Visit to a Troubled Land On the afternoon of Tuesday 31 January, Pope Francis arrived in Kinshasa for the start of a 4-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) and South Sudan. Catholics make up around half the population of each country. The Church also owns and runs an extensive network of hospitals,… Read More
Category: Community
At What Cost?: Russia vs Ukraine
Image: www.abc.net.au In recent days the major international news story has been the decision by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his government will provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks and approve requests by other countries to do the same. Naturally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed his satisfaction at this development calling them, “important… Read More
Keeping the Crib in Christmas
Image: Br Sean Blackwell The crib in Bethlehem is what Christmas is all about, although with every year that passes it seems that this truth is becoming more and more blurred. We are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which the Season has become a time for overspending and overindulging, and much has been… Read More
The Greatest Teacher
The Greatest Teacher There is a well-known saying which goes as follows , ‘If you want to feed me today, give me rice. If you want to feed me for the rest of my life, teach me how to grow rice.’ The long-term goal is education, and it is the teacher who is at the… Read More
A Brother to All-Brother Kevin Crowley OFM
Image:www.radiomaria.ie When history looks back at poverty and homelessness in Dublin in our times and at the attempts which were made to tackle them, three names, in particular, will be to the fore: Brother Kevin Crowley OFM, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy RSC and Father Peter McVerry SJ. Recently the first of these, at the age of… Read More
No to Nuclear Weapons
Image: www.skynews.com The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by a United Nations diplomatic conference on 7 July 2017. It is the first applicable multilateral agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons. The first meeting of States Parties to TPNW took place in Austria last week. The aim was to set the tone… Read More
Heartbreak in Texas
Image: www.buzzfeednews.com Last week we watched and listened in horror as news broke of the mass killing of 21 people at the Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Two teachers and nineteen children, all under twelve, had been finishing their last day of school before breaking up for the summer when the killer, eighteen years… Read More
Dominican Vocations – Br Desmond Conway’s Story
I was born in Panama, famous for its Canal, to an Irish father and a Panamanian mother. They had met in the British Virgin Islands, which is where I subsequently spent my childhood. Though I grew-up in paradise amidst a loving family, I carried a great sadness with me. I had walked away from the... Read More
A Letter from Ukraine – Fr Jaroslaw OP in Kiev
Dear sisters, dear brothers, “Father, the air raid alarm has been going for over two hours. Are you in the shelter?” As I was beginning to write, I received this message from Vera, from the House of Saint Martin in Fastiv. Tonight, just like yesterday, the air raid was announced covering almost the whole country;… Read More
Justice For All: Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis
Image:www.independent.ie Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the largest and fastest refugee movements that Europe has witnessed since the end of World War II. By 22 March, only seven days into the war, 874,000 people were estimated to have fled to neighbouring countries. Ireland, a nation of just five million people that in… Read More
Giving Prisoners Hope
Image:www.thejakartapost.com As I write this the Annual Conference of the Association of Prison Officers are meeting in Sligo and some of the issues that have arisen were a subject of a news report headline. While I listened, I was further reinforced in my view that there are few things in life worse than the prospect… Read More
A Message From Our Prior Provincial – Fr John Harris OP
We know from the life of St. Martin that he was a great supporter of the younger brothers in formation. Those preparing for the priesthood always found him encouraging and a source of comfort when they found life difficult. We also know that he was well able to converse with them on theological matters. One… Read More
An East and West Divide: Religion
Last week Pope Francis completed a six-day Apostolic Journey to Cyprus and Greece. The trip was a significant one for Greeks, who saw his visit as a message for Christian unity with a Catholic minority and an Orthodox majority. The pope met with a delegation from the Greek Orthodox Church, in which he recalled… Read More
The Value of Retreat
When I was in Secondary School, back in the ‘70s, we had a retreat with the Chaplain and a team once a year and I always looked forward to those few days. Of course, it made a change from the daily routine and afforded me a break from the dreaded Maths classes! It provided… Read More
The Devastation of Bullying and Praying for Change
The Devastation of Bullying. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. – Ephesians 4:29 Bullying, it’s a word that parents dread and something that a great many people have had to… Read More
Celebration of Life Mass- Sunday 3 October
Celebration of Life Mass- Sunday 3 October Where: St Saviour’s Church, Upper Dominick Street, Dublin 1 In the early days of the lockdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic my good friend’s father died. At that time of course we were unable to go into the Church so there was no funeral Mass. Friends and neighbours… Read More