Month: April 2020

The meaning of Jesus’ death

Jesus’ death washes everything clean, including our ignorance and sin. That’s the clear message from Luke’s account of his death. As we know, we have four Gospels, each with its own take on the passion and death of Jesus. As we know too, these Gospel accounts are not journalistic reports of what happened on Good…

Living Laudato Si’

In May 2015, Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si’ – Care for Our Common Home inviting everyone into a conversation about what is happening to our environment, God’s creation. This year we celebrate the fifth anniversary of its publication and Pope Francis has invited all of us to mark this special anniversary in some…

Dundrum to offer drive by hope this Easter

While the country’s best-known shopping centre may be shut, the parish church in the Dublin suburb of Dundrum remains open and will be offering a gift of holy water this Easter. Fr John Bracken – Co-PP – lives next door to the church and is able to keep it open daily for private prayers and…

Dad’s Diary

It’s been a lovely lockdown so far. The sun has shone kindly over our pleasantly shrunken world. Life is simpler and there’s no longer any rush to school, to clubs or birthday parties. There are no weekend breaks or daytrips. There’s something pleasant about not having to decide what to do, for the only thing…

A beautiful message from GAA stars

Dear Editor,  It was wonderful to see your front page (IC 2/04/2020) in which prominent GAA figures advocated for the vulnerable during our current pandemic, particularly priests and religious. It is now more than ever that we need to make sure our priests and religious feel they are being looked out for by the parish…

In Brief

Pope appoints new archbishop in South Africa Pope Francis has appointed a new archbishop for Bloemfontein in South Africa after the post became vacant. Dehonian Bishop Zolile Peter Mpambani, 63, of Kokstad was transferred to the Free State province as the region’s archbishop. The appointment, made last week, came after the Holy Father accepted the…

Christ is risen – alleluia!

Sunday’s Gospel Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap.   I like the story about an ageing flower-lady with an outdoor stall. Her clothes were old and shabby, her face weather-beaten and wrinkled. A regular customer asked how she was always in good form. “It’s my friend Jesus,” she replied. “Good Friday was the worst of days. Three days…