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Author: Brian Doyle

  • RELIGION

    Blindsided by a saint at the Catholic Worker

    • Brian Doyle
    • 07 November 2012
    8 Comments

    I showed up on First Street one day, when I was about twenty, thinking that I would perhaps magnanimously volunteer for the day, or get into a long cool intense conversation with Dorothy Day, or be instantly hired as genius-writer-in-residence, or something like that.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The archbishop's last day

    • Brian Doyle
    • 10 October 2012
    13 Comments

    She admires him more than any other man she ever met, not because of his position but because of the way he handled the rapes and lies and bankruptcy hearings, he never shirked a moment, he never was anything but blunt about sin and responsibility, and even in the darkest hours he managed some thorny flinty tough cheerfulness and humour.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    September 11 shudder

    • Brian Doyle
    • 11 September 2012
    7 Comments

    Just before the first plane hit the north face of the north tower there was a flickering of power, a brown-out, just for an instant. Maybe all the people in the tower at the exact same moment thought, did I say that I loved her or just think to say it? ... Maybe that's what happened when the building shivered.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Fourth grade Jesus envy

    • Brian Doyle
    • 29 August 2012
    7 Comments

    I remember Maureen McArdle's neck in front of me in the third row, that smug smarmy neck gloating and preening as she bested me in maths and social studies and science, receiving one gold Jesus after another, whereas I earned a series of silver Jesuses as long as your arm. 'At least it is not a bronze Jesus,' my mum actually said once.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    POW priest and the sacrament of sport

    • Brian Doyle
    • 18 July 2012
    3 Comments

    The Japanese had taken the island and the priest was imprisoned with many other residents. One Sunday, the POWs set up stumps in the morning, dressed in the best clothes they had left, and assigned teams. One captain was a minister, the other a teacher. The priest opened the bowling. The guards were angry.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Church's preferential option for kids

    • Brian Doyle
    • 05 June 2012
    5 Comments

    'No matter what we say it's about, it's about kids,' says the archbishop. 'If it's not about kids then it's not first priority. The worst sins ever committed are against kids. That will never occur again, not here, not if I have anything to do with it.'

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The many sins of Brian Doyle

    • Brian Doyle
    • 16 May 2012
    11 Comments

    I missed my cousin's funeral because I had weekend plans with a girlfriend that I was not man enough to break; and this beloved cousin was a nun.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Profound silence of a conscientious objector

    • Brian Doyle
    • 25 April 2012
    8 Comments

    I remember the day my older brother came back from the navy. He was 20. I was 11. He slouched in his chair, weary and dismissive and friendly. I wanted to say something amusing to make him see me but no words came. So I asked him if he wanted a sandwich. Sandwiches were a way of talking in our family.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The footballers who booted out Australian racism

    • Brian Doyle
    • 11 April 2012
    6 Comments

    At this juncture in the life of the Mighty Currawongs the usual bigotry poured forth. One columnist raged and sputtered about invasions by 'evil, small statured people'. The ensuing burst of street protests against racism in every corner of Australian life would permanently alter the course of Australian history.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Parenting habits of Mormons and Catholics

    • Brian Doyle
    • 18 January 2012
    9 Comments

    In Mormon families, the first kid has to be a bishop or scout leader, and the second through fifth are trained fpr football. In the Catholic system, a family produces a priest or nun, a cop, a teacher, and a solider, after which the rest of the kids can be whatever they want, even Lutherans in some cases.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: To remember September 11 is to pray

    • Brian Doyle
    • 11 January 2012
    1 Comment

    To remember the roaring courage of the people who rushed to help, or the people who used their last minutes on earth to call their families and say I love you I love you I will you forever, is to pray for them and us and even the poor silly murderers, themselves just lanky frightened children. Published 8 September 2011

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The beer jingle that saved Christmas

    • Brian Doyle
    • 22 December 2011
    1 Comment

    A hickory tree peed his pants. A striped bass assaulted an eggplant. A teacher cursed in Gaelic into her mic. Then my kid brother, Tommy, spontaneously stepped forward and sang that jingle. Some moments are unforgettable for reasons we can't articulate. My dad says he'll savour that one on his deathbed. 

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