Happy New Year
Wishing you every blessing in the new year
Month: December 2019
Presider’s Page for Sunday 29 December (Holy Family)
The Holy Family is the focus on the first Sunday after Christmas, so we honour Jesus, Mary and Joseph today. We worship God who shared the life of the human family, and thank God for all the gifts we continue to receive in each other.
Scar of Bethlehem 2019 and the hope for the new year
Chris McDonnell shares his thoughts on a divided Bethlehem and his hope for the new year that may “see the removal of the many walls, both real and figurative, that still divide us.”
Presider’s Page for 22 December (Fourth Sunday of Advent)
The Season of Advent ends on Tuesday, so the celebration of the birth of Christ is now very close. We gather in preparation for that great event, worshipping God who was made flesh to bring us to glory.
Christendom no longer exists!
Pope Francis’ annual address to the Roman Curia.
“there is a need to be wary of the temptation to rigidity. A rigidity born of the fear of change, which ends up erecting fences and obstacles on the terrain of the common good, turning it into a minefield of incomprehension and hatred. Let us always remember that behind every form of rigidity lies some kind of imbalance. Rigidity and imbalance feed one another in a vicious circle. And today this temptation to rigidity has become very real.”
Make sure the Crib is ready!
Pope Francis on the meaning and importance of the nativity scene.
Presider’s Page for 15 December (Third Sunday of Advent – ‘Gaudete’)
Traditionally, this Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday, which means ‘a day for rejoicing’. Advent is about half over, and the day of the Lord’s coming is nearer. We worship God who promises us joy without end.
Ambition; oxygen and energy to the evils of clericalism
Fr. Peter Daly, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, has some stern remarks about ambition being “one of the worst and most destructive features of clericalism. If we are going to reform the priesthood, we need to tame the demon of ambition and substitute the idea of servant leadership”
Presiders Page for 9 December (Immaculate Conception of the BVM)
Our preparations for Christmas always include Mary, the Mother of God. Her Advent feast is displaced from 8th December this year because of a clash with the Second Sunday of Advent, which we celebrated yesterday. Today, we honour her conception free from sin, a miracle that displays God’s power for believers. We worship God, for whom everything is posssible.
Presider’s Page for 8 December (Second Sunday of Advent)
John the Baptist is the focus of the Gospel reading on the Second Sunday of Advent each year. His words challenge and inspire. We worship God who uses many messengers to call us from darkness to light.
The Association of Catholic Priests is now on Twitter
The Association of Catholic Priests is now on Twitter.
@ACPinIreland
Visiting the new Garden of Eden
Seamus Ahearne is thinking about recent happenings and the season that’s in it. “Beware. Be aware. We cannot set up an elitist version of faith where some belong and the rest don’t. Faith is messy. Advent is a search and an awareness of the presence of God in everyone and everywhere.”
Book Review – Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk, LGBTQ Pastoral Care
Tim Hazelwood reviews Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk, LGBTQ Pastoral Care by Bernard Schlage and David Kunitz.
Tim writes “I see it as a valuable textbook which should appeal to all sympathetic and interested caregivers in parishes, schools, hospitals, and other environments. I feel it would be of particularly helpful to Pastoral Supervisors. The named resources and explanations are of great value and the two sexual rating scales are enlightening and useful.”
We are grateful to The Furrow for permission to re-publish this article.
Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II Sr. Carmel McEnroy R.I.P.
Global Sisters Report, a project of the National Catholic Reporter, carries an article by Sarah Mac Donald about Sr. Carmel McEnroy who died recently in Galway.
Sr Carmel McEnroy was author of a groundbreaking work on the role of women in the Second Vatican Council,Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II.
Dublin Diocese – a process of significant change in Sacramental Preparation
Dublin Diocese issued a Press Release on Tuesday 03 December about the beginning of a process of significant change in Sacramental Preparation.
Presider’s Page for 1 December (First Sunday of Advent)
The season of Advent begins today. During the next 24 days we will look forward in hope. We will watch for the end times, when Christ will come in glory, Christ whose birthday we will celebrate very soon.
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