In December, January and February each year, the Church celebrates the feast days of three female saints who all have something in common. St Lucy’s feast day falls on December 13; St Agnes’ on January 21, and the feast of St Agatha is celebrated on February 5. All three are included in the Roman Canon;…
We all have a story. Every heart carries unseen chapters. Every soul is shaped by love and loss. “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) Last week, for my birthday, my caring and loving wife Jacqui and my two fabulous daughters, Mia and Sophie, brought…
Picture your favourite place to sit. A cozy recliner near the TV, a reading spot on your couch or your usual chair at the kitchen table. Remember how your body sinks into that space without a second thought. After a long day, there’s nothing better than settling in where we feel most at home. Now…
Matt. 5:13 [Jesus said,] “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. Matt. 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot…
In recent weeks, Pope Leo XIV has begun a new series of catechesis as part of his Wednesday General Audience in Rome. He has chosen to return to the documents of the Second Vatican Council and to use this catechesis as “a valuable opportunity to rediscover the beauty and the importance of this ecclesial event”…
Book X is the longest book of Confessions and marks a dramatic transition from autobiography (Books I-IX) to philosophical analysis (Books X, XI, and XII). Here, Augustine also shifts the focus of his work to his present spiritual state as a newly appointed bishop of Hippo Regius (in modern-day Annaba, Algeria). Augustine’s search for God…
The Anglican Church is elevating its first woman to the role of Archbishop of Canterbury, the chief diocese of the Church of England. Theologically, do we as Catholics see this as a problem A: I think the answer here could be either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, depending on how we approach the question. Of course,…
Domhnall Gleeson recently said Rachel McAdams “changes a room merely by entering it.” I wondered if I was hearing him right. He wasn’t talking about Einstein or Winston Churchill. Domhnall appeared with McAdams in About Time, an average enough film. Where does this kind of hyperbole emanate from? Are film stars on such elevated plateaus…
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling on the Trump administration to place Egypt on a watch list after a Christian man was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor for allegedly violating the country’s blasphemy laws “for his online content critical of Islam.” “Egypt is systematically enforcing laws, policies,…
Chaplaincy to the sick stands at the meeting point of human fragility and divine closeness says Fr Barry White Hospital wards, nursing homes, and cemeteries mark the limits of human life. They remind us, often uncomfortably, that people suffer, age, and die. These are the everyday landscapes of healthcare and end-of-life chaplaincy. It is…
Aubrey Malone
Fr Barry White