Courtney McGrailDear Editor, The year 2015, with the referendum for same-sex marriage, for good or bad, has marked a key turning point in the history of Ireland. As a Christian, I confess that on a number of occasions over the course of the referendum, and since, I have been both deeply shocked and saddened by some…
Month: October 2015
Synod must define what being Catholic means
Dear Editor, The dispute within Britain’s Labour Party over its ability to win the next (2020) general election is similar to the issues facing our bishops at the synod in Rome. In Britain, the argument seems to be that Labour must do whatever it has to do in order to become electable, a position rejected…
Parish Cells celebrate 25 years in Ireland
Mags GarganThe Parish Cells National Seminar hosted in St John the Evangelist Parish, Ballinteer, while celebrating 25 years of parish cells in Ireland, had as its theme ‘A Vision for Parish Community – how a cell community can contribute to parish life”. In 1990 Fr Michael Hurley and three parishioners from Ballinteer attended an international seminar…
WMI’s ‘Charlie Bird reports on the missions’ brings mission to life
World Missions Ireland (WMI) has taken a fresh and novel approach this year to engage Irish people about mission. Journalist Charlie Bird accompanied WMI staff members on a mission trip to South Korea and the Philippines and a DVD, filmed by the well-known broadcaster is due to be shown in Churches across Ireland on Mission…
Irish composers’ song performed at world meeting
Cormac O’Duffy, a former teacher and graduate of UCD and UL, had his oratorio The Wedding Feast of the Lamb premiered in front of a full church at St John the Evangelist in Philadelphia during the World Meeting of Families (WMOF). The work, dedicated to marriage and family, was performed by the Choirs of Villanova…
Giving value to the people of ‘no value’
Sally McEllistrim visits a missionary sister working with a disadvantaged tribe in the Philippines
Lasallian Association plan for the future
The Irish Association for the Lasallian Mission (De La Salle) held its AGM in Castletown, Portlaoise recently. Fifty school principals, teachers and others spent time together to review and plan for how best to promote its mandate of “human and Christian education”. Its president, Tom O’Neill, Waterford welcomed the gatherings from all over Ireland and…
Bishops should feel the experience of Christian refugees
Greg DalyIraq’s most prominent bishop has called upon the synod of bishops to “feel the experience” of Christian refugees who, rather than converting to Islam when threatened with violence, have abandoned their homes and possessions. In a homily opening the synod’s sixth day, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako said “Faith, like love, is a…
There’s method in the synod’s madness
Bishops need to show the Pope they are up to the challenge of leadership, writes Cathal Barry
Rejection from Communion can lead to rejection of Church – German bishop
The Church’s refusal to allow the divorced and remarried receive the Eucharist can cause people to turn from the Church and God himself, Berlin’s Archbishop Heiner Koch has told the Synod of Bishops. In his three-minute address to the gathered bishops, Dr Koch said the Church’s theological arguments “do not silence the questions in the…