Sean McDonagh draws our attention to important findings of research carried out by marine scientists of the National University of Ireland Galway on the amount of plastic in fish in the northwest Atlantic.
Sean asks ‘Should the Churches be involved in protecting our oceans? Has a Justice and Peace group in any parish or diocese challenged the fact that our retail stores still force us to use single-use plastics?’.
Brendan Hoban looks at the latest statement by Cardinal Sarah.”Sarah advocates receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling as being more in line with tradition and more respectful than receiving it on the tongue.
He’s wrong on both counts.”
america magazine carries a short article about retired Pope Benedict affirming that “there is an internal continuity between the two pontificates.”
Seán McDonagh reminds us of the ongoing problems we are creating for our environment. In the words of Pope Francis we should not “fall into four perverse attitudes regarding the future of the planet: “denial, indifference, resignation and trust in inadequate solutions.”
Joint Press Release by ‘We Are Church International” & ‘European Network Church on the Move’ marking Five Years of Pope Francis.
Seamus Ahearne reviews a new publication by Pádraig McCarthy.
“Whether you agree with Padraig McCarthy’s line of argument in this book or not, he ruthlessly presents the core questions. The seriousness of the proposed Referendum makes it important that his book be read and studied. He has done us a service.”
Updated with a summary of the main points made by Pádraig McCarthy
A report on the Voices of Faith International Women’s Day Conference from the National Catholic Reporter and the text of the talk given by former President Mary McAleese.
“Today, we challenge Pope Francis to develop a credible strategy for the inclusion of women as equals throughout the church’s root and branch infrastructure, including its decision-making.”
Mary McAleese
Kevin Hegarty, writing in The Mayo News, comments on the decision not to allow Mary McAleese express her views on Vatican property. Kevin sees the decision as a symptom of a huge problem. “This recent controversy highlights once again the density of patriarchy in the institutional Catholic Church. It is the last bastion of exclusive male domination in the western world.
Misogyny in the Vatican is draped in theological abstractions especially in regard to female ordination. Such patriarchy is as insidious and destructive as woodworm in furniture.”
‘We are Church’ in call to bishops; “The continued exclusion of women from all ministries including the priesthood and from executive functions in the Catholic Church is an injustice that must be ended. How can our Church continue to proclaim global justice for the marginalised when it accepts an injustice within the Church that marginalises half of its own members”
Thomas O’Loughlin takes issue with Cardinal Sarah following his most recent statement on the Eucharist.
“I suspect many Christians have been taken aback by Cardinal Sarah’s judgment that communion in the hand is the most recent engagement between the good angels, and Lucifer and his demons”.
Our thanks to Brendan Walsh editor of The Tablet for permission to publish this article which first appeared in The Tablet, 23 February.
Sarah McDonald writes in the Irish Independent of the further censoring of material issuing from the World Meeting of Families.
On this occasion “A bishop’s comments expressing conciliatory views on same-sex couples raising children were edited out of a video promoted by the World Meeting of Families (WMF).”
Updated to include We Are Church Statement.
Seamus Ahearne uses the storm enforced break to reflect on the happenings in parish life.
“the Snow has stopped us in our tracks. Anything and everything that wakes up our minds and helps us look again at life, is a gift. “
Brian Fahy reflects on how a life well lived affects us not just during the person’s life but long after they have departed this world.
Brendan Hoban in the Western People outlines the campaign being waged against Fr. James Martin. “What’s clear is that Fr. Martin is no heretic. He’s in good standing with his Church, supported by his Jesuit colleagues and respected in his ministry. He’s not rejecting church teaching. He’s doing what Pope Francis himself has done, creating a space in the Catholic Church for LGBT people and creating greater awareness of the need to respect them”.
“The truth is that, in America, the presence of homophobic groups who place themselves under the umbrella of ‘Catholic’, are spewing unimagined levels of vitriol on anyone whom they believe is compromising what they see as ‘Catholic teaching’. It is a sinister and corrosive development that runs counter to the gospel, to the mercy Pope Francis consistently underlines and even to minimal standards of civility and respect.”
Following deliberations it has been decided to introduce some changes with how comments are posted on the ACP website.
Joshua J. McElwee reports in the National Catholic Reporter on the long running dispute in the Nigerian diocese of Ahiara.
“The priests had complained that Bishop Peter Okpaleke was not from Mbaise, the region surrounding their diocese..”
Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times offers some thoughts on how to make the best of Lent.
He suggests “So how about a ‘Listening Lent’ this year? ” Chris offers what could be very useful advice for us all when it comes to social media! “In our western culture, listening is an acquired skill. We have lost the experience of quiet time, silence, that space between words, the opportunity to consider what we hear before we rush into making a response, is scarce.”
Writing in his blog tonyflannery.com, Tony Flannery questions why changes were made in some of the literature circulated by the organisers of the world meeting of families. He suggests that “the message that is being taken from withdrawal of the (original) leaflet is that only marriage relationships that are in complete accord with Church teaching are welcome at the event.”
Faced with the ‘lucky bag’ of glossy advertising material about the world meeting of families regularly reaching most parochial houses, Seamus Ahearne pens a few thoughts, and hopes, about this upcoming event.
“We need the messed up, chaotic struggle of most ordinary and real families to be centre stage. We have to reflect the life of the family in Ireland and not some idealised version.”
“I don’t dismiss or undermine anything of the mighty work being done in preparation. I am concerned that it can reflect something of what we see daily.”
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