A treasure of life and love

Among the vast corpus of Pope Francis’ encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, letters and homilies, there are many inspiring and memorable quotations that he left us as part of his spiritual and pastoral legacy. One quote I believe will be remembered for many years to come and will guide the Church’s self-understanding and mission long into the…

The basics of evangelisation…

Having celebrated the feast of St Patrick, now is a good time to consider our call to evangelise in our day as St Patrick did successfully in his. Explored here are four basic components of evangelisation: the personal, inter-personal, liturgical and cultural. First, the personal. Karl Barth, the Swiss Protestant theologian from the last century,…

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Remembering the Holocaust and asking – Why?

On January 27 last, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was marked on Holocaust Memorial Day. It is a sombre annual commemoration that recalls one of the darkest periods of human history. Almost every year, the calls of ‘Never Again’ are made in speeches by political leaders and survivors. However, mature leadership must also…

As pilgrims of hope in a synodal Church, we need to talk urgently about ministerial priesthood. We need to courageously face up to the crisis of very few priests that will be in the Irish Church of the future and the consequences of this reality. In doing so, there are two extremes to avoid. The…

Heart warming

There is an old Irish toast that goes like this: ‘May you have warm words on a cool evening’. It makes the point that words are spoken with a certain temperature. They can be warm and loving or cold and cruel. Very often, it is not the words themselves that make the difference but the…

Halloween and the worship of false gods

Like many of you reading this, I remember Halloween nights of my childhood with ‘Trick or Treating’, songs, games, apples and monkey-nuts. It all seemed innocent fun. But things have changed. Today, celebrations of Halloween have taken a darker turn that ranges from exaggerated decorations and costumes in schools to clear evidence of the rise…

Is evolution compatible with faith in God?

“I believe in evolution. I’m an atheist” was the declaration of one man on meeting him recently. But is it a case of ‘either/or’ or ‘both/and’? Is it possible to accept the theory of evolution and still believe in a Creator God? ‘Both/And’, Not ‘Either/Or’ The ‘either/or’ choice of evolution or Biblical faith is based…

Offering hope at a time of suicide

Notebook In recent weeks, I presided at the funeral of a young man who died by suicide. He was one of several who died in the same way in recent months here in the South-East. His tragic death was heart-breaking and devastating for his family. In preparing the homily for the funeral Mass, I was…

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