Category: Feature

The Fate of Our Churches

Relentless Ministry – In a new series written by Priests, we will explore what most priests describe as “Relentless Ministry” and the challenges of being a priest in Ireland today The issue of closing churches has been grappled with so far in a seemingly haphazard way that needs to be tackled sooner rather than later.…

Lament for Melleray

It takes time, they say, to get used to an idea.   It is now two or three months since I heard of the closure of Mount Melleray and like many others, I am still trying to get my head around it.  The closure is, I suppose, inescapable but the final, definitive announcement of such an…

The fundamental role of the family

Society has lost touch with the importance of the family. In a world increasingly driven by individualism, the community once nurtured by family networks has faded, leaving behind a sense of “fragility and isolation,” explained Vincenzo Bassi speaking to The Irish Catholic. The president of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) and…

Irish women religious, in their Synod submission, came across as passionate, hurt, and angry at their marginalisation, not just in society, but more importantly, within the Church

In their document ‘Experience and Dreams as Religious Women in the Catholic Church in Ireland’ which was included in the submission of the Church in Ireland to the Synod in Rome, Irish women religious come across as passionate, hurt, angry at their marginalisation, but hopeful that some good will come of the Synodal Process. It…