“Everything about that celebration was… a celebration of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, inclusion”, writes Fr Martin Delaney In 2013, when the movie Philomena was released, worldwide attention was focused briefly on Seán Ross Abbey near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. Seán Ross was the mother and baby home where Philomena Lee had given…

We need to think about and pray for our brothers and sisters suffering and dying for what we take so casually for granted, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my alma mater, the Irish College in Rome. Some years ago the college chapel was extensively renovated by the Slovenian Jesuit artist, Mark Rupnik.…

“Jesus has, indeed, broken through the barrier of death to new life, and where he has gone, we will follow”, writes Fr Martin Delaney At the heart of the Easter story is a most extraordinary idea. The incomprehensible notion that someone dies but comes to new life. This claim has then led to a belief…

There is a concerted campaign to relegate religion to the shadows of Irish society, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I watched a US television interview with President Obama in the Oval Office of the White House. The interviewer from CBS mentioned to the president that she had heard he carries in his pocket some mementoes…

“the God who calls is the God who loves, who forgives, the God who sees into our hearts and gently but very definitely coaxes us to be the very best person we can be”, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my home parish for the funeral of one of my neighbours, a Kiltegan…

Perhaps our New Year’s Resolutions should be to make more time for friends, family and God, writes FR Martin Delaney My father loved clocks and watches. His most treasured possession was a pocket watch bought with his first wage packet as a young man. At the age of 94, when he was dying, he called…