Nuala O’LoanPope Francis’ recent interview, given over three days to his Jesuit colleagues, has attracted great attention. He ponders over things, constantly reflecting and modifying his answers even as he delivers them. He is clearly a very thoughtful man. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, who conducted the interview reported that, “Talking with Pope Francis is a kind of…
Month: September 2013
On not faking humility
The invitation to humility is a clear and constant echo inside of Christian spirituality, writes Fr Rolheiser
At the heart of the Eucharist
It has been quite clear in recent years that some Catholics hold what would have once been considered heterodox beliefs about the Eucharist. This was, for many traditional minded people, demonstrated by Mary McAleese taking the sacrament in St Patrick’s Cathedral. It is significant then that this book is subtitled “an aid to Christian unity” — such…
The Sporting Monarch of the Kingdom
J. Anthony Gaughan This is a remarkable book about a remarkable Kerryman. Dick Fitzgerald was born in Killarney on October 2, 1882. He was educated by the Presentation Brothers at their school in Killarney and their commercial college in Cork. Thereafter he was engaged in his parents’ export business. A keen footballer from his earliest years, for over…
Benedict XVI was a great Church leader
Dear Editor, Since the election of Pope Francis I have noticed a tendency on the part of some to downplay the important contribution made to the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. It's as if they believe that during his eight years he was out of touch with the 'common man and woman in the street';…
Maeve Binchy: The Biography
Maeve Binchy, who died a year ago, will still be much missed by her countless readers. It seems very soon for any really full and deep searching account of her life to appear. Certainly this is not it. Indeed Piers Dudgeonís book reads more like a fanís notebook than a true biography. He has been…
Reconciliation is key
The fact that peace is more than the absence of war is so self-evident it hardly seems worthwhile pointing out. Nevertheless, the truism bears repeating in the particular context of the Northern peace process. By any objective measure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the ceasefires that precipitated the accord have been a stunning…
‘Rebel priests’ may reinvigorate the Church
Open debate and free discourse are healthy, so maybe it’s good that we are witnessing “rebel priests”, such as Fr Iggy O’Donovan, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Brian D’Arcy making their opinions known, even when this invites Vatican disapproval. I am not sure if the correct word really is “silenced”, since…
Dialogue between different faith traditions
Bernadette Sweetman explores using Share the Good News as a catechetical resource
Disappearing Roots
"Home is where we start from.” T.S. Eliot wrote that and it describes an experience that can be felt both as a freedom and as a heartache. I cite my own case: I grew up in a second-generation immigrant community on the Canadian prairies. My grandparents’ generation had been the first settlers in that…