Mar 14, 2012

What do the vows offer to our world today?
Very often I’m asked “Should priests be allowed to marry.” “Only if they really love each other,” I reply. It’s an old joke in response to an increasingly popular question. The evangelical counsels or the vows, as they are popularly known, are seen by society at large as increasingly anachronistic. We live in a world that values money, sex and power above all, so we must ask do the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience have anything to offer? (more…)
Mar 12, 2012

Flash Mob Outside Notre Dame de Paris in January
‘Flash mobs,’ said Fr. Jim, our resident artist and proud Kerryman. Thus started another lunchtime conversation in the community of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We tend to follow a stream of consciousness approach to mealtime discussions, which is a polite way of saying that we go all over the place. Over mashed potato and bacon we could end up talking about how Ireland and Wales ( in deference to Fr. Roger – our resident Welshman by way of Australia ) are doing the Six Nations, the Republican primaries or just about anything really. (more…)