I visited Father Peter Murphy often in hospital before his passing. I was asked ‘Please make sure the windows go in’, so I speak in the hope his wishes are carried out.

Fr Murphy had nurtured our church funds closely. He had already paid the $150,000 for the windows, which means the church had funds available, so could well afford them. 

Fr Murphy stated at the time it would cost $40,000 for local stonemason Brian Doyle to install the windows and still have enough left over to paint the inside of the church.

There are members of our parish willing to raise the money for installation again, even though Father had already provisioned this money previously. 

Fr Murphy was of sound mind when he made the purchase of these beautiful windows.

They depict the Good Shepherd and complete the story of our church windows.

The original St Mary’s was destroyed by fire and the altar’s stained glass windows were destroyed, but every Catholic church I know has stained glass windows behind the altar.

These windows were made in Germany and are far more valuable than the $150,000. They were purposefully made to be installed in a Catholic church.

They have been blessed and consecrated; therefore they are holy and belong in a place of worship.

The right decision was made by the Archbishop and also a board of senior priests, of which Fr McDermott was a member, who gave permission to purchase the windows.

It is not about the money, it is not about material things. It’s about honour: honouring the wishes of a past parish priest of 30 years. 

The windows should be installed in St Mary’s Church as a memorial to Fr Murphy, a good and faithful servant to God and teacher of Catholic faith to parishioners and local schools, for his dedicated service to the parish.

Fr Murphy told me he had been so blessed to be the parish priest of Crookwell, and to be surrounded by such beautiful people, for 30 years.

I hope, Fr Murphy, that you RIP.

Thank you to the two police officers who offered to pay for my fuel at the Caltex service station in Goldsmith Street last Sunday after I discovered I had left my wallet at home.

Very kind, and much appreciated.

Next month's Sydney Royal Easter Show will … present an idyllic but inaccurate portrait of the ways in which farmed animals are confined, tormented, and killed.

A handful of prize-winning animals will temporarily receive a respite from the routine cruelty experienced by factory-farmed animals.

For others – and many of the ones on show, once they are returned to the farm – human greed is the only concern governing their lives.

People usually have no idea that, in NSW, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 excludes "stock" animals from most of its provisions.

Yet the show presents children with the fantasy that all animals are treated with kindness and respect.

Then they are encouraged to eat these animals in their hot dogs, hamburgers, and steak sandwiches.

When children are invited to "pat a chick", they are not told it is standard procedure for male chicks to be discarded by being minced alive or suffocated because they don't lay eggs.

Nor are they told both pigs and chickens are confined to tiny cages before slaughter.

Cows are devoted mothers, but their babies are torn away from them within hours of birth so that humans can steal their milk.

Lambs may be "mulesed" (that is, the skin is cut from their hindquarters), and later, savagely beaten during shearing.

Animals bred for meat are slaughtered while still little more than babies. 

Of course, none of this will be shown at the Easter show.

If the show really aims to educate the public about agriculture, it should reveal the living nightmare that animals endure before ending up on humans' plates.