Our kind bishop, Michael Duignan, once asked us: “Where and when in your ministry did you feel most happy and fulfilled?” Immediately my mind flew back over the years and miles to the Philippines, where I served as assistant director of formation in a seminary. There were only three of us on the full-time staff,…
These past weeks, I have been struck by the photos of the five teenage boys who died while taking part in a TikTok dare to drive the wrong way up a motorway. While their actions were appalling and wrong, I feel sorry for their families, and, as an uncle of a teenager, for the boys…
One time, on a flight to Mostar ultimately bound for Medjugorje, a ‘first-timer’ was spotted with a yoga mat attached to her backpack. This caused a flutter of consternation among some, with the hope quietly expressed that she would have lost the yoga mat by the time we returned home. Were they judgmental or extreme?…
A group of 40 pilgrims set out from Dublin airport to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico, via Amsterdam, under the good shepherding of Marian Pilgrimages guide, Michael Murphy, last October. Few of us knew each other, and each of us had our own reason for going. This was a very different and…
A group of 40 pilgrims set out from Dublin airport to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico, via Amsterdam, under the good shepherding of Marian Pilgrimages guide, Michael Murphy, last October. Few of us knew each other, and each of us had our own reason for going. This was a very different and…