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Peter Steinfels, a former religion reporter and columnist for the New York Times and a former editor in chief of Commonweal, has analyzed the more than 1,000 pages of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report and he believes the public has been misled.

We Are Church Ireland call for Irish Lay Catholics to nominate new Bishops. 

Fr Gerry O’Hanlon S.J. will give a talk on his recent book, 
The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis: A Synodal Catholic Church in Ireland? 
in the Ó Fiaich Library, Moy Road, Armagh,‪ on Saturday, 19 January 2019, from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.

The National Catholic Reporter carries a story of Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s call for a change of the requirement of celibacy for priests as the German bishops’ conference prepares for a workshop debate to “review” the issue.
“Marx said the church must, “in light of the failure” surrounding the clergy sex abuse crisis, modify tradition in response to changing modern times.”

Letter from Pope Francis to U.S.A. bishops who are on retreat to pray about the issue of clerical abuse in the Church.

Marie Collins speaks on how Pope Francis and the heads of Bishops’ conferences might tackle the clerical abuse scandal.
7.30 pm Monday 14 January 2019
Mercy Centre International, 64A Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2

Tony Flannery looks back on 2018 and forward to 2019 ‘with both hope and trepidation.”

In an op-ed published in the Telegraph, Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary of the U.K. Government, explains why he has commissioned a review into the persecution of Christians.
“Whatever the cause, we must never allow a misguided political correctness to inhibit our response to the persecution of any religious community.”
Irish politicians please copy?

Wishing a very happy and peaceful Christmas to you and your family Nollaig Shona Dhuit Feliz Natal 楽しいクリスマスをお過ごしください Froehliche Weihnachten Joyeux Noël Feliz Navidad 愉快的圣诞节 Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia

Seamus Ahearne offers a short Christmas reflection.

Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times tells how each year in his parish “we have included a Proclamation of the feast of Nativity, read by candlelight in a darkened church…….. So each year when the Nativity feast is marked, we do so in the context of what once happened and what happens now in our own days. We should realise the crucial role that each of us, however insignificant we might be, has to play; all of us are pilgrims on a journey.”

Seamus Ahearne wonders at recent happenings; ” are there any political saviours emerging that may bring hope to this mad crazy world?  The chaos of the world presented to us in the stories of Advent may also prompt us to believe that hope and good sense can prevail. ” 

Chris McDonnell in the Catholic Times remembers Henri Nouwen whose ‘perceptive nature and ability to relate to those in distress demonstrated that he was more than an inspiring teacher and fine book writer.’

Tony Flannery will speak on “How can we talk about God to the next Generation?
Will the Faith Survive?” on Sunday, December 16th, at 3.00pm
in the Freigh Inn, Newport, Co. Tipperary.

A good antidote to the mad shopping rush!

Roy Donovan commenting, in an article in The Limerick Leader on the clustering of parishes in Limerick diocese into ‘pastoral units’, says “Every possibility should be put on the table. Limerick diocese is operating within the limits – they are doing the best they can within the limits. We would be saying the overall church, all over the world needs to go beyond those limits and needs to open up every possibility including married people and women priests,”.

Tin Hazelwood writes on the sensitive topic of how the funerals of priests who died while ‘out of ministry’ should be conducted.
“While some regulation may be necessary, it needs to be considerably more nuanced than the present protocols……. Mindful as we are of the difficult situation of those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of priests, we believe that in the interest of justice and mercy there are questions that need to be answered.”

Saints in December 03 December St Francis Xavier, Priest, Missionary Born in 1506 in Navarre (Spain); died on this day in 1552 off the coast of China. Francis Xavier met…

William Crean, Bishop of Cloyne, speaking to the priests of that diocese told them that in his recent teaching Pope Francis emphasises ‘that an effective Christian communion requires that we embrace the concept of Synodality in the everyday life of the Church.  It is both the concept and reality of journeying with people.  It is to trust in the “sensus fidei” ‘.
Bishop Crean also reminded his audience of the good done in the past by religious and priests but also stated ‘The long lens of hindsight enables us to identify the poor pastoral practice of many of our predecessors.  Though well-intentioned a narrow moralistic focus made for a distorted and dysfunctional spiritual vision/understanding of Christian living.  We live with both the riches and the baggage of our past.’

An interesting address by Dermot Farrell, Bishop of Ossory, at the Conference with Laity and Priests in the Diocese of Ossory;
“Pope Francis is constantly putting his synodal vision of the church before us. The question he is asking, and that we should ask ourselves, is what kind of church is God calling the priests and all Catholics to be in the longer term – perhaps less self-referential and more a community of missionary disciples, less clerical and more synodical, “……

“We have fallen off a cliff edge in regard to vocations to the priesthood.   Many speak of a crisis in this regard…….This time of reduced numbers may well afford us an opportunity to be creative and to reimagine the institutional church.”

Seamus Ahearne and his congregation find inspiration in the sporting figures of the past week and get a little distracted by royalty.
He wonders because the newly appointed Irish soccer team manager Mick McCarthy is back. “He once was the past. Now he is the future.” With regard to church Seamus tells us “We cannot get lost in the past. The past has to be distilled. The best has to be retained. The packaging can be discarded.”