Seamus Ahearne is not getting too worked up about recent comments made by An Taoiseach about priests, but does offer a whispered bit of advice.
“This is a great life. The life of priesthood. It is full of humour and fun and grace and beauty. We are privileged. And it is delightful. You can use us in any way you wish.”
We have nearly reached the month of October, living our way through the Season that the Americans call The Fall, for obvious reasons. Taking a cup of coffee the other…
New Cardinals reflect a changing church Western People, 7.6.2022 In church circles, an old adage is: If you want to know what a pope reallythinks, then keep a close eye…
Western People 4.10.2022 I’ve spent much of the last ten years researching the Great Famine (1845-52) in the diocese of Killala. Last year, the first of a two volume history,…
From Tony Flannery Blog website: These are two remarkable articles by Jim Good, published in Hibernia in the early nineteen seventies. They perfectly illustrate how he was a man well…
Hannah Roberts reports from Rome for The Tablet that Italian Bishop Nunzio Galantino wants the church to listen to diverse opinions of topical matters.
An interesting article from Robert Mickens in La Croix (link below):
Catholic women are still relegated to second class Musings on the pope’s “motu proprio” on female readers and altar servers
Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/letter-from-rome/catholic-women-are-still-relegated-to-second-class/13639
The People of God lead – and Pope follows belatedly
13 January 2021 We welcome the recent announcement by Pope Francis that women will now officially be allowed to act as Acolytes and Lectors.
For more than 50 years women have been carrying out these roles. Now rather belatedly Pope Francis makes it official. Real change comes from the People of God at the grassroots and not from the curia in the Vatican.
Women remain officially excluded from:
• Reading the gospel at mass
• Preaching at mass
• Presiding at the Eucharist
• All ordained ministries
• Decision making at all levels
For centuries women have been treated as inferior to men by the patriarchal leaders in the Catholic Church. The full equality of women in the Catholic Church is still officially being denied, but the People of God know it is a reality in our church all around the world.
Sadly, the announcement by Pope Francis did not include any apology to women for having officially been denied these roles for decades.
Colm Holmes
Chair, We Are Church International
E colmholmes2020@gmail.com
M +353 86 606 3636
W http://www.we-are-church.org
We Are Church International (WAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.