During the years that I served as a Religious Superior for a province of Oblate Priests and Brothers in Western Canada, I tried to keep my foot inside the academic world by doing some adjunct teaching at the University of Saskatchewan. It was always a once-a-week, night course, advertised as a primer on Christian theology,…
The Notebook Fr Vincent Sherlock MARGARET CAFFERKEY, a young woman from the parish where I now work, went to America when she was 16 years of age. Hearing God’s call, she later entered an order of Enclosed Nuns in Newark, New Jersey. She took the name Sr Mary of The Blessed Trinity and when…
Dear Editor, Our Faith shouldn’t be reduced down to just some self-help guide on how to improve ourselves and be kinder to others – a mentality which I think many interpret religion to be. As Catholics we are called to not only transform ourselves, but to also change the society we live in by always…
Letter from Rome Claire Giangravè Pope Francis’s cautionary words on the female diaconate made waves in early May, ruffling a few feathers in the Catholic world, especially among women. However, his remarks were welcomed by some female Catholics. “Francis’ comments make it clear that he holds to the classical understanding of doctrinal development,” said…
I don’t think I ever really understood loneliness when I was younger. Feeling lonely? Then join a club, develop an interest, get involved with a social project. The solution is in your own hands! But perhaps we grow more understanding with age – hopefully so, anyway – and I have come to empathise, much more than…
We are to have a referendum on May 24. The proposal is to change the Constitution to make it easier and quicker to get a divorce. The referendum will pass. For anyone who is brave enough to take part in public debate opposing the proposed change, I predict that this is the way it will…
An obsession with autonomy is driving up Ireland’s abortion rate, writes David Quinn It was a classic case of ‘burying the lede’, that is to say, the real lead was not what the report highlighted. Instead the headline on the RTÉ website read: “Concerns raised about implementing new abortion laws.” The story was about…
Letter from Rome Inés San Martín A group of Argentine bishops who travelled to Rome to meet their countryman Pope Francis have acknowledged that “abuses of power as well as sexual abuses” have caused distrust in the Church, but also expressed concern over what they called the “continuous attacks on the Pope” associated with the…
Theoretically, all baptised Catholics are supposed to strive for sanctity. If you’re like most of us, however, you rarely meet someone who just seems to radiate holiness – not a faux saccharine piety, but the real deal. We’re talking about the sort of personality with whom, after an encounter, you walk away thinking: “I just…
A reporter once asked two men at the construction site where a church was being built what each did for a living. The first man replied: “I’m a bricklayer.” The second said: “I’m building a cathedral!” How we name an experience largely determines its meaning. There are various languages with a language and some speak more…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
Maria Steen
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.