On Christmas Eve, 1991, I was preparing to celebrate Mass. I was at Casa Romero, a hospitality center for refugees set up by the Diocese of Brownsville in response to a massive number of Central Americans fleeing violence by heading north to the USA. Because I had some time before we were supposed to start Read more
I don’t care how long a person’s hair is. As one of my favourite TV characters once said, “Sit, stand, burn to the ground for all I care.” But I am wondering why this skirmish between Lucan Battison and St John’s College over hair length caused such a stir? Why is it that a disagreement Read more
Despite numerous controversies over dismissing gay Catholics from church posts and the U.S. hierarchy’s campaign against same-sex marriage, Catholic leaders have carefully, if quietly, avoided doing anything to block gay couples from having their children baptised. But a move by a bishop in Wisconsin to route all such decisions through his office is raising questions Read more
It seems as though Sudan’s persecution of Meriam Ibrahim will not end. After finally being released two days ago from a death sentence for converting to Christianity, she and her family have been arrested by Sudanese security agents after trying to flee for US shores. But as well as hoping that she is finally liberated, her Read more
Perhaps because of my visits to Tokyo I’ve been haunted by images from a film I saw some time ago. The multi-award winning Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson, displays a relationship that unfolds between two Americans – a middle-aged man and a younger woman – when they meet in Japan. Portrayed Read more
When Mum called to tell me she had cancer I didn’t answer. I looked up from my eggs on toast, registered her name flashing on my phone, and decided that whatever Mum wanted could wait. It waited until after I’d showered, watched an episode of Orange is the New Black, painted my nails a lurid green, Read more
What are the signs of hope in the Church and the world? My initial reaction to that question was somewhat confronting. Besides the “Francis factor”, I saw very few signs of hope in the Church. This response was probably strongly influenced by the heart-rending stories of pain, suffering and broken trust that have been told Read more
It is difficult to believe that it has been fifty years since I joined my religious community, the Sisters of Social Service, and began a lifetime of commitment to the quest for justice based in the Gospel. Over the decades my spirituality and prayer life have deepened to be a contemplative life of “walking willing.” Read more
Stress, it seems, is everywhere. Terrible news about stabbings, shootings, and crashes. People agonising over healthcare, fretting about unemployment, troubled by tuition payments, mortgage payments, car payments or other costs. So many people, it seems, are labouring to be at peace, groping for stable ground, living for the weekends. So many people, even those with Read more
On the day that the papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, told the US-based Catholic News Service that he saw “that Irish Catholicism had entered a new springtime,” representatives of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) were trying to convince a group of Irish bishops that the Irish Catholic Church was facing, among other Read more