Fr. Joe’s writings and rumblings.
It must be over twenty years ago since I first heard the phrase ‘the redundant sacrament’ and I hope I am correct in attributing it to the theologian Monika Hellwig. It refers of course to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or more popularly, Confession. Now, if it was true back then that this Sacrament Read more…
A national Church collection will be held this weekend of 22/23 July to fund life-saving aid for people currently affected by the devastating hunger crisis in East Africa. The money raised will go directly to Trócaire’s emergency response, which is helping to deliver food, water, healthcare and other life-saving aid to people Read more…
‘Offer it up for the Holy Souls’, ‘there’s another angel in Heaven’, and ‘God only sends you a Cross you can carry’. These are examples of phrases that whilst having some little kernel of wisdom in them, are also examples of the types of phrases that can really annoy and upset people. Granted Read more…
Happy Holiday!! Believe it or not this phrase is causing considerable annoyance amongst some Americans and indeed some Irish people. In itself it is of course harmless. The trouble comes when it is promoted as a politically correct way of wishing someone Happy Christmas, or Happy Thanksgiving. It is designed to ensure no Read more…
Anyone who knows me and knows my awful track record in Maths will not be surprised at the above. I am sure there is no way it makes sense numerically nor is it a sensible equation or formula. Perhaps the only place it makes sense is in my head. Hopefully you can Read more…
It was the night of August 16th 1977, I was sitting watching the news with my parents. News at Ten with the bell booming out the time and the gongs corresponding to the news items had just started. We all got a shock when we heard the ITN newscaster, Reginald Bosanquet in Read more…
Yes apparently it’s time to bin the Church. This sentiment was expressed just the other day. What surprised a lot of people was that this idea was expressed in the National Parliament, Dáil Éireann, by not only one of our publicly elected representatives, but one of our very own local representatives here in Read more…
Well how did the BBB go? The BBB? Now what might the BBB be? That would be the Big Birthday Bash? Last week was the Church’s birthday. Last week on June 4th we celebrated Pentecost, the great feast of the Church. Pentecost Sunday is the day in the year when we celebrate the Read more…
In the past ten days the name Salmon Abedi has been in the news quite a lot. The media have described him as ‘evil’, ‘a monster’ and the ‘devil’s child’. If you have not yet worked out who he is, Salman Abedi is the young man who is now known as the Read more…
They say everybody loves a story. I think this is true. From when we were small children the idea of being told a story was very attractive to us. The bedtime story that soothed us to sleep, or the first stories that we read for ourselves, are logged somewhere in our memory. Read more…