Category: Fr John’s Weekly
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CAFOD
This letter has just arrived from CAFOD and I thought you would like a glimpse of how we can help in the developing world. Thank you to the people of St Joseph’s for your generous support for CAFOD. This harvest we heard about Fabiano, a young boy in Uganda, trying to have two simple things…
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Democracy And Unity
Brexit is almost resolved. I have enjoyed watching democracy at work. Since debating with myself before voting in the Referendum (good arguments on both sides) I have followed the discussions, the moves in Parliament, name-calling, mind-changing, the workings of democracy. Best government is one clear-minded woman (or man) telling us what to do, how it…
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Death
Would I come, asked the family. Mother was near death. I came. I said the prayers. The clock struck six o’clock. “The Angelus,” said the daughter and we began to say the prayer. Partway through, her mother stopped breathing. The silence was strange. The room had been full of her breathing. We finished the Angelus…
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Guardian Angels
When I was small and heard at school of guardian angels I thought it was beautiful, each of us having an angel of our own to be with and guide us. A little older and I wondered if my angel was my own or had been someone else’s who was now dead and would be…
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Freedom Of Choice
Pope Francis has been visiting two of the poorest countries in the world, Mozambique and Madagascar, because he wants to reach out to the poorest of the world. He also visited Mauritius and he spoke there of “the idolatrous model” which uses the island as a tax haven. He urged the government to “promote an…
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Education Sunday 2019
Do you remember the word “very”? We were taught it was an adverb to give force to an adjective: “difficult”would become “very difficult”, “complicated”, “very complicated”. “Very” is hardly used now, its place taken by “incredibly” as in “incredibly difficult”/”incredibly complicated”. “Very” is now a stop-gap word whilst we look for another word, as in…
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A Holy Day Of Obligation
I was asked to write the homily I gave at Mass on the Feast of the Assumption, 15th August . . . “You meet a friend on your way to church who asks where you are going. Church, you reply. On a Thursday! Yes, it’s a Holy Day of Obligation. What does that mean? I’ll…
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Managing Our Calling
It has been a sad and difficult time. Six deaths in these last two weeks and emergency calls to home, nursing home and hospital. On Monday morning I had two calls and news of the death of someone I had anointed the previous Thursday. Please pray with and for the families. How do you cope…
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Amoris Laetitia – Marriage
At Question of Faith on Monday evening, we talked about Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Amoris Laetitia’ (the “Joy of Love”). He writes about divine and human love, the essence of this and eternal life. He speaks sadly of people who feel themselves alienated from the Church but who would love to belong again and he writes…
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God Bless Us
Dear Fr Daley, I am tired of your preaching against the clear word of the Bible. Last week was another example. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah teaches how God hates same-sex relations but you asked us to think the Bible was wrong and suggested modern sexual fashions are acceptable. The Bible is the word…