The gift of friendship and what it means to be blessed with a friend, has taken a new meaning with the explosion of social media. We might have many virtual friends, but no virtual friendship can ever replace the gift of a real friend in life. The sad irony is that despite us being connected…
On this New Year’s Day and on this ‘World Day of Peace’, I join with my fellow columnists in The Irish Catholic by wishing you all a very happy New Year. I hope and pray that 2026 may be a year of peace for everyone and for our troubled world. On this day, we again dare to…
I write these words in Rome on the first day of my new appointment as an official of the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Holy See. It is a privilege to be here in this city that has so much history, culture and global significance, attracting millions of pilgrims and tourists from all over…
There is evidence that Ireland is becoming more cruel and less kind. Hardly a week goes by without some horrific case of domestic abuse, street assaults and attacks on IPAS centres that terrify people and put lives in danger. Hostile exchanges on social media are making matters worse. By way of response, the first thing…
I once knew a widowed lady who was the mother of two unmarried sons. Both lived with her until the day she died in her nineties. Since they were infants, their mother did everything possible for them. She cooked their food, washed their clothes and did for adult men what they should have learned to…
Last Sunday, September 7, Pope Leo XIV canonised Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati as saints in Rome. There is an Italian phrase associated with Pier Giorgio Frassati that has taken on a deeper significance over time. ‘Verso l’alto’ translates as ‘towards the heights’. It was scribbled by him on a photograph in 1925 and…
As we watch the news each night and see the latest images coming from Gaza, our hearts recoil in horror before the humanitarian disaster unfolding there. There is also the sense of powerlessness that leaves us feeling unable to do anything to help and yet our conscience tells us that indifference and doing nothing is…
Tomorrow, Friday June 20, we celebrate the feast of the Irish martyrs. Between 1579 and 1654, 17 Irish martyrs, men and women, lay and clerical, were put to death for their Catholic faith. They were beatified by Pope St John Paul II in 1992. Their names were: Patrick O’Healy OFM; Con O’Rourke OFM; Matthew Lambert;…
In preparation for a National Synod next year, Irish dioceses recently engaged in conversations to propose priority themes. These themes were taken from seventeen topics related to the life of the Church that emerged from previous conversations in the Spirit and were summarised in the National synthesis document: ‘Synthesis of the Consultation in Ireland for…
Among the vast corpus of Pope Francis’ encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, letters and homilies, there are many inspiring and memorable quotations that he left us as part of his spiritual and pastoral legacy. One quote I believe will be remembered for many years to come and will guide the Church’s self-understanding and mission long into the…