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Finding a calm, silent place this Christmas Western People Dec 22nd 2020   As everyone keeps saying, Christmas 2020 won’t be a ‘normal’ Christmas. As if we need to be…

  Wishing you a blessed Christmas and peaceful New Year Unto Us… Past the inn with ne’er a vacancy, raucous revelry, receding… Around the back to the stables. Animals stirring……

Stray thoughts – A Reflection for the Season Paddy Kavanagh, wrote often and beautifully about the meaning of Christmas and the presence of God in our lives. For Kavanagh, childhood,…

National Catholic Reporter – by Joshua McElwee ROME — The Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a note Dec. 21 saying it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to take vaccines against the…

“Christianity’s true and unique story line has always been incarnation. That means that the spirit nature of reality (the spiritual, the immaterial, the formless) and the material nature of reality…

For Mayo GAA is about more than just sport        Western People 15.12.2020 As we slide towards the end of a nightmare year and long for the optimism (if not hope)…

  Listen! Chris Mc Donnell CT December 18 2020 In these days before Christmas, share these few words with your children and grandchildren, the story of the Jesus Child. Listen,…

We Remember Maynooth The College that Never Knew my Name – A sort-of book review Martin is the name that appears on my birth cert, and as a consequence now…

Click on the link below to bring you to the audio of Tina Beattie‘s Zoom presentation on Tues Dec 15th 2020 on the Church in Britain. This is part of…

Portraits of the Artist…… Sporting Heroes: It is a sad and sobering morning. Clashmore-man Tadgh de Búrca is seeing the medics. Some of us – as Waterford dreamers, can delude…

Reopening churches is not the wisest move       Western People 8.12.2020 As I write I’m aware that those who read these words will know if Mayo will be…

 Association of Catholic Priests cordially invites you to a members Zoom presentation What can the Irish Church learn from Britain? with British academic, writer and theologian Tina Beattie on  Tuesday…

An Invitation and Proposal: Brendan Hoban has written a book – A Priest’s Diary. It is now into its second printing. Many have bought the book and presumably some have read…

  Jean Donovan ‘They Don’t Shoot Blond, Blue-Eyed Americans’: Remembering Jean Donovan on the 40th Anniversary of her Martyrdom. by Fr Liam Power, Waterford News & Star I was watching…

A monk of our time Chris McDonnell CT December 11 2020 In September 2015, Pope Francis addressed the US Congress and chose to mention four great Americans, one of whom…

 Association of Catholic Priests cordially invites you to a members Zoom presentation What can the Irish Church learn from Britain? with British academic, writer and theologian Tina Beattie on  Tuesday…

More Rumours of Angels The delights of a frosty morning: These mornings seem eerie. The Tolka River holds its breath. I am suspicious of the quietness. The heron appears sometimes….

Association of Catholic Priests statement on public Masses for Christmas Friday 4th December 2020 The go-ahead for public Masses given by the government, after the last lockdown was lifted, creates…

Some good news on the Lectionary translation front: 1. Publishing company Darton, Longman and Todd is producing a translation of the Lectionary which would avoid the non-inclusive English Standard Version…

Apologies are a dubious currency in Covid era Western People column   As we edge towards the end of a second COVID lockdown, we look back and look forward. Back…