Seeking light and inspiration in Waterford
St. Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn, Co Waterford, is my place of prayer and work for two days. A few of us have come here for the peace and the light. The day began with Morning Prayer with the Sisters in […]
After a child’s funeral Mass
A reflection composed after concelebrating the Funeral Mass of a child. — I can’t take my eyes off his hand as he rests it on his wife’s shoulder. I don’t think it is a conscious gesture. His arm just instinctively […]
Referendum Postscript
The Referendum to Repeal the Eight Amendment to the Irish Constitution will change several aspects of life in Ireland but it will also leave several unchanged. The removal of the 8th amendment means that for the first time the Irish […]
Hate news is much worse. It kills.
The rapid expansion of online media in recent decades has brought about a lot of good. But in its wake it has also fuelled a new kind of commentary which is unsavoury and which is lethal. It has never been […]
Living in a disappearing priesthood
My historical sense of catholicism in Ireland, which I learned in school, was speckled with events that were depicted as reference points in Irish history. The Wild Geese, Cromwell, Fr Murphy of Boolavogue, Nano Nagle, Daniel O’Connell and Catholic Emancipation, the Great Famine […]
The ‘sin’ of ‘religious interference’
“The Minister for Health has said there must be “no question of religious interference” with the new National Maternity Hospital. Simon Harris made the statement after a protest was held outside the Department of Health in Dublin over the ownership of the new […]
‘They’ve taken the Lord’
The women who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the Resurrection of Jesus summarised the situation in this way for the Apostles. “They have taken the Lord out of he tomb,” Mary said, “and we don’t know […]
Life is an ocean, and the church is a boat
I’ve been doing a lot of twisting and turning in my mind of late, trying to describe accurately what it’s like being a priest in the Irish Catholic Church these days. The scriptures are loaded with images and parables but […]