Brendan Hoban, in the Western People, reflecting on current controversies says that what really released the dam of anger and emotion was the revelation of clerical sexual abuse and the failure of Church authorities to understand its enormity and to do something about it. The revelations on clerical sexual abuse gave people the freedom to surface and to name other resentments.
We are invited to reflect on the mystery of God on this Trinity Sunday, as we gather to worship the One who creates, redeems and sanctifies, three persons, one God, without end.
Reporting on the Tuam story has often been wild and sensational, and out of touch with known facts.
Padraig McCarthy
Jesuit priest, Thomas Reese, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, comments on the meeting of U.S. bishops. The meeting could be a turning point but he asks, will they sail with the Francis wind or will they buck the waves of change?
Coming to see God’s presence in creation is a central feature of our Christian Faith.
St. Columban counselled, those who wish to know the great deep (God) must first study the natural world.
Brendan Hoban, in his Western People column, questions what has effectively become an institutionalised gambling culture in Ireland.
Today we celebrate ‘the great beginning of the Church,’ the day the Holy Spirit first came to confused and frightened disciples. We praise God for this great Gift, and ask for a new outpouring in our day.
Donal Dorr offers some suggestions of how to deal with the problem of the ‘new Missal’.
This study has been commissioned by the ACP in order to ascertain the views of Irish clergy regarding the New Missal, introduced in November 2011.
Report of a Meeting between representatives of the Bishops Conference and the Leadership of the ACP, which took place in Maynooth on Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
Seamus Ahearne asks what do we read as priests, or do we? What do bishops read or do they? I wonder what we might come up with, if we took Pagola’s book, mixed in with Pope Francis’ (Joy of the Gospel) and tried to remodel our Church; our parishes; our Deanery; our Diocese; our Liturgies. Can we ever ‘minister’ if there isn’t rigorous discussion, serious study and a deep commitment to making Jesus Christ and Gospel relevant in every age?
Brendan Hoban, in his Western People column wonders whether we’re able at all to use the intelligence God has given us and to assess reasonably what fits or doesn’t fit within the boundaries of our faith, what makes sense and what’s just plain, well, daft.
The death has occured, on Thursday 29 May, at Crofton, Maryland of Fr. Paul Surlis
We celebrate the Ascension of Jesus today. We remember his sending out of the disciples, and his promise to remain with us until the end of time.
This decision is a fatal signal for all who are hoping, together with Pope Francis, for a kind Church that is close to the people.
Brendan Hoban offers his thoughts, in his weekly Western People column, on Mary Kenny’s ‘Something of Myself and Others’. He says it is an entertaining and worthwhile read, surely the best insight there is into the life of the carer. Kenny dissects compellingly, in this brutally honest memoir, the lived experience of a carer’s life.
Each Sunday in Easter time, we celebrate the gifts we have received in Baptism and Confirmation. We rejoice that the Spirit is our Advocate, who continues to support us in the difficulties of life.
Seamus Ahearne is saddened at the loss of All Hallows. He says “The Church in Ireland; the Church in Dublin will become less hospitable (less warm and open) at the death of such a homely place. We cannot afford the loss of someone so dear. Can something else be done?”
Abigail Frymann, Christa Pongratz-Lippitt writing in The Tablet report on the excommunication of Martha Heizer, the leader of ‘We are Church’ in Austria.
Kevin Hegarty, writing in The Mayo News, in the light of recent additions to the Irish episcopal bench raises the topic of the appointment of bishops. Who should do the appointing?
Select a category in the sidebar for more posts
Select a category in the sidebar for more posts
