Sport is not simply an escape from reality. It is also preparation for reality writes, writes Fr Barry White As the FIFA World Cup kicks off today, June 11, 2026, across North America, many of us will spend the weeks ahead captivated by the drama that only a World Cup can provide: stunning goals, heroic…
Authority as service lies at the heart of Pope Leo XIV’s Augustinian formation, writes Fr Barry White We are marking the first anniversary of the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8 2025, when Robert Francis Prevost stepped onto the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica. He appeared calm, if visibly moved, introducing himself simply…
“The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone,” writes Fr Barry White When Friends premiered in 1994, with The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You,” it captured a recognisable season of life. At its centre are six flawed, funny friends—Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler, and Joey—growing into adulthood together. The series is less…
Lent invites us to journey through the landscapes of Matthew’s Gospel, where Christ enters every terrain of human experience says Fr Barry White While exploring Southeast Asia—especially Cambodia and Vietnam—I discovered how travel opens a window into the soul of a people. The ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Buddha statues, incense, and lotus flowers revealed…
Chaplaincy to the sick stands at the meeting point of human fragility and divine closeness says Fr Barry White Hospital wards, nursing homes, and cemeteries mark the limits of human life. They remind us, often uncomfortably, that people suffer, age, and die. These are the everyday landscapes of healthcare and end-of-life chaplaincy. It is…
Lectio Divina continually invites us beyond ourselves, teaching us to recognise others in the text and to allow the Word to speak, says Fr Barry White Christianity is not, as Pope Benedict XVI so often reminded us, an intellectual system, a packet of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is an encounter, a love story;…
God’s love, always moving outward toward the most vulnerable, forms the backdrop to my own experience of encountering the poor says Fr Barry White Pope Francis’s call for “a Church which is poor and for the poor,” along with St Vincent de Paul’s reminder that “the poor have much to teach you,” inspired me to…
As we celebrated the 400th anniversary of the birth of St Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681), we also remember another great figure of ecclesial renewal: Ladislas Örsy SJ, who died earlier this year on April 3, at the age of 103. A Hungarian-American theologian and canon lawyer (1921–2025), Örsy was one of the most insightful interpreters of…
Walking with St John Henry Newman on the path of the ‘kindly light’ One Friday evening, running out of Mullingar along the Greenway towards Athlone, I turned at the 18km mark and began my journey back. The sun was just setting in a glorious blaze, leaving a red glow on the horizon before dusk fell…
When I think back on childhood, my grandfather’s garden in Rathkenny, Co. Meath often comes to mind. Hydrangeas, roses, lupins, and marigolds bloomed in neat order, a little world of colour and care. For me, it was something like a miniature Chelsea Flower Show—alive, vibrant, and ordered. It is no surprise that Scripture so often…