Pope Francis and Fr Sean McDonagh
The ACP calls on the Irish bishops to respond with courage and conviction to the direct challenge presented to them by Pope Francis
Comments made by Pope Francis at an audience today about the status of divorced and remarried Catholics are attracting a lot of attention.
Seamus Ahearne osa shares reflections from his early-morning walk in the Tolka Valley Park in Dublin, where he exercises daily, planning the day, praying and sorting things out. Problems with the new Missal came to mind as he walked, and creative solutions appeared also,
Sean McDonagh draws our attention to important findings of research carried out by marine scientists of the National University of Ireland Galway on the amount of plastic in fish in the northwest Atlantic.
Sean asks ‘Should the Churches be involved in protecting our oceans? Has a Justice and Peace group in any parish or diocese challenged the fact that our retail stores still force us to use single-use plastics?’.
In the National Catholic Reporter Robert Mickens questions the type of legacy Pope Francis will leave the church.
“Francis has been a breath of fresh air. He has instilled new hope into the lives of millions of Catholics. And this is because his words and gestures continue to suggest that healthy change and development can take place in the structures and disciplines of the church.
But his longstanding legacy will depend on whether or not they actually do.”
Seamus Ahearne wrote this in response to the post ‘De-centralisation and the selection of bishops’.
It deserves its own space and as usual Seamus challenges us in a gentle way to expand our horizons.
“We don’t have to protect God. God is used to our mess. Let’s take hold of the vision from Rome and apply it locally.”