Articles

Brian Fahy offers some thoughts based on the parable of the sower and some Irish ‘terms of engagement’.

Pádraig McCarthy comments on the very sad case of Charlie Gard in the U.K. and draws our attention to the statement by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre concerning the court cases about his medical treatment.

Tony Flannery, writing in the Irish Independent, sees hope of finding “new wine skins for the new wine” as people are exploring new ways, and new language, for addressing spiritual realities.

Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times of Friday June 23rd looks at what it means ‘to care.’
How we care for others has a profound influence, “Part of learning for a young child is being secure in their freedom to make mistakes. Offering an answer, expressing an opinion involves taking a risk; we might be wrong. How others react to our mistakes can greatly affect our willingness to try again later.”

Brian Fahy, inspired by the Gospel of the day, reflects on his earlier life and choices that were made. A very apt reflection in the context of our ongoing debate about the wellbeing of priests.
“We are blind to so many things in life, both individuals and organisations. I can see the failings in others easily. I stand outside them and my view is unhindered. But it is not easy to see my own failings or funny ways. We need some distance in order to get some perspective on ourselves. I can look back at my thirty year- old self and see exactly what was going on. At the time I could not see any of this.”

Brendan Hoban writing in his column for the Western People says that because ‘the history of the Church is about swings and roundabouts, tides ebbing and flowing …. bishops often find themselves out of sync with the pope of the day, and beached like great whales, because the tide that brought them in has gone out again.’

The Miami Herald reports that Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to northern Italy on Tuesday to honour two 20th-century parish priests whose commitment to the poor and powerless brought them censure from the Vatican. Francis “delivered a lengthy tribute to the priest, quoting Mazzolari’s writings about the need for the church to accompany its flock that Francis himself could have penned.”
The account from Vatican Radio has a slightly different emphasis.
The censured of today are the heroes of tomorrow!

An interesting initiative called “DeaconChat’  has been launched by the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, FutureChurch, and Voice of the Faithful.

Brian Fahy shares some thoughts provoked by his memories of his mother’s parish in Mayo. “The Church (in Bangor) is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus …. My own little church in Lancashire, where I grew up and went to mass is also dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so I was very pleased to discover that my mother’s place of worship carried the same name and the same message of love.”

Dominic Meehan wrote in the June edition of ‘The Furrow’ in response to Brendan Hoban’s talk at the AGM of the Association of Catholic Priests. (‘A Lost Tribe’. Brendan Hoban, The Furrow February 2017)
Our thanks to the editor of ‘The Furrow’ for permission to republish Dominick’s letter.

Belgian Jesuit, Roger Lenaers in his books looks at the relationship between Church teaching and the knowledge and understanding of modernity.

Seamus Ahearne offers an early morning seaside meditation for consideration and reflection.
“Why have I been always so thrilled with the liveliness of the world of God around me? Why has it been such a happy place? Why is ‘my church’ so privileged and so astonishing? Twenty years in Finglas today and and still amazed and delighted daily at the revelations of God among us. A very happy God – indeed the God of surprises.”

Gerry O’Hanlon, sj has very kindly given us his speaking notes from his recent talk “Reforming the Catholic Church” in the Jesuit Conference Centre, Milltown
Park,, for ‘We are Church Ireland’.

Writing in the Irish Times Mark Patrick Hederman suggests that there is little time left for the Catholic Church in Ireland to adapt to the realities of life as it is now lived before being reduced to a tiny irrelevant minority.

Chris McDonnell, writing in the Catholic Times, pays tribute to Henri Nouwen and finds that one of his metaphors ‘with open hands’ to be ‘very pertinent to our present times. A few days back we saw pictures of Francis at Al Azhar mosque in Cairo where he embraced the mosque’s Grand Imam, Ahmad al-Tayeb, who urged the West not to hold an entire religion “accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers.” That image of greeting between a Christian and a Muslim runs counter to our populist press view of castigation of a whole people through the actions of a few.’