David

It’s been another difficult year with the pandemic causing heartache for families across Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland were most affected by harsh restrictions, but many regional areas were also hit with lockdowns, often with little warning.

The beachside suburb of Brighton in Melbourne which has been The Majellan’s home for almost 60 years will soon be our home no more. Majellan Media is moving to Notting Hill in the city’s south-east.

I can’t relate to the Holy Family. Mary was completely without sin; Jesus was God and Joseph was a saint. That doesn’t sound a whole lot like my family! Thoughts or comments like these can easily arise when trying to engage with the subject of the Holy Family.

There’s a meme going around social media at the moment: “Have you made it through 2020/21 without having a baby, adopting a pet or buying an air fryer?” I honestly struggle to think of any friends who can say yes on all three fronts!

As I share these thoughts, I have joy in my heart, writes Therese Harris. However, this has not always been the case. My son Matthew lives with his wife Katie in Folkestone, England. They married in 2017. Katie became pregnant in 2020 and went into labour on January 31, 2021.

For such a long time, the idea of getting together with family has seemed like a far-off prophecy. It seemed momentous to hope for a time when, together with our loved ones, we would feel the same sunshine, smell the same coffee, taste the same turkey. To have conversations that don’t automatically end after forty minutes because we haven’t bought the upgrade version, or only end after three awkward goodbyes as we fumble to find the red button.