I can recall, when living in the United States almost twenty years ago, listening to an interview on National Public Radio with Mary Robinson. The American interviewer enthusiastically introduced Mrs Robinson as the first ever woman to be President of Ireland. During the interview Mrs Robinson was asked if she could see the day when…
Notebook This month I want to share three distinct reflections with a common thread. The recent scoping enquiry into abuse perpetrated in schools run by Catholic religious orders revealed another very sad chapter in our Irish social history. The media follow up inevitably led to an avalanche of personal stories detailing the physical, emotional and…
In the aftermath of the Ryan Tubridy saga which engulfed RTÉ in a sea of negative publicity for much of last year I resisted the temptation to follow so many other citizens who stopped paying their licence fee. However, I’m beginning to reconsider for the simple reason that I’m fed up with the constant anti-Catholic…
Notebook I think it was former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds who said in his resignation speech; “it is the little things that can trip you up”. I’m sure President Biden might agree. He mixed up the names of a few world leaders and it cost him his chance of a second term. But perhaps the incident…
Every so often I am made more acutely aware of how I live in a very changing Ireland. Our country is increasingly viewed across the world as a modern progressive republic which has shaken off the destructive influence and interference of institutional religion, particularly the Catholic Church. Sometimes this change happens in very public ways…
Notebook The Feast of Corpus Christi this weekend reminds us to reflect on and celebrate the extraordinary gift that Jesus left us at The Last Supper. The gift of himself in the form of very ordinary food, bread. One of my fears is that because we have the opportunity to attend Mass and receive Communion…
In the week leading up to St Patrick’s Day two men died. One you have heard a lot about, the other you probably heard nothing about. Neither man knew each other but both had something of a link with our parish in Rathdowney and more importantly both men had been inspired by the legacy of…
Many of you will remember the name of Eamon Andrews. He was an Irish broadcaster who became very successful in Britain and was perhaps best known as the first presenter of This is Your Life. Eamon was also an active member of his parish community. Preparation I recently came across a response he gave to…
I always find these first weeks of January a somewhat reflective time. A new year has begun, and I find myself reevaluating where I’m at as a person and as a priest and what might I try to do differently in the coming months. I have also spent a few days on retreat with my…
On a recent visit to one of my parishioners I noticed a most fascinating centrepiece on the table of her front room. Underneath a protective glass dome was the most perfectly created birds’ nest. The nest was almost so perfect that I thought it had been somehow manufactured by a machine. Breda told me how…