This is the first of three attempts by two very different political groups to trap Jesus. Normally, they would be each other’s enemy but here they are in an alliance against Jesus. The Pharisees were anti-Roman, opposed to their country being part of and controlled by the Roman Empire. The Herodians were supporters of Herod,…
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Covid lockdowns turn loneliness into a killer
By Emma Hogan in THE TIMES, 15 October 2020 It all feels drearily familiar. From next Monday, in Italy, private parties of more than ten people are likely to be banned. Tougher restrictions are being mooted elsewhere. At home, the stand-off between Boris Johnson and his scientific advisers over a “circuit-breaker” lockdown is eerily reminiscent…
Homily, 28th Sunday (A) 2020
Our Gospel today is part of a section in St Matthew’s (22:1-14) where Jesus is challenged by the chief priests and Pharisees after he overturned the money-changers tables and cleared the Temple. They question his authority or right to have acted like this – after all, he’s an ‘outsider’, not a member of the priestly…
Homily, 27th Sunday (A) 2020
The story in today’s Gospel (Matthew 21:33-44) is set against the background of the extortion practised in ancient Palestine by hard-nosed absentee landlords against hard-pressed tenant farmers. The landlord in this particular case was a vineyard owner living abroad, an absentee landlord. This was quite a common experience among peasants in Galilee. This owner would…
Scripture scholar John Wijngaards lays out the reasons to ordain women
By Hille Haker in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 3 October 2020 WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU IN CATHOLIC COLLEGE: WOMEN IN THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE MIND OF CHRISTBy John Wijngaards216 pages; Acadian House$16.95 In a small, very readable and well-argued book, John Wijngaards presents his decadeslong research on women's ministry. The reader of What They…
How the pandemic deepened the poverty pit
By Simon Kuper in The Financial Times, 26 September 2020 Being poor is like trying to climb out of a pit while roped together with your family. At the bottom of the pit — below the international poverty line of $1.90 per person a day — the water is filthy, there’s very little food and…
The virus and the virtues
By Julian C Hughes in THE TABLET, 24 September 2020 It’s now six months since the lockdown began, and a second wave of the coronavirus may be upon us. We have learnt that in a crisis what makes the difference is not algorithms or protocols, but virtue and character One of the things we have…
Homily, 26th Sunday (A) 2020
In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in the number of advertisements that invite people who have had an accident at work to call legal firms to sue for damages. If company negligence is responsible for that accident, it is important that victims have the proper legal assistance to gain compensation for their…
Vatican reaffirms opposition to euthanasia
by Joshua J. McElwee in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 22 September 2020 VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is firmly reiterating its objection to the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, calling the intentional killing of sick patients an "intrinsically evil act" akin to murder and warning that legislators who approve such laws "become accomplices of a…
Homily, 25th Sunday (A) 2020
One of the many tragic consequences of this coronavirus pandemic is that so many people are losing their jobs and if still in work they are fearful they also may be made redundant. It’s a desperately worrying time for them and their families, and also for those who are struggling to keep their businesses going…
