Gerry O’Connor CSsR and ACP leadership Team – weekly Sunday video homily

Day of Prayer for Temperance Opening CommentToday’s readings ask for decisions, challenging Christians to choose the right path. We gather to worship God, who can help us in all our…

This article is taken from the July 15th issue of Commonweal

“Something was and is deeply rotten in the State of the Vatican. But what do we do? Where do we go? The answer, we are told is to pray and…

BIDDING PRAYERS for Sunday Mass on 5 February Introduction (by the Presider)  Let us bring our prayers to the Lord, in whom we place our trust: For peace in the Middle East (pause…

The concluding dossier, which also contains the final considerations and the Bishops’ concluding note, was delivered to the General Secretariat of the Synod. As of today, the final document of…

Two articles that remind us of the huge responsibility there is on all church members to ensure they are not risking life or health when re-opening after lockdowns.

An Irish Times story about a Dublin church being forced to close after ignoring regulations also covers the comment by Archbishop Martin of Dublin about the need to respect the sacrifices made by so many.
“The current public health policy has required sacrifice on the part of all of us. People have accepted that. I think of those who have had to bury a loved one without the normal process of grieving, with funeral rites limited to a bare minimum. We must show respect for those whose sacrifice has been greatest.
Public health policy will only work when its proposals and sequencing are fully respected by all. There is no room for self-dispensation from or self-interpretation of the norms. Jumping the queue by individuals or communities puts everyone at risk”
In another article

Michael J. O’Loughlin of americamagazine.org interviews a man we have become familiar with on our TV news programmes, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
““There have been situations in multiple countries where the source of the cluster was a church service,” he said. “That’s the reason why we gotta be so careful about that.”
As a result, even if churches are open, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions should consider staying home, “because they really are at high risk,” he said. “It would be so tragic for someone who just comes to a place of worship, gets sick themselves, or gets infected and brings it home to an elderly person who might have a compromising comorbidity, and the person gets seriously ill and dies.”