• An Introduction to the Sunday Readings for Year A of the Lectionary

    Fr Joseph Falkiner OP started out by writing weekly reflections on the readings of the day for the Parish newsletter of a Parish where he was working in Soweto.
    The response to these insightful little reflections was so positive that started a Facebook page called “Sunday readings – introductions”, on which he posted the reflections. This proved a great success, and he began sharing the reading on various ACTS (Association of Catholic Tertiary Students) pages, as well that of Radio Veritas. The response prompted Fr Stanslaus Muyebe OP, the Dominican Provincial, to ask Fr Joe to compile these Reflections into three volumes (A, B & C).

  • Introductions to the Sunday Readings for Year B of the Lectionary

    Fr Joseph Falkiner OP started out by writing weekly reflections on the readings of the day for the Parish newsletter of a Parish where he was working in Soweto.
    The response to these insightful little reflections was so positive that he started a Facebook page called “Sunday readings – introductions”, on which he posted the reflections. This proved a great success, and he began sharing the reading on various ACTS (Association of Catholic Tertiary Students) pages, as well that of Radio Veritas. The response prompted Fr Stanslaus Muyebe OP, the then Dominican Provincial, to ask Fr Joe to compile these Reflections into three volumes (A, B & C).

  • The First Dominican Friars in Boksburg, Brakpan and Springs: South Africa (1917-1927)

    This book speaks of the arrival of Catholic priests (friars of the Dominican Order) in the gold-mining towns of Boksburg, Brakpan and Springs a century ago, and how they coped or failed to cope with their situation. Arriving from a very different milieu in England, they found it difficult to fit in. They chose not to get involved with the racial and social animosities, the labour unrest, and even the socio-economic factors that led eventually to an apartheid government. Instead they focused on the task of building up parishes.
    The social situation they encountered led to frustration. Personal relationships between them deteriorated, and most of the first group returned overseas unhappy or ill. It was only after 1925 with the arrival of more friars, that the work of building not just churches, but of living communities of priest and people, could be begun. It was due to the persistence of two men, Bede Jarrett and Laurence Shapcote, that the mission survived at all.