The title of the talks is: Repairing a Damaged Church
1. March 3rd: (Monday): Caherconlish, Co. Limerick. (Millennium Centre)
2. March 12th (Wednesday): Ballinasloe (Gullane’s Hotel)
3. March 19th: (Wednesday): Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow: (Church of Ireland School)
4. March 25th: (Tuesday) Sligo (Clarion Hotel)
5. April 2nd: (Wednesday) Dublin (Stillorgan Park Hotel)
The talks normally begin at 8.00pm.
This reflection on the need for love in our Church has been sent to us by a former priest in England, Paul Burns.
This is an excellent article from someone who spent most of his life as a Christian Brother, and is now a priest of Limerick diocese. He gives his impressions in a straight and clear way, without any equivocation. We would love to get a response from other priests.
Jimmy McPhillips, an ACP member in Clogher diocese, critiques the ACP and its website, and regrets that so few of priests’ real concerns are raised: frustration, absence of real leadership, low morale, depression and all the burdens of pastoral ministry. He suggests that ACP members meeting at local level in dioceses and Religious communities might help keep the leadership in touch with these core issues.
Seamus Ahearne looks at the often bleak and angry news of the day and decides that “God; is splashed about everywhere and in everyone. Moaning and groaning isn’t graceful. The world we used to know, is changing. The familiar is gone. The God we knew, and the Rituals that supported us, has gone wandering. But God is in this place and we may not know it. (Gen 28.10). We dare not sulk like Jonah or eventually give in to despair like Job (Job 38). I go to Church each day and I come away smiling.
Priest members of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) from the Diocese of Limerick met at the Woodlands House Hotel on April 12th. Three issues were highlighted: the lack of consultation and questionable quality of the new translation of the Missal; concerns around accusations against priests of sexual abuse; the future of Catholic Education.
Brendan in his weekly Western People column outlines how we can all experience Christmas in very individual ways.
Brendan then suggests; “Make sure you take a bit of time off from Christmas. Let the water under your feet settle into a little puddle so that you can see a bit of yourself in it. Let the bustle fade into a silence. Find a clear space where you can hear what life is saying to you. Sit somewhere and look out at the world as it rages and races past. Find a quiet corner ….”
Good advice!
