From THE TABLET, 14 June 2019 Faced with a climate emergency, the world must act immediately to mitigate global warming and avoid committing "a brutal act of injustice" on the poor and future generations, Pope Francis told a group of energy and oil executives and global investors. "Time is running out! Deliberations must go beyond…
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Homily, Trinity Sunday (C) 2019
With the season of Easter now over, this Sunday and next Sunday are two special days in the Church that celebrate central mysteries of our faith. Next Sunday - Corpus Christi - we will celebrate Christ offering his divine life to us in the Eucharist. Today – Trinity Sunday – we celebrate what we believe…
If you love someone, let them go
From Melanie Reid in THE TIMES, 8 June 2019 When I die,” I say to my husband, “will you please give it a couple of weeks before you find someone else?” It started as a private joke, one of those quips that carries a heft of truth, and now sometimes I say it publicly. It’s…
Homily, Pentecost Sunday 2019
Many of you, I suspect, will have an item or two in a kitchen cupboard at home that you have never used or very seldom do. You may have received it as a gift; or you may have bought it yourself, thinking at the time you’d have a good use for it. But it’s lain…
Christ died for ‘many’ or for ‘all’?
From the editor, 'Pray Tell': Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, reports that the revised translation of the missal for Italy has been approved by Pope Francis. At the bishops’ most recent general assembly, conference president Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti announced that Francis authorized the publication of the revised translation of the third edition of the Messale…
Don’t throw baby Jesus out with bath water
By Oliver Callan in The Irish Times, 8 June 2019 Last August when I was asked to join a panel covering the Pope’s visit, I feared I was expected to be the token church-bashing gay. I explained that while there was much the Catholic Church had done wrong, I believe we need to acknowledge the…
‘Lead us not into temptation’ falls out of Lord’s Prayer
From Christopher Lamb in THE TABLET, 6 June 2019 Pope Francis has approved a revised translation of The Lord’s prayer which will no longer say “lead us not into temptation” but instead reads “do not let us fall/be abandoned to temptation”. It is part of a revised translation of the Roman Missal for Italy. The…
Homily, Seventh Sunday of Easter (C) 2019
The Gospel of St John 17:20-26 On this last Sunday before Pentecost, the Gospel text for Mass is always from the 17th chapter of St John's Gospel. This chapter comes at the conclusion of what is known as Our Lord’s ‘Farewell Discourse’ – a lengthy ‘speech’ he delivers to his disciples at the Last Supper.…
Catholic education battling ‘immense tide’ of ignorance and indifference
By Liz Dodd in The Tablet, 31 May 2019 Ruth Kelly pictured at St Mary's University, Twickenham Catholic schools and universities are kept from their task of moral formation by the “immense” theological illiteracy of British society, former education minister Ruth Kelly has said. Kelly, Pro Vice-Chancellor at St Mary's University, Twickenham, told a prize-giving…
Why Jürgen Klopp keeps smiling through triumph and disaster
By the Reverend John Root in THE TIMES, 1 June 2019 Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, who play Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the Champions League tonight, has openly professed his Christian faith. Explaining the impact of his upbringing in a Lutheran home, he says: “There is nothing so important to me that…
