Notebook “Why did you become a priest?” Brendan lives not too far from Washington DC and is the middle of three children. I baptised him a short few years ago and each week with his parents and sisters, he joins the parish of Kilmovee for Sunday Mass via webcam. This led him, on one occasion…
Notebook Recently I visited the three schools of our parish to celebrate first penance with the boys and girls preparing for First Holy Communion. It is noteworthy that the number of children involved between the three schools is fourteen. I say this, as a slight aside, because when we hear of numbers, restrictions and NPHET…
Notebook Dear Notebookers! I am not exactly sure who you are. Well, that is not altogether accurate, since I spoke with a priest friend in Raphoe last week with whom I had not been in contact for a while. “The only place I see you”, he told me “is on the back page of The…
Notebook As our parishes prepare again for the return to public worship, albeit in a limited format, we are thankful for this progress and the opportunity it affords us to gather as communities of faith. Truly we will celebrate that togetherness and rebuild, week by week, on the strong foundation that remains at the heart…
Notebook There’s a sense of the Church at its best going on this weekend. It’s that early enthusiastic excitement of a new relationship or hobby. We’ve got all the gear and are ready to spend ourselves fully in the pursuit of love of person, sport or activity. We couldn’t imagine missing a meeting, training session…
Notebook I’m a year older! This week I turned 58. When I was ordained, a priest in his fifties seemed a lifetime away from me. Now I’m nearer 60 than 50 and I wonder where the years have gone. The big difference, and I’m sad to say this, is that there are no 24-year-old priests…
Notebook Now there is a question. If Lent is about self-sacrifice, deprivation and slowing things down, then we have had the longest 40 days ever, in the wilderness that is called Covid. So much of what we enjoy, take for granted and rely on for normality in life has been taken away and personal sacrifice…
Notebook On Saturday evening I felt a sadness in my heart. I knew it was around going to an empty church to celebrate Mass as I have done for much of the past nine or ten months. It is not the ideal, and like many, I have questioned the need, given that our churches are…
Notebook Dear Santa, You were mentioned in the Dáil recently and I heard the Irish Ambassador to Finland say she had spoken to you and that you reassured her that you will be travelling this year. Good news, for sure. You are, as you told her, an “essential worker”. Locally I have heard children speak…
Notebook Her first anniversary took place a few weeks ago. I spoke with her husband around the days – a phone call to a man who likes to talk – maybe needs to talk. I remember the call when his wife died and my visit to his little cottage where they lived, shared life and…