We had an unusual Advent in the Kent parish of Deal: the parish priest, Canon Brian Coyle (originally from Northern Ireland) invited one of the parishioners to give a talk, with response and reflections from parishioners in true Synodal fashion. The subject involved the German Jesuit martyr, Fr Alfred Delp, hanged by the Nazis in…

I’ve been a granny for 21 months. My grandson calls me MorMor which is a tradition we’ve taken from the Danish side of my family. It means Mother’s Mother. While looking after him I find myself thinking about Jesus at the same age, and naturally about his mother. And also about Joseph who, in today’s…

The night of Jesus’s birth must have been a very mixed experience for Mary and Joseph. Their chid was born and that would have been a happy experience, but they were away from home, they could not find a room for the night and therefore their baby was born in a manger. That was not…

I love the simplicity of Christmas.  For all the excitement and fuss of the holiday, at the centre of our Christian Christmas is the baby in the manger. This most familiar scene remains the focal point of the great feast in the midst of all the parties, decorations, tinsel and evergreens. It’s about the child…

Fr Shay Cullen Most people who consider themselves Christians will have their own imagined image of Jesus of Nazareth. Few really know who he was, what he did and said, or was reported as having said. Most know him as the child of poor parents born in a manger in Bethlehem, in what’s now the…

On December 29, the Church begins a Jubilee Year, with the theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Maybe this is not a bad place for us to spend a bit of time, this week, as we head towards the celebration of Christmas. There is a priest in Mayo that I have admired for many years – his…

Some readers might remember the widely-acclaimed BBC documentary series from 1969 called ‘Civilisation’ presented by the ultra-urbane, quintessential Englishman, the art critic, Kenneth Clark. In the 13-part series (which can be found on YouTube), Clark gives a personal view of Western civilisation and how it developed from the ‘Dark Ages’ down to his own day,…

Fundamental to our faith is our belief in the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural end, because all life comes from God. This eternal truth informs all we do. In the secular world there is no belief in God, and, for many, little belief in the sanctity of human life. Those who have…

It’s almost 40 years since Jeffrey Dudgeon successfully changed the law in Northern Ireland. And it took courage as he was living in real fear, under an unjust law:  his house had been raided, and he had been arrested and interrogated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His crime? Dudgeon was a gay man and homosexual…

You will be aware of the phrase “First World Problem”, usually employed sarcastically. It’s an apt description of those spoilt folk in the rich world whinging about trivialities while so much of the globe experiences real suffering. So, this may seem something of a “First World Problem”, but I’ll mention it just the same as…