024 :
26 Sep 2007

Cindy returns… Cindy has got over what she describes as her "hissy fit" and makes a welcome return to Catholica. There's been a lot happening in her parish in recent months and during the past week she attended the packed function in Melbourne last week to listen to Bishop Geoffrey Robinson. [more]

023 :
17 Feb 2007

Cindy bows out Cindy disagrees with the editorial policy on language that has been outlined for Catholica and has decided to bow out of further participation. She takes the opportunity here to forcefully express her point of view. [more]

022 :
23 Dec 2006

Bring a gift to the value of $5 Cindy in her final reflection for the year has a few thoughts on the value of gift giving. She also suggests we take time out this Christmas to value ourselves. [more]

021 :
16 Dec 2006

Cracking the Code Cindy vents her frustration about understanding computers and has a few choice words for spammers and hackers. [more]

020 :
09 Dec 2006

Salt of the Earth? It's Christmas and Cindy has been busy with a round of end-of-year parties. One of the conversations she got mixed up in at one of the luncheons led her to writing this reflection on the value of salt and the ways in which we use it in phrases like "rubbing salt into the wound" and a person being "salt of the earth". [more]

019 :
02 Dec 2006

What we seek in our faith today... In almost serendipitous timing with the release of the Bishops' Report yesterday on the lapse in participation, Cindy has been having a chat with a few of the ladies in her parish on these same matters. They have a few suggestions for jazzing up the liturgy. Some of them seem as confused as the bishops though as to why their own children have given Mass the flick. You'll find much in what Cindy writes that gels with what you read in the ACBC report on "Catholics who have stopped going to Mass". [more]

018 :
25 Nov 2006

The heartbeat! Cindy's about to become a grandmother. During the week she heard the heartbeat of the child in her daughter's womb for the first time. It has triggered many thoughts about the value of a hearbeat. [more]

017 :
18 Nov 2006

Oh, what beautiful roses! In her delightfully subtle way this week Cindy cuts through much of the cant of parish life. We human beings are a funny lot when our priorities are examined in this way! [more]

016 :
11 Nov 2006

Take me to your leader! During the week Cindy heard a speech at a Toastmasters Club meeting that was unforgettable. She has heard hundreds of speeches and many of them fade from memory quickly. This one however struck a chord with her as it packed such a powerful message. [more]

015 :
04 Nov 2006

The value of a smile! The home of one of the parishioners was burned down recently accidently. Cindy has been a bit gobsmacked at the way in which the couple concerned have handled the calamity in their lives. It's led her to musing on the value of a smile and how we express our inner feelings through our eyes. [more]

014 :
28 Oct 2006

The value of photographs and in recording our stories This week Cindy's reflection has been sparked by Kate's thoughts last week on the value of telling our stories. Cindy's commentary is a particularly poignant one on the value of memories and photographs. We better understand the present when we have an understanding of the things that formed our behaviours and thinking patterns. [more]

013 :
21 Oct 2006

Musings on War and Circumcision Oh Dear! Oh Dear! This week Cindy's really taken the gloves off and speaks with her very blunt style about the evils of war and circumcision. And if you want to know what the connection between those two very unconnected subjects is don't miss what she has to say! [more]

012 :
14 Oct 2006

When should kids move out of home? Cindy's daughter has moved back home and it's given her pause to wonder when is the best time for the kids to move out of home. It seems many in her parish ask the same question. [more]

011 :
09 Oct 2006

Cindy reflects on her Catholic upbringing... Cindy has had a sharp bout of depression in recent days as she nears her 62nd birthday. What's brought it on has been thinking over some of the more negative aspects of her Catholic upbringing in the 1950s. [more]

010 :
30 Sep 2006

Cindy goes to the ballet... This week Cindy attended an end of year exhibition by the final year students of the Australian Ballet School. It was a spiritual experience for Cindy. She is musing why people's spirits seem lifted at the theatre in ways that do not occur in our liturgies. [more]

009 :
23 Sep 2006

Cindy's week of bits and pieces... In the news yesterday it was announced that the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley, is going to start his own blog. We reckon our resident Sacristan, Cindy, has beaten him to it with today's wistful reflection on her week. [more]

008 :
16 Sep 2006

Cindy's secret addiction... Cindy has a confession to make. She's embarrassed to even make the disclosure in public but you know what it's like when the ladies of the parish start sharing their stories. What would you do if you were told you only had a week to live? [more]

007 :
09 Sep 2006

Cindy celebrates a wedding anniversary... Cindy and her husband, Petal Frog, are celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary this week. They both find it quite amusing that 32 years can have passed by so quickly. Here's a beaut, pensive reflection to soften the hardest of hearts. [more]

006 :
02 Sep 2006

Cindy confronts the thoughts of a priestless parish... There's a growing sense of panic at St Michael's. Word is out that Fr Cunning is about to be transferred and the diocese doesn't have a replacement priest. The rumours are rife and Cindy explores some of the questions that are being asked. [more]

005 :
26 Aug 2006

Break-in at St Michael's... Who are these desperate people who burglar and desecrate churches? This week Cindy airs her mind on the less pleasant aspects of her job in the parish. [more]

004 :
19 Aug 2006

Cindy writes to the new Archbishop... Cindy's been really inspired by the new Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn's homily on Thursday saying that the Church is pregnant. She detects a sense that Archbishop Coleridge may be indicating a shift in the hierarchy's attitudes towards women so she sat down and fired off a letter to thank him for his words and encourage him a bit further down the line of thinking he seems to be heading in. [more]

003 :
15 Aug 2006

Cindy and First Communions... It's First Communion season in Cindy's parish and what an hilarious season it is for a parish sacristan. The poor dear wishes she had access to more of Molly the Housekeeper's handy household hints but she's been unable to find her phone number. [more]

002 :
05 Aug 2006

What to do with the surplus Holy Oils... We publish today the second installment from the memoirs of Cindy the Sacristan — a fiesty dame who found she had much to learn entering the for-so-long male dominated sanctuary of the sacristy. Fr Cunning also began to find out he had much to learn taking on a handful like this dame. [more]

001 :
31 Jul 2006

First days as a parish sacristan... Cindy the Sacristan is a new character entering our pages. The first new character to be written by one of our other readers whose imagination has been fired by Cliff's Menagerie. In reality these are real-life memoirs of one of our members who would prefer to remain anonymous. [more]