In this ‘Notebook’ section of last week’s The Irish Catholic, Fr Bernard Cotter raised some very important points about the need to renew the Sacrament of Baptism in our parishes [The Irish Catholic – July 20, 2023]. He made a few suggestions of how this might happen and invited us to share any ideas we…
Since Pentecost, I have been thinking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the last of the gifts named is that of ‘Awe and Wonder’ also known as ‘Fear of the Lord’ (para. 1831). Here I share a few thoughts on how the Spirit can give birth to ‘Awe…
The Oxford Dictionary defines the term “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. In short, people can believe whatever they want to believe as long as they feel it is right. This is a dangerous development for…
Notebook Last Monday, April 10, marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday agreement. This agreement finally brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of violence and conflict. I was always deeply struck by the timing of when this historic peace agreement was reached – on the day the prince of peace…
The Pope’s Exorcist is a new movie that stars Russell Crowe who plays the role of Fr Gabriele Amorth who was an exorcist for the Vatican and the Diocese of Rome until his death in 2016. The film puts the spotlight on the occult, how we view the existence of evil and the person of…
The Enoch Burke case has been in the public eye for some time now. He was a teacher at Wilson’s Hospital Secondary School in Westmeath when controversy arose last year over his refusal to call a pupil by their preferred pronoun of ‘they’. He has been vilified by secular media for daring to refuse to…
On Monday, January 2, the Church celebrates the joint feast day of Sts Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzen. Both men were 4th Century bishops in the Christian East, Basil in Caesarea and Gregory in Constantinople. The men were close friends and on their feast day, the Office of Readings offers us a beautiful…
Another Advent season is upon us and another Christmas is just around the corner. The season of Advent has two halves – the first period focuses on hope for the coming of Christ in the future and second part (from December 16) concentrates on the coming of Christ in the past with his incarnation and…
We have just passed the significant milestone of 60 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council by Pope St John XXIII on October 11, 1962. In his inaugural speech that opened the Council, Papa Roncalli mapped out the way in which the Church intended to “bring herself up to date where required” in…
As time goes by, parishes all over the country are continuing to realise the negative effects that Covid-19 had on their communities. Apart from the loss of those who died from the disease, the virus scattered people into greater isolation and broke the habit of Church attendance for many. As communities struggle to re-build after…