‘In giving us his Son, his only definitive Word, God has spoke everything to us at once in his sole Word, and has no more to say’. (St John of the Cross 1542-1593) In recent times, there has been much discussion in The Irish Catholic around the topics of the tragic shootings in Christchurch, NZ to the views of Dr Oliver Rafferty SJ, of Boston College, concerning the continual demise of priestly vocations and the latest novelty to arrest that … Read More
Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The subject I intend to speak about today is not an easy one. But one cannot simply ignore what has been going on and pretend nothing has happened. The scandals we have seen during these past fifty or sixty years are very painful to the Church. And because it hurts, we would be inclined not to talk about it, and simply let it go. However, it would not resolve the matter. Because the … Read More
Do not expect the young Catholic men of this country to commit their lives to anything less than the fullness of truth! Ignoring the Crisis As news circulated earlier this year about the Irish Bishops’ departure for their ad limina visit to Pope Francis, one of the most prominent stories was that they would not be proposing that Pope Francis readmit to the priesthood men who had left ministry to marry. The Irish Catholic newspaper reported (12/01) that the bishops … Read More
I Will Give You Shepherds In March 1992 – almost twenty-five years ago – Pope Saint John Paul II issued his Post-Synodal Exhoration Pastores Dabo Vobis (I Will Give You Shepherds), on the formation of priests. In this document, which has become the point of reference with regard to priestly formation since the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul refers to four areas of priestly formation, namely human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation. While the Pope stated that the work … Read More
