An interesting address by Dermot Farrell, Bishop of Ossory, at the Conference with Laity and Priests in the Diocese of Ossory;
“Pope Francis is constantly putting his synodal vision of the church before us. The question he is asking, and that we should ask ourselves, is what kind of church is God calling the priests and all Catholics to be in the longer term – perhaps less self-referential and more a community of missionary disciples, less clerical and more synodical, “……
“We have fallen off a cliff edge in regard to vocations to the priesthood. Many speak of a crisis in this regard…….This time of reduced numbers may well afford us an opportunity to be creative and to reimagine the institutional church.”
Seamus Ahearne and his congregation find inspiration in the sporting figures of the past week and get a little distracted by royalty.
He wonders because the newly appointed Irish soccer team manager Mick McCarthy is back. “He once was the past. Now he is the future.” With regard to church Seamus tells us “We cannot get lost in the past. The past has to be distilled. The best has to be retained. The packaging can be discarded.”
We celebrate the feast of Christ the King today, acclaiming Jesus as our king, the one who died for us and rose triumphant. We offer praise and worship — and ask for the grace to live as worthy citizens of his kingdom of justice, truth, love and peace.
You are welcome to the launch of a new book written by Joe Mulvaney “Speak Out For Reform in the Catholic Church” on 28 November 2018 at 7.30 p.m. in the John Hand Room, All Hallows College (now known as DCU – All Hallows Campus), Gracepark Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
Chris McDonnell, writing recently in the Catholic Times, said of the U.S. mid term elections, “What of the future? How will the Democracy of Immigrants that forms the United States rebuild trust and civility, what is required of each and every citizen?”
We wonder when we hear a President speak of ‘beautiful barbed wire’ being strung out along a border.
Chris also adds “Just as there is this fracture in our public life, for not only the US but other Western Democracies are also under threat, so too within our Christian community are fault lines and tensions apparent.”
As we move into the darker times of the year, the readings at Mass remind us more and more of the end of time, and the glory awaiting believers. We trust that God stays with us always.
The ACP has written to the Irish bishops and calls for a National Assembly to discuss ‘The Reform and Renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland’.
It also calls for a ‘constructive’ engagement with the bishops that would also be realistic, ongoing, coherent in terms of time-scale and commitment, and above all that it would engage with key critical issues.
Tony Flannery gives a brief report of his recent trip to the U.S.A. “While the U.S. Church is deeply divided, there are some real signs of light.”
Seamus Ahearne writes in this November of death; war, accident, murder; “the news is rotten with criminality; with stabbings; with shootings; with gangland outrages……….I think the culture of faith has to be rediscovered……However, every day is a privileged day. Every day is full of life, despite the dying. Every day is full of surprises. Every day throws around those ‘rumours of angels.’”
Gathering together in the Lord’s house, we bring simple gifts into God’s presence – our love, our care for each other, our worshipping hearts and voices. We ask for the grace to continue to show love through the coming week.
At the world remembers the horrors and savagery of war this weekend Pádraig McCarthy draws our attention to an appeal made by Enda McDonagh of St. Patrick’s College Maynooth and Stanley Hauerwas of Duke Divinity School, North Carolina for an abolition of war.
The appeal is as valid now as it was when written in 2002
Sean McDonagh notes the end of an era with the decision by Bórd na Móna to “move away from harvesting peat because carbon emissions is having an adverse impact on climate change.”
While noting that turf is “one of the least climate-friendly way of producing heat and electricity” Sean acknowledges that the decision “will cost jobs, particularly in the Irish Midlands region where jobs are scarce now, and no other industry is being targeted for the area. Bórd Na Móna believes that 500 jobs will be lost, beginning early in 2019.”
What is asked of us is simple – to love God and our neighbour. But without God’s grace, even these simple demands can seem beyond our grasp.
On All Saints Day and today, we remember all the dead, those in heaven and those still be on the way there: God alone knows where each soul is. Today we pray for all souls, for the faithful departed still on the journey to their heavenly home.
Today and tomorrow we remember all the dead, those in heaven and those still be on the way there: God alone knows where each soul is. Today’s feast celebrates the saints in heaven, the holy men and women of every time and place: we hope some of our people are among them.
Saints in November 01 November All Saints Day This feast began in the East to commemorate all martyrs and was progressively adopted in the West. Celebrated on this day in…
Howth Parish Reform and Renewal Group will meet on Monday, 05 November, in St. Columbanus Hall, Howth, at 8.00pm.
Fr. Gerry O’Hanlon SJ will speak on his latest book ‘The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis’
Fr Michael Ryan of St James Cathedral Seattle U.S.A. posted a statement on the cathedral website about the latest mass shooting in that fractured land.
“… the brutal attack on worshippers in Pittsburgh was an attack not only on our Jewish brothers and sisters who for far too long have been the victims of the most vicious forms of bigotry and hatred imaginable, it is also an attack on all people whose right to worship God according to their conscience and their tradition came under attack ….”
We come to God, who gives the blind new sight. We praise our creator for the gracious care we receive and ask for the strength to continue on our pilgrim journey to the Father’s house.
The leaders of 34 women’s orders in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg are calling for the admission of women to all church ministries and offices while calling for a new “culture of dialogue, of participation, and of gender equality.”
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