As readers of this newspaper may recall, a resource was offered by the Irish Synodal Pathway for use during Lent this year. Baptised and Sent in Lent was presented as a “Reflection Programme” for parishes, schools, individuals and groups. As the title suggests, the resource was related to the previous Irish synodal document Baptised and…
Daily Wisdom – Léann an Lae: Irish Proverbs and Sayings for Each Day of the Year, by John Quinn (Red Stripe Press, €14.99 / £17.50) Author John Quinn died on New Years Day at the age of 84. This book was originally published some six years ago by the now defunct Veritas Publication, whose disappearance was a…
Fr Brendan Hoban wrote recently with characteristic elegance and genuine pastoral concern about Christian unity, and his reflection on the recent meeting between Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Sarah Mullally is worth engaging seriously with. Yet there is a significant gap at the heart of his argument — one that threatens to undermine the very…
During most of the two thousand years that Christianity has existed it has not been friends with science, and science has not been friends with it. From the Church condemning Galileo, to the Enlightenment thinkers declaring faith ‘a spent project’, science and Christian faith have been more foe than friend. Happily, this has changed. Today…
For years I would meet all kinds of people in ‘The Green Room’ just outside the television studios. It was where BBC guests, were supposed to relax before going on air. I wondered why they called it that because it wasn’t actually green. It turns out this was an old theatre tradition, where walls were…
Gary Gordon has been Bishop of Victoria BC since 2014, having been in Whitehorse diocese (covering the Yukon territory and northern British Columbia) for eight years before that. His golden retriever brought its name Takú from a place in his first diocese. Both dog and owner were touched to hear that ‘ag tacú’ in our Irish language…
There are times when the challenges of daily life sadden and discourage us, even when we are doing our very best to serve and help the needy. Many believers find encouragement in the inspiring words of Jesus of Nazareth. He said to not lose heart, but to have a stronger conviction that trying your best…
In his ongoing catechesis of Lumen gentium, Pope Leo XIV considers the eschatological dimension of the Church Brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome! As we focus today on a section of Chapter VII of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Church, let us reflect on one of its defining characteristics: its eschatological dimension.…
‘Sé is brí le Féile na Deascabhála ná go gcaithfidh scaoilfimid le rudaí agus glacadh le saol nua. Nuair a bhíonn cuairteoir ag fanacht leat ar feadh tamaill agus ansin imíonn siad braithimid go mbíonn sé deacair orainn dul ar ais go dtí an gnáthshaol nuair atá siad imithe. Bíonn brón orainn go mbíonn siad imithe…
21 days and 14 days’ military detention: this is the sentence imposed by the Israeli army on two soldiers for desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary. The soldier who placed a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon must serve three weeks; his comrade, who photographed him…
Peter Costello
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Martina Purdy