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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…
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Happiness
Suddenly, those moments come. They seem perfect and you feel blessed. Some of the reasons you can see, others are out of sight or touch but you know they are part of it. The feeling is one of total blessedness. You thank God and wonder whom else you must or would like to thank. You…
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Ordination Of Women Priests
The Tablet is our principal international Catholic journal in the English-speaking world. In a recent edition, Bishop Crowley suggested that the Church should look at the possibility of ordaining women to the priesthood. I sent the following letter to the Tablet, supporting that view, and an edited version is in this week’s edition. “Bishop Crowley…
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Prejudice
The sin was not hatred, murder, killings, slavery, injustice – it was same-sex relations. Dear God, we ask, what sort of sick prejudice wrote that story? The…
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Church Child Abuse
We knew it was coming and how unpleasant as it became headline radio news last week. Child abuse by Priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham was reported on by an independent inquiry. Some priests were named, and so were archbishops referred to. The overwhelming judgement was that much of the abuse would not have happened…
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Ageless
How well do you fit this picture of being young? “Youth is not a period of life, but an attitude of mind; it is an expression of the will, of the power of the imagination and of the intensity of the feeling. It represents the victory of courage over cowardice, of the spirit of adventure…
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Life’s Decisions
The lady was a brilliant lecturer. She was convinced of the beauty and truth of natural family planning as it might reflect in the fulfilling love of married couples. She was invited to speak to the priests of the diocese. They all came. She looked around the large group, took us all in, and said:…
Daily Prayers
Prayer is Love, I want to Love