Tag Archives: Faith Development

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU 2021) is traditionally observed annually from 18 – 25 January.  However, in the southern hemisphere, where January is a vacation time, churches find another time during the year to celebrate it, for example around Pentecost which is also a symbolic time for the unity of the Church.  The theme for this year ...

Pope Francis signed his new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, on Saturday 3 October 2020 during a visit to Assisi. The phrase ‘Fratelli Tutti’ is taken from the writings of St. Francis, one of the major inspirations for Pope Francis’ third encyclical, on fraternity and social friendship. The full text of the encyclical, the third of Pope Francis’ pontificate was released on Sunday ...

In Ireland story-telling is embedded in the culture of who we are.  As far back as we can remember there must have been story-telling and the sharing of ‘a good yarn’ in the dusk of an evening at the fire or in the coming together at the crossroads after a hard day’s work in the fields.  This seems even now ...

Today, 24th March is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of  Oscar A. Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.  He  was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in a small chapel in a cancer hospital where he lived. This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener (1937-2004), drafted for a homily by Cardinal John Dearden in 1979 for a celebration of departed ...

The focus of the World Day of Prayer (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) on 6th March 2020 (#WDP2020) is praying with the Christians of Zimbabwe. “This Friday, [when] millions of us – men, women and children – worldwide will be praying with and for them”. When reading the information about this day it struck me that prayer truly has ...

The dialogue that God wishes to establish with each of us through the paschal mystery of his Son has nothing to do with empty chatter, like that attributed to the ancient inhabitants of Athens, who “spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). Such chatter, determined by an empty and superficial curiosity, characterises worldliness in ...

We are at a ‘crossroads’ halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox on February 1st.  A crossroads can be a good place to stop and refuel for the journey onward and outwards, and we can do this in no better company than that of Brigid whose feast day is on this day (Lá Fhéile Bríde). Brigid never ceases to ...

Word of God Sunday is on Sunday 26th January 2020, falling close to the Day of Dialogue between Jews and Catholics and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is  a new annual observance announced by Pope Francis last year on 30 September 2019 on the Feast of St Jerome, the fifth-century saint who translated the Bible from Greek ...

Tradition maintains that the cross, kept at Presentation convent George’s Hill, was a gift to St. Francis Xavier from an Indian Prince whose son he had miraculously cured. Saint Francis Xavier was born in the kingdom of Navarre, now in northern Spain, in 1506, the youngest son of a councillor to the king. As was common for prosperous families at ...

There is something about the silent rhythmic background that all of a sudden arrives unannounced at this time of year, as we begin to  slow down and rest a bit in the light of summer days. This particular light and stillness amidst the ongoing bustle of life, can often bring us to notice and experience the ordinary ‘happenings’ of days ...