Nine students begin seminary studies
Nine students have begun formal seminary studies for the priesthood for Ireland’s 26 dioceses this month. It is up on the six who entered seminary last year. A further ten…
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Brendan Hoban: Religious faith was the bedrock for the Queen
Religious faith was the bedrock for the Queen Western People 20.9.2022 (Yesterday), September 19, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II of England, after her funeral service at Westminster Abbey, was laid…
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Seán Ó’Conaill: ‘Sin’? Time to Put Up or Shut Up
‘Sin’? Time to Put Up or Shut Up The recent Church document Towards a Spirituality for Synodality admits that ‘the Church has consciously and unconsciously been an agent of oppression’ in the…
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Séamus Ahearne: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY (Wordsworth) (Or Even – MORTALITY.)
INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY: We reached the airport. We arrived in Faro. Somehow we maneuvered the cases along the narrow aisle. Ryanair minimizes the space. We got down from the aircraft….
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TOWARDS A SPIRITUALITY FOR SYNODALITY
From the General Secretariat of the Synod One of the most significant aspects of the 2021-2023 Synod is the recognition that it is informed and shaped by a spirituality. In…
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Br Mark O’Connor FMS – Soundings from Rome: Seekers not Dwellers – Towards a Spirituality of Synodality
The last of four reports from the Vatican by Brother Mark O’Connor FMS, Vicar for Communications, Diocese of Parramatta and Pope Francis Fellow, Newman College, University of Melbourne. “PEOPLE…ARE SEEKING, AND NOT WITHOUT SUFFERING,…
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Tim Hazelwood reflects on Cloyne’s Council of Priests report on the Synodal Synthesis.
It was with some dismay and disbelief I read the minutes of the Cloyne Council of Priests discussion on the submission of the national committee which had recently been published….
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Pope arrives in Kazakhstan to start Apostolic Journey
The papal plane touches down in Nur-Sultan as Pope Francis arrives for his 38th Apostolic Journey abroad. By Devin Watkins, Vatican News Pope Francis kicked off his Apostolic Visit to…
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Br Mark O’Connor FMS – Soundings from Rome: The Pilgrim People of God navigate the journey
The third of four reports from the Vatican by Brother Mark O’Connor FMS, Vicar for Communications, Diocese of Parramatta and Pope Francis Fellow, Newman College, University of Melbourne. Most of…
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Micheal Seán Winters in NCRonline: Synodal process cultivates a sense of spirituality and wonder
As we read the reports about the synodal process, such as my colleague Brian Fraga’s fascinating look at the synodal reports from non-diocesan organizations in the United States, it is clear that…
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Brendan Hoban pays tribute to his friend, Fr Brian Conlon.
A poignant farewell to a lifelong friend Western People Sept 6, 2022 I was reading some time ago about a priest who was visiting a colleague in hospital who…
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Séamus Ahearne: ‘I am loath to interrupt the rapture of mourning in which the nation is now enjoying its favourite festival – a funeral….’ GBS
Royalty: The Queen has died. The tributes are plentiful. Even Theresa May has added a comedic flavour to the picnic of celebration. GBS was exasperated. Not with these tributes but…
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Presiders page for 11 September (24th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
The mercy of God has no end; even humans who disfigure God’s beautiful creation can turn back to God’s ways and find mercy. We continue to mark Creationtide all through…
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Chris McDonnell: Seamus Heaney – a poet remembered
a poet remembered Chris McDonnell “Walk on air against your better judgement” Heaney’s tombstone Not many live lives that, in their passing, are so noticed and admired as that…
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Brendan Hoban: The Catholic Church can change if necessary
Western People 30.8.22 Pope Francis’ reforms have received significant, it might even be said overwhelming, support in the reports on the recent listening process carried out in Irish dioceses. The…
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Gerry O’Hanlon SJ: Ireland’s synod report reveals a country that is largely ‘suspicious’ and ‘intolerant’ of its Catholic inheritance
Gerry O’Hanlon SJ writing in America magazine: August, vacation time, can often be a quiet time in the news and opinion cycle. But the quiet was disturbed this year in…
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Séamus Ahearne: “I don’t want to live in a world where remote controls rule. I want to live with my ears unplugged so that they can hear the music of the earth, with my eyes ranging beyond the bewitching screen.” (Soul singing – Hugh O’Donnell).
Those were the days, my friend: Mikhail Gorbachev has died. Glasnost. Perestroika. Rapprochement. Are recalled. Even if official Moscow TV suggests that Gorbachev had a too romantic view of the…
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Soundings from Rome: Good News from a Pilgrim Church
By Br Mark O’Connor FMS, 1 September 2022 Rome woke up to a typical muggy morning on Wednesday 31 August. It had just seen two intense days of meetings of…
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“The synod process itself was somewhat rushed” – Bishop Cullinan’s (Waterford & Lismore) response to the National Synthesis Document
Copied from the Waterford & Lismore diocesan website. The findings from the listening sessions and conversations which took place around the country in preparation for the Synod on Synodality in…
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Lay Vatican leadership reportedly key topic at pope’s meeting with world’s cardinals
Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter: ROME — While an official communique at the end of Pope Francis’ Aug. 29-30 meeting with the world’s Catholic cardinals only said that participants “freely discussed…
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