Belgian Catholics call for Reform
A new movement in Belgium: Click to read
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ACP Meeting postponed
The ACP Leadership / Advisory Group meeting planned for Tuesday 30 April has been postponed to a later date.
Caring for our common home
Sean McDonagh tells us that Pope Francis’ encyclical is ‘ one of the most important documents to come from a Pope in the past one hundred-and-twenty years.’
‘Pope Francis is the first to acknowledge the magnitude of the ecological crisis, the urgency with which it must be faced and the irreversible nature of ecological damage.’
Sean reminds us though that while ‘this is a most exciting document, it is only a beginning. Real efforts and resources have to be placed behind it if this concern is to find its rightful place at the heart of Christian ministry.’Married priests: call for courageous conversation
Sarah Mac Donald writes in the NCR about recent comments by Bishop Crispian Hollis, the retired bishop of Portsmouth, concerning the ordination of married men to the priesthood which he says “needs to be explored openly within the church in England and Wales at national and diocesan levels.”
With fewer than 40 students in the national seminary at Maynooth it is an issue that is crying out to be explored in Ireland as well.
Liamy McNally is quoted as saying “There is no priest shortage!” ….. “We have many priests, but they are married and so are not allowed to have a public ministry,” ….. “in the early church those with a vocation to priesthood were married, whereas today, those who feel called to priesthood must also have a vocation to celibacy.”The Widow’s Mite
Brian Fahy’s reflection on ‘The Widow’s Mite’ reminds us “to give what I have, however little it seems. It will be the more in God’s eyes.”
…. “This is a Christian truth. Every human being, every life is important: important to oneself first of all, important to God most of all, and important for all of us to learn.”Removing Planks
John Shea addresses an open and challenging letter to Cardinal Maradiaga, and to the other members of the Council of Cardinals, asking they consider again attitudes towards women in the church.
John Shea is an Augustinian theologian in Boston,Lessons in Catholic Judgment: New York Times
This article, taken from the New York Times, is a further indication of the mixed messages that are emanating from different sections of the Church
(See also article by Maureen Dowd in today’s (Mon) Irish Times