The Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible tells the story of the enslavement of the Israelites in ancient Egypt, their liberation from captivity at the hands of the Lord, their wandering in the desert and the revelation of the Promised Land. Theologically, it is the story of God’s abiding and eternal presence with his…
With most Masses cancelled, this is the first St Patrick’s Day since I was an infant that I was not physically at the Celebration of the Eucharist. And yet in tuning in to my parish’s online Mass at Newman’s University Church in Dublin I felt very connected and the ancient faith seemed very much alive.…
I’ve just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Led by Bishop Kevin Doran, 100 Irish pilgrims visited the sites associated with the earthly life of Jesus. It’s always a fascinating and moving experience. As well as the Christian sites, that land is also holy to both Jews and Muslims and understanding this is…
Thirty or 40 years ago when vocations to the priesthood in Ireland were plentiful, the prospect of becoming a bishop probably seemed quite appealing to parish priests – at least to the ambitious ones. The joke was that once a man had been appointed to the episcopate, he would never again eat a bad meal…or…
Someone at the weekend asked me if I am optimistic about the future of the Church in Ireland. I replied that I preferred to use the word ‘hopeful’. In our regular discourse, we often use the words hopeful and optimistic interchangeably. But, in the Bible hope and optimism are not the same thing. Unlike optimism,…
The latest culture war in the Church is being fought over the issue of mandatory celibacy for clergy. Those who have been agitating for a relaxation of the rules since the 1960s see an opportunity in Pope Francis considering the ordination of married men to the priesthood in the Amazon region. They see the admission…
In the Hebrew bible, when Abner is slain, King David says to his men: “Do you not realise that a great man has fallen in Israel this day?” I thought about it when news started to emerge on Friday afternoon that Seamus Mallon had died at the age of 83. Mr Mallon was indeed a…
“Every generation blames the one before,” so sang Mike and the Mechanics in the classic 1980s ballad ‘The Living Years’. There’s more than a hint of truth about that in contemporary Ireland where the order of the day is out with the old and in with the new. What is new and modern is generally…
We are all products of our backgrounds and upbringings. It’s fascinating – and often amusing – to see that the older people get the more they resemble their parents in looks, mannerisms and even attitudes and dispositions. It’s not surprising that people raised in the same family, particularly if that upbringing has been a relatively…
Have you ever wondered what it was like for Mary and Joseph to make the journey to Bethlehem? Or, for Jesus and his disciples to make the trip from the Galilee to Jerusalem? From the earliest times, Christians from all over the world have gone to the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of…
Michael Kelly