Dear Daddy and Mammy, Denis and Sadie to everyone else, but always Daddy and Mammy to me. As I write, I am days away from the fortieth anniversary of my ordination. On July 5, 1986, I stood before the Church and answered a call that had been forming in me for years. The older I…
“We are an Easter people.” So began a remarkable day of reflection at St John of God Sisters’ Retreat Centre in Ballyvaloo, Co. Wexford recently. The theme was both simple and challenging: ‘Celebrating the Radical Easter Message of Liberation for Women’. The facilitator was Gráinne Doherty, from Donegal, a woman who brings rare gifts of…
Dear Liam, Some letters are easier to write than others. This one is not. Not because there is too little to say, but because there is so much. How do you begin to write about someone who has been a priest, composer, companion and dear friend for so many years? How do you find words…
Recently, I had three encounters with modern technology in the space of a few weeks. Each one left me thinking — not so much about machines, but about what it means to be human… and Church. The first happened in a restaurant. I scanned a code on the table to read the menu, placed my…
A month on from Christmas, most houses have returned to their ordinary shape. Decorations are packed away. Chairs are back where they belong. The table has resumed its everyday purpose. And yet, for many families, something noticed over Christmas has not disappeared. An empty chair. At Christmas, absences announce themselves. We become acutely aware of…
Every Christmas I am struck again by how unstructured the first Christmas really was. Our Nativity scenes are tidy and serene, but the reality was far more fragile. There was no priest, no sanctuary, no official ritual. God entered the world without the religious structures we normally consider essential. The beginnings of salvation were entrusted…
Two years ago, we watched with horror what had happened to innocent Israeli citizens as they enjoyed a music festival. Since then, we have witnessed the daily news from Gaza and shook our heads in disbelief: bombed hospitals, broken homes, frightened children. Now, at last, there are signs of hope — the announcement of a…
At every wedding I have celebrated, before they exchange their vows, there is one question I ask of the couple which always strikes me. “Will you accept with love the children God may send you?” Without hesitation they reply “Yes.” It is a beautiful moment, but what strikes me most is the weight of that…
Some years ago, I regularly visited a man who was seriously ill. What made each visit memorable wasn’t just the pastoral care—it was the welcoming party that awaited me: a flock of loud, menacing geese. They would charge at me as if guarding the gates of heaven. I confess I was quietly relieved when Christmas…
It was a small, almost hidden message that captured the essence of Aoife Shelly’s life. In the hospital, while her family kept vigil at her bedside, an alarm went off on her phone. When they reached for it to silence the alarm, they found a note in her notifications: “10pm: Time for Prayer.” In the…