What do great leaders do? They inspire confidence and trust; they are not afraid to flout the rules and conventions of the time. Nor are they afraid to fight, even to the point of laying down their life. They empower their listeners to believe that they can overcome all the odds stacked against them. When… Read More
Tag: Catholic
We are an Easter People
This week we are preparing for Easter Sunday, the highest point in the Liturgical Calendar of the Church. This is the culmination of the Lenten journey and the day that makes sense of all that went before, some of it dark and terrible. In the Exsultet we are told ‘This is the night that expels… Read More
Staying in the Moment: Pray and Meditate
On Tuesday of this week, Pope Francis asked if everyone in every country, regardless of their religious faith or otherwise, would pause and come together at eight o’clock, to meditate and pray for the health of the world. Two things struck me about this call from the Pontiff: the need for prayer, especially when we… Read More
Living in Troubled Times: Coronavirus
As I write this our country, and indeed the rest of the world, is experiencing a set of circumstances, the like of which has not been seen since World War II. Some of those among us, who are old enough to remember those years, have said that the limitations we are undergoing now are actually… Read More
Pope Pius XII: A Hero of His Time
Beside my desk, in the office, I have two Noticeboards, one of which I just use for pictures I like, animals, landscapes and photographs. One of these shows Pope Pius XII with a tiny little bird perched on his hand. Pius was head of the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958. The story behind the… Read More
International Women’s Day – Celebrating Progress & Change
International Women’s Day – Celebrating Progress & Change This Sunday is the 8th of March and on that date every year we celebrate International Women’s Day. It originated from the trade union movement in America in the early twentieth century, particularly in the activism of the women who worked in the clothing industry “sweatshops” of… Read More
Lent: The Fast before the Feast
Wednesday of this week was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent and the beginning of our journey towards the most important day in the Church’s Calendar, Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday mark the two days when Catholics are asked to limit their eating to one full meatless meal. Two smaller ones may… Read More
Dealing with Cancer
Cancer, the very word in itself is enough to strike fear in the hearts of us all. Almost every one of us, at some point or another, will be affected by it and even if we have not had it ourselves we will know a friend or family member who are battling with the disease. … Read More
A Hidden Life – A Must See
Is it better to suffer injustice than do it?; is it right to put truth above your needs and the bodily instinct to survive?; is it wrong to think that a caring God would condemn a man for signing a piece of paper when he knows what is in his heart? This week I went… Read More
Little Women and Wise Men
On January 6th we celebrate both Little Women and Wise Men and by that I mean Nollaig na mBan and the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem. The latter, of course, is a well-known event in the Christian story of Christmas, but the former is a particular Irish tradition. I must confess that it did… Read More
Different Ways to spend Christmas
Different Ways to spend Christmas People are different, but at Christmas, there is somewhat of an expectation that we will all do the same thing. The emphasis, of course, at this time is on family. The little family of Bethlehem points us towards the importance of spending time with the people in our lives who… Read More
Holy Days or Shopping Days?
December the 8th is a holy day and was once the biggest Shopping Day of the year. It was traditional for the people living in the country to visit Dublin to do their Christmas shopping. Indeed, for many, it was a big day out that they looked forward to with anticipation. To the present generation,… Read More
The Two Popes
This week I went to see the film The Two Popes showing at the IFI in Eustace Street. The stars are Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict and Jonathon Pryce taking the part of Pope Francis, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. The occasion is a series of secret meetings which took place between the two… Read More
The First Sunday of Advent
First of December; First Sunday of Advent This Sunday marks a lot of Firsts… yes the first day of December, but also the first Sunday of Advent, the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays, during which we prepare for the birth of Christ. It is… Read More
Mary McAleese and the Catholic Church
Former President sparks Controversy There has been a lot of controversy in the media lately over remarks made by the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. On Saturday, November 2nd she told a gathering in Trinity College, Dublin that women were not full members of the Catholic Church, the architecture of which was designed to… Read More
The People We Look Up To
Who are the people we look up to? In life who are the people we look up to and who influence us the most? Perhaps that is something we need to examine more closely. At the beginning of this week, the main story in the media and on everybody’s lips was the death of the… Read More