Nov 23, 2012
Exciting doesn’t begin to describe it. It doesn’t do it justice. Are there even words to adequately explain what’s it like to have over 3,000,000 young Catholics sharing, exploring and celebrating their faith. A lot of the time people say, “You would have had to have been there.” This is one of those rare occasions when they’re actually right.
Next year’s celebration of World Youth Day in Rio promises to be one of the biggest youth gatherings in history. But it’s more than just a get together or simply a party. It about being a member of a universal Church, which includes people from all over our planet. It reminds us that, as Catholics, we have something to share and to celebrate. (more…)
Jun 27, 2012
Leah Libresco has caused something of a stir in the US. Most of us in Ireland and England probably never heard of her, but she’s all over CNN at the moment. In the course of her regular atheist blog, ‘Unequally Yoked: a geeky atheist picks fights with her Catholic boyfriend,’ Libresco announced that she is in the process of becoming Catholic. For Libresco this journey of faith has been about finding one’s moral compass and exploring questions of morality.
“I had one thing that I was most certain of, which is that morality is something we have a duty to,” Libresco told CNN in an interview this week, a small cross dangling from her neck. “And it is external from us. And when push came to shove, that is the belief I wouldn’t let go of. And that is something I can’t prove.” “There was one religion that seemed like the most promising way to reach back to that living Truth,” Libresco wrote about Catholicism in her conversion announcement post, which has been shared over 18,000 times on Facebook.
Such a road to Damascus experience has been equally lauded by churches and pilloried by atheists. For some this is an opportunity to crow about the unassailable truth found in religion in general and Catholicism in particular. For others it marks a phase or an illogical shift into the world of self delusion.
For ourselves though it represents a reminder of the richness of the tradition we have in the Church and, most importantly, the compassion of Christ in reaching out to all people. This mustn’t be simply a case of one-upmanship, because I suspect that the number of Christians becoming atheists is greater than the reverse. We need to be able to enter into reasoned and faithful dialogue with others. Above all we need to follow Peter’s command to be “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have within in you ( 1 Peter 3:15 ).” It’s more about spreading Good News than winning converts. Above all it’s about helping others discover the vocation that God has for each one of us.
Additional reporting available from CNN
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/22/prominent-atheist-blogger-converts-to-catholicism/comment-page-35/#comments
May 4, 2012
The Eucharist Congress Bell has travelled all round Ireland
There’s an App apparently for everything. There is no aspect of our lives, no matter how obscure, how bizarre that doesn’t have an associated smart phone feature that can make our lives more hassle free. Today I found out that these handy features now extend to our upcoming Eucharistic Congress. Fair play to Dominican Friar Luuk Dominiek Jansen and the Congress team for all their work.
There is a real sense of anticipation growing about the upcoming Eucharistic Congress. The line up of speakers and workshops is impressive, with a range of themes and topics explored. Pilgrims are traveling to Ireland from all around the world, not just from England and Europe, but from North and South America, Africa and Asia. There are expected to be 20,000 people attending each day, with a total of 80,000 attending for the final Mass in Croke Park. It will be an opportunity to experience the true universality of the Catholic Church and to celebrate it in prayer, song and fellowship.
[youtube xqamsY7IYy0 nolink]
On Thursday there’ll be a special focus on vocations to priesthood and religious life and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart will be there in force for the week. If you around drop in to Stand 71 and say hello. If I can borrow a Nespresso machine in the meantime there may even be a coffee on the go! For more information on the Eucharistic Congress check out their website http://www.iec2012.ie/
Mar 20, 2012
BHA's Atheist Bus Campaign
I remember living in our parish in St. Albans when the British Humanist Association’s bus advertising campaign came out. Eight hundred buses ran throughout the UK for a number of weeks with the slogan, ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ As usual the ensuing debate, stirred up by the media, generated more heat than light. What struck me though was not BHA’s claim that there was no God, but that I should stop worrying and start to enjoy my life. This bit of hyperbole caused me some concern. It implied those of us who believed in God were a worrisome, scrupulous, miserable bunch. It was a fascinating observation, staggering in the extent of its arrogance. Perhaps as a priest I would have to be particularly overwhelmed with the burdens of faith, incapable of wringing the smallest atom of enjoyment out of life. Many people today believe that the life of a priest is too challenging and difficult. Traditionally parents would have encouraged their son to explore a vocation to priesthood and religious life. These days it seems they actively discourage it because they fear their child would be unhappy. (more…)
Exciting doesn’t begin to describe it. It doesn’t do it justice. Are there even words to adequately explain what’s it like to have over 3,000,000 young Catholics sharing, exploring and celebrating their faith. A lot of the time people say, “You would have had to have been there.” This is one of those rare occasions when they’re actually right.
Next year’s celebration of World Youth Day in Rio promises to be one of the biggest youth gatherings in history. But it’s more than just a get together or simply a party. It about being a member of a universal Church, which includes people from all over our planet. It reminds us that, as Catholics, we have something to share and to celebrate. (more…)
