Blog

This is a summary of the meetings I have had and the impressions I have gleaned from them. I call it my ‘ministry’!

With a total Catholic population in Ireland of 4,635,178, there are 2050 priests active. This means that, on average, there is one priest for every 2,261.06 Catholics.
Pádraig McCarthy

The Dalgan Summer School 2014 is organised by the Columban Ecological Institute, Dalgan Park, Navan, under the direction of John Feehan.

In rejecting a version of Catholicism that diminished human freedom, led to outrageous scandal and that in retrospect is now seen to have diminished people and Church, Irish society seems intent on categorising religion and spirituality as unacceptable, irrelevant, even dangerous in a civilised society.

Brendan Hoban, in this reflection published in the Western People, explores what it is about Good Friday that  still resonates with our lives.

It would be difficult for us to continue operating normally without using banking services. Do we, or should we, have an ethical issue with the banking services we use as individuals and as a church?
Padraig McCarthy

We are grateful to Paddy Ferry for sending us this tribute to a great man and priest, Canon Michael Cassidy

Brendan Hoban in his Western People article reflects on what we can all learn from how authorities handled the whistleblowers in An Garda Siochána.

Mary Vallely, who states she’s  a JC fan (yes, both!), would like to share this reflection for Lent.

On the Feast of the Annunciation this article might give an impetus to the discussion on women’s contribution to salvation history

Brendan Hoban’s article in The Western People argues that Irish Bishops may be too careful and too averse to risk. Instead, he says, they need to give the type of leadership people are asking for.

The ACP Leadership Team publish the results of the Synod questionnaire published on the ACP website before Christmas. Exactly 1,562 replied to the questionnaire, the results of which are being shared with the Synod organisers in Rome.

For Funerals For Weddings For other Occasions Here are some pieces from Fr. Tom Cooney OSA, Fr. Flor McCarthy SDB, Tommy Lane and John O’Connell. More current material will hopefully…

“Building Blocks” for Funerals and Weddings

Brian Fahy asks priests to consider how well we speak to our gathered people at Mass. A former teacher of homiletics, he asks how important public speaking is in the training of priests today.

Rev. Michael G. Ryan, pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle since 1988, serves on the board of the national Cathedral Ministry Conference. 

This article was published in America magazine

By MIchael Commane This might well be the end of me as a priest in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. I sort of jest. Only ‘sort of’. I was ordained…

This is an interesting email that one of our members got from a parishioner in relation to the new responses at Mass.  Maybe it is something we priests might keep in mind.

If you’ve been at Mass anytime in the last six weeks you will most likely have noticed changes in many of the prayers. It’s often said that it is not…

This might give you a laugh for Christmas.