By the time you read this, I should have arrived in Victoria, BC, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The plan was that I would fly all the way from Dublin to Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast, and then take the hour-and-a-half-long ferry ride out to the island, which is to be my home…
Readers with a subscription to Sky Atlantic or NOW may have come across Succession, a HBO television series about a big media family like the Murdochs, where an aging patriarch wonders who will succeed him. It’s popular because it portrays a real-life dilemma; — a reflection on how to plan for the future. Succession seems…
What’s the difference between a homily and a eulogy? The difference usually seems very clear-cut — until you go to a priest’s funeral (or a bishop’s). For a clergy funeral, the homilist eulogises and homilises, all at the same time. As a fictional homilist-eulogist might put it, “Fr X was a mighty priest, who was nice…
Seven is a special number for Catholics. We celebrate seven sacraments, avoid seven deadly sins, try to do the seven corporal works of mercy (or some of them at least!). Seven is a special age also. Children who reach the age of seven are said to become reasonable (though parents might not agree!). But no…
I am thinking of preparing a leaflet to help couples considering marrying in church. It would need a catchy title, to attract notice. How about: “Thinking of a Catholic Mass for your wedding? Think again!” As I see it, many couples who seek to marry in church are unfamiliar with the Mass. They’re not at…
I spent two very happy weeks in Canada in June — my longest holiday since COVID. One of my great holiday treats is to sit into the pews for Sunday Mass, while another priest does the work — and I watch, critically. On Trinity Sunday I found myself in Lindsay, Ontario, right in the middle…
Do you remember where you were when the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York? Most people do. You may also remember where you heard the news of Princess Diana’s death. I remember both. And I also remember hearing the news that Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was on fire. I was having my…
My colleague was not impressed with my attacks on Church authorities, as he saw it. “Isn’t it bad enough that you’re having a go at our poor bishops,” said he, “without taking potshots at the Holy Father as well.” He had read my musings on Rome’s appointment of non-local priests to dioceses and was not…
At the end of last year, I wrote a piece here on the Mass, entitled, provocatively, ‘How NOT to say Mass’. I invited readers to respond. It turned out that many of you had your own ideas on what priests should not do. It makes sense that readers would have comments to make. You are…
Sometimes I wonder about Rome. Not Rome as a tourist destination, which is a venue unsurpassed. With apologies to Samuel Johnson, when a person is tired of Rome, that man or woman is tired of life. I don’t deny Rome’s importance as a goal for pilgrims either, though no doubt in this Holy Year some…