Poem for St. Blaise’s Day

Poem for St. Blaise’s Day
One of the burning questions facing the Irish Church today: can lay-people assist with the blessing of throats? Canon Law provides an answer. Poetry (and pastoral necessity) provide another.
Claddagh Duff
(having viewed a painting of the same name by George Campbell RHA)
The grey stone church
commands the hill
above the rock-strewn shapes
that pass for fields
in Connemara.
After Mass
on the winding lane,
two shawled women
of the land
have stopped to talk.
They are Church
these two,
their rough shawls
like tabernacle veils,
concealing divinity.
Lord,
May we see beyond rules,
beyond bricks and mortar,
to the flesh and blood
that is truly Church.

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Pope Francis’ Advice for Bishops, Priests and prospective Seminarians

Articles, Pope Francis, Reform of the Irish Church
9 Comments

Iacopo Scaramuzzi reports on some off the cuff remarks made by Pope Francis at a Conference sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy.
He told bishops: “Be present in your dioceses of resign”
To priests he said “It is not normal for a priest to be often sad, nervous, or of a hard character; it is not good, and does no good, neither for the priest nor for his people,”
About those wishing to enter the seminary he said authorities should think twice if the young man “is too confident, rigid and fundamentalist”.
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