Month: June 2017

Who cares?

Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times of Friday June 23rd looks at what it means ‘to care.’
How we care for others has a profound influence, “Part of learning for a young child is being secure in their freedom to make mistakes. Offering an answer, expressing an opinion involves taking a risk; we might be wrong. How others react to our mistakes can greatly affect our willingness to try again later.”

The Plank in my Eye

Brian Fahy, inspired by the Gospel of the day, reflects on his earlier life and choices that were made. A very apt reflection in the context of our ongoing debate about the wellbeing of priests.
“We are blind to so many things in life, both individuals and organisations. I can see the failings in others easily. I stand outside them and my view is unhindered. But it is not easy to see my own failings or funny ways. We need some distance in order to get some perspective on ourselves. I can look back at my thirty year- old self and see exactly what was going on. At the time I could not see any of this.”

Pope honors ‘rebel’ priests censured for commitment to poor

The Miami Herald reports that Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to northern Italy on Tuesday to honour two 20th-century parish priests whose commitment to the poor and powerless brought them censure from the Vatican. Francis “delivered a lengthy tribute to the priest, quoting Mazzolari’s writings about the need for the church to accompany its flock that Francis himself could have penned.”
The account from Vatican Radio has a slightly different emphasis.
The censured of today are the heroes of tomorrow!

“Banging on about God”

Brian Fahy shares some thoughts provoked by his memories of his mother’s parish in Mayo. “The Church (in Bangor) is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus …. My own little church in Lancashire, where I grew up and went to mass is also dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so I was very pleased to discover that my mother’s place of worship carried the same name and the same message of love.”

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