Ben Smith

  • Irish Flair at St Patrick’s Family Festival

    By Jordan Grantham, Catholic Outlook   Families, friends and parishioners came together at the St Patrick’s Family Festival, organised by the Diocese of Parramatta’s Life Marriage and Family Office (LMF), from 2-5pm on Saturday 18 March 2017. Most Rev Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta attended and...
  • Reimagining Christmas in modern Australia

    By Ben Smith, Director of the Family & Life Office When you think of Christmas, what images do you see in your mind’s eye? You might see Santa Claus, reindeer or Christmas trees. It is often hard to escape from these images that we are bombarded with from our...
  • Allow me to Die: If only it was that simple

    A recent SBS Dateline documentary “Allow me to die,” about the issue of euthanasia in Belgium was rerun on 24 November 2015. In this documentary, a father in his 30’s is considering euthanasia to deal with his persistent mega migraine headaches. Also the documentary shows the death of an...
  • When Q&A becomes A&Q

    I was lucky enough to be selected for the audience for the Q&A Special episode on Dying and Euthanasia on 9 November. The last time I visited the ABC Studios in Ultimo was in 2003 when I was interviewed on Triple J about the issue of youth suicide and...
  • God wants to build bridges not walls: Reflections on Pope Francis’ trip to the US

    Family was at the core of Pope Francis’ trip to the US at the end of September 2015. In his General Audience on 30 September, he identified that his words and actions from the trip could be symbolised by this statement: “God always wants to build bridges; we are...
  • Will Familyfest rival Oktoberfest this October?

    Many people, especially those with a German background, will celebrate Oktoberfest this month in pubs around the globe. In parallel with this celebration, Catholics will be celebrating a “Familyfest” of their own during the month of October. The 8th World Meeting of Families was held in Philadelphia, USA from...