Q: I am a longstanding vegan, so when Lent comes each year there’s nothing for me to skip; no meat is already my regular routine. But at age 70, and even if I wasn’t vegan, is it true that seniors are no longer bound by Lenten fasting and abstinence requirements? A: The short answer is…
Fr James Goodwin 2025 has been declared by Pope Francis as a jubilee year. But what does that mean? What is a jubilee? How do we celebrate it? The roots of a jubilee year are found in Scripture. As described in Leviticus 25, every 50th year was to be celebrated as a jubilee year…
Jos 5:9a, 10-12 Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 2 Cor 5:17-21 Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 We usually forget about the running. When we consider this Sunday’s scripture and the heart-stopping story of the prodigal son, we tend to overlook or just brush aside this extraordinary detail. We shouldn’t. As Luke describes it in the Gospel: “While he…
The Paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of “all the Scriptures” that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover. Jesus’ sufferings took their historical, concrete…
I was raised a Roman Catholic and essentially inhaled the religious ethos of Roman Catholicism. I went to the seminary, earned theological degrees, and taught theology at a graduate level for several years before I ever started making a distinction between ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’. For me, they were always one and the same thing, Jesus…
Encouraged by a believing friend, I was advised to read the Bible after an argument. I did, and it opened floodgates, says Thomas Colsy While reflecting on my journey to Catholicism, I think it right to explain how and why I came to believe the Catholic Faith was the truth, rather than merely something…
A Religious vocation is not only a gift for the person but also a gift to the Church. A gift is always given on a happy occasion, and when one is offering his/her life to God as a gift, the thought comes up: What’s it like to be a happy religious in today’s world? It’s…
My first words go to the priests, diocesan and religious. I say to you what St Paul said to Timothy. I ask you “to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when (the Bishop) laid (his) hands on you” (2 Tim 1 :6). […] As priests, you are privileged to be pastors of…
In this series of articles, I summarise and reflect on current data which reveals where the Church in Ireland is today and importantly how this informs our step towards the future. Firstly, I will focus on where we are now. Sociologists and anthropologists have taken to religious study across the world to explore secularisation and…
On a windy hill in the north of Ireland, I visited a grave claiming to be St Patrick’s. A couple of other sites vie for that honour, but this hill is a deeply moving place. During St Patrick’s season, my thoughts turn to two other Irishmen on the road to sainthood. There’s Blessed John Sullivan,…
Renata Milán Morales
Fr Ronald Rolheiser