Since the election of Pope Leo people have asked me what I think of the new pope. This is such a modern question. Before the invention of the camera no one knew what the pope looked like, but all Catholics knew they had to be in communion with Rome to be truly Catholic. The martyrs…
You know the story, three times, on the shore of lake Galilee after the resurrection, Christ asks Peter the same question, and three times Peter answers, and three times comes the same command: feed my sheep. It’s a commission to the whole Church, handed to a single, frightened, newly-forgiven married fisherman. Two thousand years later,…
My name is Anthony. I am 12 years old, and I have two brothers and two sisters. I have loved altar serving since I was five. At first, it was just my older brother and me. A few months later, our younger brother asked the priest if he could serve too. Putting on my cassock…
Ever since Vatican II, and maybe even before that, we have been enjoined to be ecumenical towards all Christians, and indeed to people of other faiths as well. And quite right too. Respect for other believers, and building bridges of communication and peace are of the essence. But when do such well-meaning intentions spill over…
It the end of a distressing day, Fr Brendan McGee washed the blood from his knees, the blood of a murdered parishioner. It is one of the most striking episodes chronicled in a new book on the history of my parish, which this weekend marks its Golden Jubilee. St Michael’s Parish was created in 1976,…
Last week I met a man who was sentenced to death twice and subjected to multiple beatings and torture. He did 18 years hard labour in a mine in brutal, often freezing conditions, and then another ten years clearing sewage from canals. That man was Cardinal Ernest Simoni, an Albanian priest who turns 98 next…
Every time I visit Holycross Abbey, Ballycahill, Co. Tipperary, it lifts my heart. The parish priest, Fr Celsus Tierney, is a wonderful host. Founded as a Cistercian Abbey in 1182 AD by Dónal Mór Ó Briain, King of Thomond, it became an important medieval pilgrimage site because it housed a relic of the True Cross.…
Universities have changed. Not in the way we expect of all institutions over time but in a way that upturns their foundational purpose as custodians of knowledge and of the traditions and beliefs that underpin our civilisation. Historically, they are also facilitators of free enquiry that push the boundaries of knowledge and understanding. What we…
Parishes really need to learn how to welcome people here is something rather wonderful about seeing five-year-olds arrive at school in their brand-new uniforms. The shiny shoes, the pristine jumpers and the excitement of beginning primary school all signal a new chapter for children and their families. On Sunday, I was reminded of that…
Two things happened in Catholic education this month, and read together they tell an uncomfortable story — not about the Church’s willingness to change, but about the State’s. On October 16, the Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) will launch the ‘Irish Church’s new Vision for Catholic Schools in Ireland’, the opening move in a three-year formation process that the Association of Patrons…
Mary Kenny
Martina Purdy
David Quinn
Breda O'Brien