Bishop Paul Dempsey   I’ve experienced and I’ve seen a lot of great signs of hope as well, indeed, we have the building hope initiative in the diocese and there’s very much a sense of working together in partnerships as parishes and that’s synodality in action. Pope Francis obviously talks about synodality and I think…

My neighbour’s Christmas display has been giving me a much needed smile, but perhaps not as he intended.  His holiday garden features giant blow-ups of two cartoon characters, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and a snowman, I have dubbed Olaf, in honour of the Disney snowman. Every morning, in the run-up to Christmas, I have…

“Influencers” seem to play an important role in our world, although many of us know little about some of these influential individuals, who, via social media, have such sway over the lives of others. But there are also “influencers” who have a quieter, yet profound and consistent, following, more through a network of personal admirers…

We had an unusual Advent in the Kent parish of Deal: the parish priest, Canon Brian Coyle (originally from Northern Ireland) invited one of the parishioners to give a talk, with response and reflections from parishioners in true Synodal fashion. The subject involved the German Jesuit martyr, Fr Alfred Delp, hanged by the Nazis in…

I’ve been a granny for 21 months. My grandson calls me MorMor which is a tradition we’ve taken from the Danish side of my family. It means Mother’s Mother. While looking after him I find myself thinking about Jesus at the same age, and naturally about his mother. And also about Joseph who, in today’s…

The night of Jesus’s birth must have been a very mixed experience for Mary and Joseph. Their chid was born and that would have been a happy experience, but they were away from home, they could not find a room for the night and therefore their baby was born in a manger. That was not…

I love the simplicity of Christmas.  For all the excitement and fuss of the holiday, at the centre of our Christian Christmas is the baby in the manger. This most familiar scene remains the focal point of the great feast in the midst of all the parties, decorations, tinsel and evergreens. It’s about the child…

Fr Shay Cullen Most people who consider themselves Christians will have their own imagined image of Jesus of Nazareth. Few really know who he was, what he did and said, or was reported as having said. Most know him as the child of poor parents born in a manger in Bethlehem, in what’s now the…

On December 29, the Church begins a Jubilee Year, with the theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Maybe this is not a bad place for us to spend a bit of time, this week, as we head towards the celebration of Christmas. There is a priest in Mayo that I have admired for many years – his…