In November 2021, Pope Francis launched the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a seven-year programme for the church to live out the call to care more deeply for God’s creation. The platform is based on achieving seven Laudato Si’ Goals (LSGs) across seven church ‘sectors’ over seven years – a jubilee for the earth. Last month…
The Sunday Gospel This Sunday our Gospel (Luke 6:27-38) picks up from last Sunday when we were introduced to the Sermon on the Mount which is the charter of Christian living. This charter is inspired by a new revelation of God’s relationship with us. God is revealed as our Father in a way never previously…
The role of Ordinary Time and the seasons in the Church year are often overlooked, but they have much to teach us, writes Jason Osborne We find ourselves a couple of weeks out from Lent yet, and smack in the middle of Ordinary Time in the Liturgical calendar. I think most of us are guilty…
Red wine and berries may improve Parkinson’s life expectancy Recent research from Queen’s University Belfast has found that people with Parkinson’s disease who eat more flavonoids – found in foods like berries, cocoa, tea and red wine – may have improved life expectancy compared to those who don’t. The research followed over 1,200 people who…
Mindful Living My wife and I celebrated 45 years of marriage in August. I have made many commitments in my life, but two of them stand out as having shaped me, as having been deeply formative influences on the person I am today. Those two factors are marriage and meditation. While we married at a…
For some reason the last week felt very long. When Friday night, February 4, finally came last week I found myself sitting at the kitchen table, in front of the laptop, watching the live stream from the synodal path in Germany. It was the third out of four major gatherings taking place in Frankfurt/Main. I…
The concept of chastity has fallen on hard times. Several years ago, I was invited to speak to a group of students at a Catholic university. The invitation came with a request and a caveat. I was to speak on chastity, but ideally, I was to avoid using the word. The Dean of Theology, who…
Personal Profile Recently ordained as a permanent deacon for service in Clogher diocese, husband and father Paul Flynn is another bridge over the perceived ‘gap’ between the Church and the world. The ordination taking place earlier this month in St Michael’s Church, Enniskillen, it was just the latest, major step on Deacon Flynn’s faith journey…
These cookies are wonderful if you want something for dessert but don’t know what to make. They are chewy, chocolatey parcels of goodness which you can customise to your own tastes. You can use pecans or walnuts, or your favourite nuts, and I would suggest using a different chocolate chip than the baking chocolate. For…
Valentine’s Day has lost much meaning over the years, but finding the saint behind the name should reinvigorate it for Catholics, writes Jason Osborne Unfortunately, like with so many holidays these days, St Valentine’s Day has lost much of its reason for being. It’s now understood by many to be a day of token gestures and…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ruadhán Jones