So many Church people today blame ‘materialism’ for the loss of faith. In this really interesting article Sean suggests that materialism is not the problem.  Rather it is the longing for personal value that drives us to search in material things. Rather than condemning people for being materialistic the Church should be trying to help people to find their value and worth in something deeper. But maybe we are failing because we too have sought personal value in career, status, and other ultimately worthless things.

Seamus Ahearne responds to Eddie Finnegan’s highlighting of the fact that so few priests write on this site, and he suggests that in the life of a priest words, both written and spoken, are enormously important.

Mary O Vallely recommends Professor John F. Baldovin SJ’s  review of the Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), as its 50th birthday approaches next December. Article is first published in the 27 May 2013 edition of America: read the original article and comments here).

Alan Hilliard shares a New York Times profile of the Austrian reform leader Fr Helmut Schüller, published on 22 March 2013. Read the original here

Brendan Hoban reflects on the recent appointments to the Irish Bishops’ Conference and wonders if Rome’s new policy of appointing outsiders in each case will work.

The Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI) has launched its own website. You can visit it here

Tony Flannery is looking for help on how to deal with an impersonator on Twitter.

Pádraig McCarthy shared the reflections on the Golden Jubilee of an ordination by Fr Eric Hodgens inMelbourne, Australia

Martin Hayes from Waterfall in Cork laments to lack of real follow-up to the marvellous gathering in the Regency twelve months ago. He also believes that the movement to have two separate associations is part of the problem, and is actually stifling progress.

Fr Sean McDonagh SSC reflects on the collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh, and how where we buy our clothes has implications far beyond what we might be aware of.