Cultivating the imagination of a toddler is the best way to pass along the Faith, writes Jonathan Lewis Parenting a toddler involves allowing them to transport you into their world of adventure and imagination. Passing along faith to our toddler has involved introducing our child to a Catholic imagination for the world around us. Like a growing gallery wall, each year…
The Vatican film list from 1995 contains two films that Pope Francis declares to be his favourites. The first I’ve reviewed, Babette’s Feast; the second is an Italian film famed Italian director, Federico Fellini, his 1954 Oscar winner La Strada. ‘Fellini-esque’ is an important descriptor in film criticism these days. It denotes something whimsical, comic…
May 5 the Church celebrates a man who has indirectly affected the lives of a great many people on our shores, even today: Blessed Edmund Rice, the founder of the Presentation Brothers. As many readers will be aware, the Presentation Brothers are an order dedicated to helping and “forming Christ in the young,” particularly through…
OSV News Whether we want to admit it or not, life is full of changes. Some changes are easy, fun, and helpful: trying a different hairstyle, buying a new car, learning a new skill, landing a new job. Some changes challenge us – losing weight or quitting smoking – or transform us, like letting go…
Our paper’s headline last week, “Euthanasia committee promises fair hearing for concerned voices,” will have come as welcome news to many pro-lifers in Ireland who are tired and disheartened by the cold shoulder we’ve received from Government on the abortion front. Perhaps a few people read it, though, and wondered why there would be concerned…
Inside the rite for Christian Baptism there’s a little ritual that is at once both touching and unrealistic. At one point in the baptismal rite the child is clothed in a white garment symbolising innocence and purity. The priest or minister officiating says these words: “Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the…
The Sunday Gospel Jem Sullivan May 7, 2023 Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 1 Pt 2:4-9 Jn 14:1-12 In those early days of the global pandemic in spring 2020, our parish food pantry saw an unexpected and dramatic increase in the number of families in need of food assistance. The…
As humanity grows in knowledge, it’s possible that we will forget the humbling and essential role of mystery in life, writes Jason Osborne Existence itself is a mystery, so it should come as no surprise that our lives are full of mystery too. By the grace of God, we Catholics know a great many things…
Given the content of most horror films, it’s not always a genre easily squared with the Catholic tradition. However, there is one horror film on the Vatican’s list of 45 significant films – Nosferatu (1922). The film is director FW Murnau’s unauthorised adaptation of Dracula and an important trend-setter in the realm of horror cinema.…
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire,” our saint of the week is regularly quoted as saying. St Catherine of Siena certainly lived according to that maxim, so much so that not only is she a saint, she’s recognised as an esteemed ‘Doctor of the Church’ and…
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser