the 20th Century. All of them (top 36) are men. Mao ...

I was speaking at a DIDS meeting in rural New South Wales last night and I was commending the group for becoming real lifesavers in reaching out to each other in support. I told them that this country was once renowned for its mateship, and sadly I believe we have lost that somehow. We have lost the knowledge of what being a mate is all about. It is my belief that ...

It is not the actual divorce that hurts families. It is the pain of finding guilt in one another as divorcing couples. The fighting, the yelling, the attacking of one another’s character is what causes trauma in children and friends. Some people’s mistake is to either marry the wrong person or think they have married the wrong person. The problem then so often lies in couples trying to blame the other ...