Archive | December, 2009

‘For the Good of the Church’: Will more Irish Catholic Bishops Resign?

By on December 18, 2009 in Irish Catholic Church

In today’s Irish Times, Mary Raftery has offered a shocking analysis of recent comments by bishops named in the Murphy Report on child abuse in the Dublin diocese. Raftery argues that their public statements reveal a stunning lack of will to assume personal responsibility for atrocities carried out on their watch. Raftery quotes Bishop of [...]

Sex Sells: Advertising Christmas in New Zealand

By on December 16, 2009 in Uncategorized

A ‘Progressive Christian’ congregation, St Matthew’s in the City in Auckland, New Zealand, has launched a provocative billboard campaign for Christmas, depicting Mary and Joseph in bed, with the words: ‘Poor Joseph: God is a hard act to follow.’ The priest at the church told Ekklesia that the aim of the billboard was to spark [...]

Never Heard of the Hard Gospel?

By on December 15, 2009 in Churches & Reconciliation

Last week when lecturing master’s students on the role of the churches in reconciliation in Northern Ireland, I spoke about the Church of Ireland’s Hard Gospel Project. I was surprised when a local student, with a long history of involvement in inter-church reconciliation activities, said that this lecture was the first he had heard of [...]

Re-Organisation of the Irish Catholic Church

By on December 14, 2009 in Irish Catholic Church

The word from the Vatican is that ‘the Irish Catholic Church faces major reorganisation.’ This comes in the wake of the child abuse scandals and their cover-up by senior officials of church and state. An article by Patsy McGarry and Paddy Agnew in Saturday’s Irish Times quoted a statement from Pope Benedict that: “The Holy [...]

Count me Out? Responding to the Report on Child Abuse in Dublin Diocese

By on December 11, 2009 in Irish Catholic Church

The last time I attended mass – the Sunday before the report of the commission on child abuse in the Dublin diocese was released – the priest told the assembled faithful about a website that instructed people about how to leave the Catholic Church, www.countmeout.ie. As is often the way with homilies or sermons, several [...]