Framing the synodal process is taking away opportunities to sit and listen first, and let people talk, writes Garry O’Sullivan Speaking at the beginning of the diocesan phase of the worldwide synod, Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick said that the synod is taking place at a critical time for the Church and must not be…
Why the Limerick synod may not be the template for an Irish synodal process
To get the process right we must listen with respect to those who have something to say born from experience, writes Garry O’Sullivan When Pope Francis in 2013 decided he would eat in the canteen like the rest of the staff, people realised that a different kind of Church was being promoted. I remember being…
Irish diocesan synods and assemblies – angels abound but the devil is in the detail
Inviting people to participate in a process that is really only about erecting scaffolding around old structures will further alienate even the enthusiastic, writes Garry O’Sullivan “Trying to turn the pyramid upside down,” is how Fr Brendan Hoban described what they were doing by organising a diocesan assembly in Killala, one of the smallest dioceses…
Rediscovering a healthy Irish Catholicism for a secular Ireland
Glenstal Abbey offers a road map to living the Faith well in modern Ireland, writes Garry O’Sullivan I was speaking to a prominent Catholic public figure recently who lamented the dramatic disappearance of Catholic life from the public sphere. A bit like predictions around melting glaciers, the decline has evidently become more an avalanche than the…