Technical Issues Sorted!

This Sunday, Archbishop Eamon Martin will join with thousands of pilgrims of all ages in the annual pilgrimage to the summit of Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s holy mountain, for Reek Sunday…

It seems that all Masses with congregations will be cancelled in light of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Archbishop Neary of Tuam has issued the following directive; “all Masses with congregations in parishes in the Archdiocese of Tuam should be cancelled.”

UPDATE – Irish Bishops
“In the current emergency situation, all are dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass.”
“Every Catholic is entitled to a dignified Christian burial.  Attendance at Funeral services and Masses should be limited to close relatives and must not exceed 100 attendees within the church building.
Similarly, Church weddings and baptisms may be celebrated on condition that the attendance in church does not exceed 100 people.”

Bishop Dr John McAreavey, at the centre of a controversy, has resigned as the Co Down Bishop of Dromore.

From Tony Flannery’s Blog on Sept 12:  http://www.tonyflannery.com/geraldines-death-and-funeral/   Geraldine’s death and Funeral It is now two weeks since my sister Geraldine Flannery succumbed to the debilitating effects of a…

Daniel P Horan in the NCR writes on the closure of churches and the suspension of public acts of worship in this time of pandemic.
“we are all called upon to care for one another by taking extraordinary measures that includes the suspension of public worship, means learning to see our love of neighbor not only as an assent to “worldly” or “secular” medical wisdom, but also an actual exercise of our love of God. Each of the manifold ways we are sacrificing to love our neighbors — self-isolation, quarantining, tending to the sick at home, supporting first responders, avoiding public places, not hoarding supplies, working remotely and even not going physically to church buildings — is itself an expression of our love of God.”

In May 2019 myself and the wife got to Palestine. Well, not quite. We got to Israel, with a few deviations around Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and an hour in Palestinian…