- Written by: John Carr
Pope Francis is approaching 100 days as our Holy Father. The beginning of his papal service has drawn massive attention and offered new ways of carrying out the leadership of the Universal Church. There is amazing interest in this unpredictable story. Washington was both fascinated and appalled by a quick election with no visible campaign, no declared candidates, no consultants or commercials, and the only exit polls were black or white smoke from a chimney.
- Written by: Pamela Perry
Australian Bishops - Geoffrey Robinson, Bill Morris and Pat Power call on the new Pope to seize the opportunity of his appointment to not only sweep the Church clean but to put His /God’s house in order for all time.
- Written by: Fr Hoban
THE IRISH Church faces large-scale parish closures within 20 years unless married former priests are permitted to serve again, a spokesman for the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has warned.
In his new book, Who Will Break Bread For Us?, Fr Brendan Hoban calls on the Church to rethink mandatory clerical celibacy. He also suggests it should invite some of the hundreds of men who left the priesthood, for reasons such as to marry, to return to ministry. “At one stroke, they could help solve the eucharistic famine that is approaching us,” said Fr Hoban. He added that a parish in the west of Ireland has seven former priests among its parishioners and some of these would be very willing to serve again as priests even in a part-time capacity.
- Written by: Chris McDonnell
The Season of Easter is at an end. The Liturgy of the Hours concludes with three words on Pentecost Sunday evening - “ So Eastertide ends”.
With Trinity Sunday and the coming weeks we enter that period, rather strangely called “Ordinary Time”, a space that takes us through the Summer and Autumn in the Northern hemisphere to the beginning of the Season of Advent in the first days of Winter.
I have often wondered why we use the word ‘ordinary’, as though these coming weeks are somehow humdrum and boring when they are in fact a time of freedom joy and adventure reflecting those days in the early Christian Communities when the Spirit fired the lives of the Apostles and their friends.
The dove, being released by Papa Francesco, is gaining again the freedom of the skies and there is immense joy on the face of Francis that he is giving the dove its liberty.