Hi Fighter, It’s midnight on a Saturday night as I start this missive. I’m in the middle of the Australian bush. It is cold and damp. If you did an inventory of lifeforms within a 50km radius, you’d find a thousand kangaroos and wombats for every human being. My friend, Mike, has just arrived after …
Father Dave’s Preach and Punch Fest Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, Father Dave here, writing from my remote outpost in the middle of the Australian wilderness. At Binacrombi I am a long way from the toxic wastelands of the Big Smoke where life seems to revolve around the virus. Out here we have our own struggles with drought, fire and flood, yet I’m …
Are you ready for a fight? Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, As the choking grip of government restrictions slowly loosens its stranglehold and we emerge from our bunkers, we look at the devastated scene around us and wonder whether things will ever be as they once were. The dead and injured lie strewn all around us like corpses on a battlefield. Those bodies …
Rebuilding Community Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, I’ve just finished reading Aldous Huxley’s classic, “A Brave New World”. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, as I don’t read much fiction. What surprised me even more though was to finish the book and then realise that it wasn’t fiction at all. I was living it! Seventy years ago, …
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, It’s Easter week, but it hardly feels like a time to celebrate. Yes, the great feast day of the Christian year is almost upon us – the day of new life and triumph and chocolate eggs – but there will be no dancing in the streets this year and no Easter-egg hunts …
Ready for an Easter Miracle? Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, I begin today’s newsletter from beautiful Lord Howe Island, somewhere off the east coast of Australia (though I have no idea exactly where). This is not somewhere I ever thought I’d end up, but about 18 months ago I agreed to do a wedding here for a young Swedish boxer named Ola …
Controlled by Fear? Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
. Hi Fighter, Last Sunday was my last service in my current position at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Dulwich Hill, where I’ve been parish priest since 1990. Father Hugh Isaacs joins us this Sunday. Although he’s not officially on staff until March, next Sunday, to my reckoning, marks the beginning of the …
Into the Wilderness Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Hi Fighter, The year has only just begun and yet 2020 has been a tough one for many of us already. The fires in this country finally seem to be lessening in their intensity, but who knows if this is the end of this catastrophe. The whole country seems to have been on fire and, …
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Hi Fighter, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” The quote (in case you don’t recognise it) is from Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and is his description of Europe at the time of the French revolution. For me it equally describes the experience of being in the middle …
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Hi Fighter, It will be a quick one today as I’m weary after another round with the Combat Sports Authority (CSA). The CSA is the government body that oversees all combat sports, including boxing. Unfortunately, my stoush with them is a legal one. It’s over the prohibition they placed on my fight last March. In …
Things have got to change Read More »
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
