By Fr Peter Daly in The National Catholic Reporter, 15 July 2019 We cannot bring about real reform of the Roman Catholic priesthood unless we do away with mandatory celibacy for diocesan priests in the Latin rite. Why would that improve the priesthood? It would make priests more honest about ourselves and sexuality. With real…
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Homily, 15th Sunday (C), 2019
The story of one of the most famous stories in the Bible – the Parable of the Good Samaritan – shocked its hearers when Jesus told it. Fully understood, it should do the same to us. The Parable arises from Jesus being confronted by a scholar of the Jewish Law. He asks how one attains…
Now let an open debate begin
From The Editor, THE TABLET, 11 July 2019 In an article in The Tablet last month, the former Bishop of Middlesbrough, John Crowley, asked for “free and open discussion throughout the Church at every level” regarding the ordination of women. This is apparently in flat contradiction to the directive given 25 years ago by Pope John Paul…
Desperate Times – Boycott SJP
The following NUFC fan group collective statement appeared on Tuesday. ; Dear supporters of Newcastle United Football Club, If you go to the match this season you are not in the wrong; Mike Ashley is. If you boycott televised games you are not in the wrong; Mike Ashley is. If you boycott the Arsenal game…
The God-Haunted Characters of James Lee Burke
By Edward W Schmidt S J in 'America, The Jesuit Review' Theology has many sources: Sacred Scripture, of course, and church decrees; documents from popes and councils, and the writings of saints; reflections on experience and insights into things beyond. The epic poet Homer was called a theologian because he sang of gods and their…
Homily, 14th Sunday of the Year C 2019
The former owner of the Leeds United Football Club, Massimo Cellini, gave an interview published in THE TIMES yesterday about a football manger, Gary Monk, and his agent that the newspaper has been investigating. In the interview Cellini revealed the reason he refused to sign a player the manager wanted. Wages too high? Too old?…
Women and the Diaconate
By Sharon Tighe-Mooney in an article for The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland) website The Vatican commission studying the issue of women serving as deacons in the Catholic Church has been unable to find consensus on the questions they were given to investigate. On his return from Bulgaria and North Macedonia on 7 May last,…
How much corruption can we tolerate in the church before we leave?
By Donald Cozzens in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 18 June 2019 After reading James Carroll's lengthy lament in The Atlantic on the corruption in the Catholic Church and its priestly caste, I remembered reading an article in America magazine by the late Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt. "In the course of half a century," the weathered scholar…
Will the next prime minister have democratic legitimacy, and why it matters
'And so help us God. For with Boris in charge, we will need it.' Conservative party leadership contender Boris Johnson at the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London, on 26 June. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images From Clifford Longley in THE TABLET, 27 June 2019 The second most alarming thing about the state of British politics…
Homily, SS Peter and Paul 2019
The opening of today’s Second Reading from St Paul (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18) reminds me of an incident that occurred recently involving one of the two people contesting the leadership of the Conservative Party and who is the favourite to be the next British Prime Minister. It was widely reported that police were called to…
