A Dialogue By Mollie Wilson O'Reilly in 'Commonweal' (USA), 3 April, 2019 Carlos’s phone rang early on a Sunday. “Hello?” “Hi, Carlos? This is Msgr. Farrell calling from the bishop’s office with some exciting news. His excellency has decided to elevate you to the clerical state.” “I’m sorry?” You’re being elevated. It’s like a promotion.…
Author: Fr. Michael Campion
Fourth Sunday of Lent (C) 2019
We have just heard one of the best known stories in the Gospel. It’s about a father and his two sons. The story or parable is allegory: the characters represented are God, a sinner and an unforgiving person. This is the third of three successive stories Jesus tells in St Luke’s Gospel about what God…
Our week: Everybody*
From THE TIMES, 30 March 2019 Whatever your side of the divide, this is funny ... Boris Johnson’s biblical knowledge leaves a lot to be desired MONDAY Jacob Rees-Mogg Thank you, yes, a most fruitful visit to Chequers. It has changed nothing. The prime minister, who I admire and respect enormously, wishes to sell our…
Homily, Third Sunday of Lent (C)) 2019
Last week one of the worst tropical cyclones ever to hit Africa swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, destroying towns and villages in its path. Hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of thousands more have been affected by what the United Nations says may be "one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit…
Living Lent Daily
From Loyola Press, a Jesuit Ministry Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help us recognize those times when we have not been as forgiving as God calls us to be. Scripture “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12 Reflection A priest once told this story about his family. Two of his uncles…
Sex abuse will plague the Vatican until priests are free to marry
By Sarah Baxter in The Sunday Times, 3 March 2019: My cousin Bernard was a priest. He was close to my father and one of my nephews is named after him. He was charming and urbane, and I have no reason to suppose that he was either a closet homosexual or secret paedophile. Would…
Why I Left the Church…and Returned
Rediscovering Christ and His Church at the Margins By Kathleen Hill in Commonweal, 25 February 2019 In December Commonweal published a collection of personal essays under the heading “Why We Came, Why We Left, Why We Stay.” The response was favorable: readers asked for more such essays; writers offered to write them. The following essay…
Review: In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frédéric Martel trans Shaun Whiteside — a shocking investigation
By A N Wilson in The Sunday Times, 24 February 2019 Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French psychiatrist-priest, was close to Cardinal Ratzinger even before he became Pope Benedict XVI. In 2005, Ratzinger asked the increasingly anti-gay Anatrella how to eliminate homosexuality from the seminaries. Anatrella’s draconian advice was to ban not merely practising gays from…
Child sex abuse: Christ-centred values are the key to rehabilitating offenders
By Chris Gelder in THE TABLET, 23 February 2019 rom the age of seven I faced a number of incidents of abuse. They have stayed with me all my life. I remember a nun once encouraged me to expose myself in front of her and cough, while other children looked in through the window and…
Nigerian sister urges bishops to face up to abuse
By Christopher Lamb in THE TABLET, 23 February 2019 Sister Veronica Openibo today spelled out in public what has so far only been discussed in private at the Vatican’s child protection summit, or just hinted at: that serious sexual abuse is happening in the developing world and some bishops are in denial about it. The Nigerian…
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