“The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It’s freedom from that lie than anything was ever under control.” – Bob Dylan In anticipation of President Trump’s 80th birthday, The New York Times asked prominent celebrity octogenarians, Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem, Robert De Niro and others,…
Most Christian denominations do not believe in purgatory. This is specifically a Roman Catholic belief. And in the popular Catholic mind, purgatory is too often mistakenly conceived of as a place distinct from heaven, a place where you are purified and made ready for heaven. But purgatory is not a place distinct from heaven and…
World Friendship Day, celebrated on July 30, invited us to pause and give thanks for one of God’s greatest gifts: the people who have walked beside us on the journey of life. A while back, my wonderful family treated me to an evening at the musical Wicked. They know me well enough to realise that…
Q: What is the current situation with marriages and the SSPX? I have heard different things about whether or not weddings at SSPX chapels are valid. A: From the time of Pope Francis’ pontificate, there was a fairly limited pathway for a valid Catholic wedding ceremony in chapels of the Society of St Pius X,…
“Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” Matt 15:21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Matt 15:22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my…
With the release of Christopher Nolan’s new interpretation of The Odyssey (which, at the time of writing, I have yet to see) Homer’s great story has once again captured the public imagination. Anyone who knows me knows of my deep-seated love for Greek mythology. Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with…
‘Prudence is a thoughtful refusal to run with every intimation of fear’ says Fr Chris Hayden *** I will give you all of these, if you worship me” – so said Satan to Jesus in the wilderness, while gesturing towards the kingdoms of the world. But what the father of lies actually gives to those…
Serving as a priest in Mullingar, I often pass two bronze statues of Augustinian monks known as The Pilgrims in the centre of the town. One carries a pilgrim’s staff and haversack; the other holds the Scriptures and wears the scallop shell, the emblem of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Almost 800 years ago,…
One of the three pillars of the synodal pathway is ‘communion’, the other two being participation and mission. It is no coincidence that in the listing of all three, communion comes first, followed by participation and then mission. The implication is clear – in the measure that the whole Christian community is united in communion…
My name is Johnny Higgins and I am a pilgrim. This is a sentence that only two or three years ago would have been a stretch of the imagination for those who know me. Although I was still attending Mass at Easter and Christmas, I had gone through a period of a decade where I…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser