by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt in THE TABLET, 20 April 2021 The head of the German bishops’ conference has said that the Church must “face” gay couples’ wishes for a church blessing. “The partners in homosexual partnerships want the Church’s blessing and they don’t want to receive it clandestinely. They want the Church to consider their lives worthy…
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Homily, Third Sunday of Easter (B) 2021
During this season of Easter, our first reading each Sunday is from the New Testament’s Acts of the Apostles. It describes the beginning and development of the Church, starting, after the Resurrection, in Jerusalem in the East and coming to Rome here in the West. The reading from Acts we hear this Sunday is…
Homily, Second Sunday of Easter (B) 2021
One of the worst effects of catching the coronavirus is its leaving people struggling for breath and needing to be put on a ventilator. Breathing is something we seldom think about - it comes to us naturally from the moment we are born - until our ability to draw breath is affected. It seems that…
Charles Curran remembers Hans Küng
From The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 9 April 2021 I am grateful for Hans Küng for his stellar contributions to theology and to the life of the Catholic Church. But I am even more grateful for the pastoral ministry he showed me in a time of need. I was never a close friend of his, but we…
Homily, Easter Day 2021
Each of the four Gospels tells us that Jesus' empty tomb was first discovered by a woman. This is notable because in first-century Jewish society women could not serve as legal witnesses. In the case of John's Gospel, our text for today, the only person attending the tomb of the crucified Jesus is Mary of…
Welcome to the north, BBC folk! I have a rusty fridge for your garden
Carol Midgley in THE TIMES, 24 March 2021 Have a care for the BBC employees who have been told that their jobs are being relocated — brace your stomachs — outside London. Do take a moment if you’re feeling queasy. Some jobs are moving to Birmingham and Cardiff, others to Leeds, Glasgow, Salford and doubtless…
Faith will thrive but worship will never be the same
By Dr Jonathan Romain in THE TIMES, 20 March 2021 One year on since the first national lockdown in March 2020, when government handling of the pandemic is under scrutiny, what is the verdict on faith and the role it has played? We have witnessed an extraordinary range of scenarios we would never have imagined…
Pastoral Letter from Bishop Robert Byrne
Fifth Sunday of Lent 21st March 2021 My dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ, We will soon be celebrating Holy Week and thankfully this year we will do so as a worshipping community gathered in our various churches. Holy Week is a special time of grace. By reliving through the liturgy the events of…
Editorial: Vatican’s decree on gay unions risks making Francis into a hypocrite
by the Editorial Staff of THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER (USA), 19 March 2021 There are many laudatory words and phrases we might use to describe the Pope Francis the world has come to know over these past eight years. Genuine. Pastoral. Open-minded. Concerned for the poor, humanity, the environment. Friend of the marginalized. But the…
Meghan and Harry – the British original sin is snobbery, not racism
by Clifford Longley in THE TABLET American commentators, often Afro-Americans, have piled into the attack on the British royal family in the wake of the Oprah Winfrey interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The consensus among them, largely devoid of nuance, is that the royal family is racist. They are making the common mistake,…
