Blog

Liam Power offers a very timely insight into the practice of Yoga and how it could enhance Christian meditation and prayer.
“….many Christians find the practice of yoga very beneficial to their health and wellbeing and that it can help them rediscover silence and the richness of solitude in their lives. Paradoxically, it can lead them to a deeper Christian spiritual life and even to a more meaningful participation in the Eucharist.”

Memories of a visit to Auschwitz and the life story of Edith Eger inspire Seamus Ahearne.
“If Edith can parallel her life story with the life stories of her patients,  I wonder where might we go, if we took her methods into our story of faith and church and ministry.   We are so often imprisoned in sadness. We apologise for the past. We are embarrassed by that past. We blame others. We feel that we have failed. …. We can’t let go. We don’t want to get out of prison. We are afraid to wander into freedom and future and hope.”

We express our sympathies to Gerry O Connor, member of the ACP leadership team, and to his family on the death of his father Tom O’Connor.

The National Catholic Reporter carries a report about the conclusions of the Synod on the Amazon.

A prayer by Pope Francis for ‘Those Who Have Died After Leaving Their Homelands in Search of a Better Life’ is posted here as we struggle with the extent of the tragedy that claimed 39 lives in a lorry container in Grays, Essex, U.K. – What must we do to “wake us from the slumber of indifference, open our eyes …” Mattie Long

Dublin diocese website carried the  Homily notes of Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin on the occasion of the canonisation of John Henry Newman.
“A Catholicism of self-defined certainties will lead eventually to a doubt about all certainties and thus to emptiness. A Catholicism of self-defined certainties and self-importance led to an authoritarian and harsh Irish Catholicism, with  consequences we know only too well.”
“I am astonished at the content and tone of daily messages on social media by Catholic pundits on the left and the right that are anything but kindly.  There are those who spend all day attacking and responding and feeling that in this they are defending the integrity of Church teaching.  The kindly light will never be defended by nastiness and bitterness.”

A report from Vatican News about the ongoing Synod; “Amazon Synod Briefing: Role of women, inculturation, synodality:.
How aware is the average parishioner, and the average priest, in Ireland of what is being discussed?

With the Synod of the Amazon in its final days, Chris McDonnell, in the Catholic Times, finds it a good time to reflect again on the life and work of the Brazilian theologian, Leonardo Boff.

The ACP offers sincere sympathy to our colleague Liamy McNally, Administrative Secretary ACP, and to his extended family on the  death of his father, Joe.

Pádraig McCarthy draws our attention to a statement “Women in the Church: Reading the Signs of the Time” from a meeting of about 100 Catholic women religious in India. The story is carried on globalsistersreport.org

A conference on Climate Change AND the Church OR Climate Change IN the Church?
Saturday 9 November 2019 from 10.00 to 13.00
The O’Fiaich Library, 15 Moy Road, Armagh, BT61 7LY

Chris McDonnell writes in the Catholic Times about John Henry Newman.

Sharon Tighe-Mooney was stunned to read that Pope Benedict XVl had made the ordination of women a more serious “crime” than sexual abuse of children! She devoted herself to research the reasons for this and has published a very clear and readable book; ‘What About Me? Women and the Catholic Church’
Sharon will address this topic on Monday, 14 October, 2019 at the Mercy International Centre, 64A Baggot Street, Dublin 2: 7.30pm to 9.15pm  

An extract from a report in americamagazine.org by Luke Hansen SJ dealing with the ministry women exercise in the church in the Amazon region.
“since there are few priests, women baptize children and preside at marriages …. Sometimes we also have to listen to confessions. Of course, we cannot give absolution, but we place ourselves in a position of humbleness, listen to the person and give a word of comfort, perhaps before death.” – Alba Teresa Cediel Castillo, M.M.L.

Robin Gomes, in www.vaticannews.va/en/, reports on Pope Francis’ comments at Mass this morning.

Eist Audio recorded the talks at the Women and the Church symposium, hosted by the ACP, on Saturday, 05 October, 2019 in DCU, Dublin. Principal Speakers were Sharon Tighe-Mooney and Mary McAleese in conversation with Gerry O Connor.
Recordings available from www.eist.ie 

The Principles for a Charter of fundamental rights and responsibilities for Catholics were articulated by the Ordinary Synod of Bishops in 1971. Its final document was entitled “Justice in the World.”  
The International Church Reform Network (ICRN) has been working on a modern version of these Fundamental Rights.

Chris McDonnell, in the Catholic Times, lets us know that it is good to have dreams to aim for … that when “memories begin to fracture .. the dreams we once had remain.”
“a Synod called to listen to the voices of South America, is in session. It will have repercussions for the whole Church. Not only will it consider issues specific to that community of our Church, but it will tell us a story of how our dreams are shaped and cared for. We must listen, we must respond, we must care for each other.”

Statement by ACP on Women’s Equality being Essential for our Church

Soline Humbert writes about the forthcoming launch of What Happened to Fr Seán Fagan? by Angela Hanley, Columba Press, on Thursday 03 October at 6:30 pm, at The Milestone Gallery,Glasnevin Cemetery,Dublin 9.
Soline says, “It is a great credit to Angela Hanley that she is able to write about such painful matters in a clear, measured and informative way. Under her pen Seán Fagan is given back the spirituality, humanity and dignity which the CDF had sought to deny him. His lifetime pastoral dedication to lifting burdens from people’s backs is given proper recognition.”