The Irish Times reports:
The death has taken place of Msgr Tom Stack, former parish priest at Milltown in Dublin, regular contributor to The Irish Times and frequent guest on radio and television programmes. He died peacefully at Our Lady’s Hospice in Harold’s Cross on Sunday.
Gerry O’Connor CSsR, ACP Leadership, Sunday Homily – ‘Honour’ Holy Family 2024:
The National Catholic Reporter carries a robust editorial on Cardinal Ouellet’s response to Archbishop Viganò. It challenges the role of those U.S. catholics “whose primary ambition, it seems, is to convince the rest of us that the Christian Gospel was actually promulgated to justify the most extreme expressions of American-style capitalism.”
It concludes “The work ahead will require more than bluster and misappropriated slogans. It will require accessing the deepest levels of our sacramental tradition. It will require the imposition of unprecedented accountability from bishops. It will also require bishops with the will to confront the toughest questions about how the clerical culture arrived at this point.”
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An edited version of this article by Peter Stanford about the bishops’ meeting in Rome to discuss clerical sexual abuse appeared recently in The Observer.
“It is an appalling moral failure and needs to end now, but that will involve rethinking an entire approach to sexuality in Catholicism that is peculiar, punitive and often plain perverse. The Jesus of the gospels had almost no interest is such matters. Why does the Church leadership? “
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I have early memories of Tom giving us retreats while in St. Flannan’s College, Ennis. I remember telling him this when years later I met him and he was taken aback but such was the communicator he was.
I have great memories from the early 1980s of Tom Stack visiting Dan Breen (RIP) (Senior Curate/ six of us stationed in the one house) at the Presbytery in Mourne Road, Drimnagh and being invited into their rapturous company where there was lots of in-depth discussion, sharing of insights and so much fun and laughter. I felt there was a great providence meeting men like them.
I have a further round/ wave of memories from the 1990s of Tom Stack visiting John Ryan PP. RIP, Knocklong, Co. Limerick. John kept an open kitchen where people gathered around the table and so Tom had a full audience and he always rose to the occasion. I particularly remembering him doing jigs and singing a few Limerick songs. Glad he got to see Limerick win another All Ireland. Tom loved to party and celebrate life. Both John & Tom had a great repertoire of stories. I feel blessed and uplifted to have known such broad minded free spirited priests. They are stars that burn brightly for me.