Lydia, Phoebe and the women of the Early Christian Churches

Dublin diocese website carried the  Homily notes of Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin on the occasion of the canonisation of John Henry Newman.
“A Catholicism of self-defined certainties will lead eventually to a doubt about all certainties and thus to emptiness. A Catholicism of self-defined certainties and self-importance led to an authoritarian and harsh Irish Catholicism, with  consequences we know only too well.”
“I am astonished at the content and tone of daily messages on social media by Catholic pundits on the left and the right that are anything but kindly.  There are those who spend all day attacking and responding and feeling that in this they are defending the integrity of Church teaching.  The kindly light will never be defended by nastiness and bitterness.”

A little bit of drama… THE TRAP EMPTY SPACE… ARENA. “IN THE ROUND” OR A STAGE IN A HALL… 0R TO ONE SIDE IN A CHURCH… JESUS IS NEITHER SEEN…

An interesting address by Dermot Farrell, Bishop of Ossory, at the Conference with Laity and Priests in the Diocese of Ossory;
“Pope Francis is constantly putting his synodal vision of the church before us. The question he is asking, and that we should ask ourselves, is what kind of church is God calling the priests and all Catholics to be in the longer term – perhaps less self-referential and more a community of missionary disciples, less clerical and more synodical, “……

“We have fallen off a cliff edge in regard to vocations to the priesthood.   Many speak of a crisis in this regard…….This time of reduced numbers may well afford us an opportunity to be creative and to reimagine the institutional church.”

Reading an article about Charles Davis sets Seamus Ahearne reminiscing about the days after Vatican II when “..we were let loose. We were ready for anything. We were armed with hope. The spirit of the Council was our Mission Statement.”
….
“The questions that Charles asked, are still demanding answers. We can never escape the challenge.  Faith is always seeking understanding.  Ministry will always be demanding prophetic action.”

Western People 6.5.2025 Tomorrow, May 7, 2025, of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, 135 who are under 80 and therefore qualify to vote, will enter the Sistine…

Church turns up the heat on climate deniers. Western People 24th August 2021 ‘May you live in interesting times’, it’s said, is a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. Sometimes,…