Articles

A visitor’s experience of Dublin Mass in referendum week

A visitor’s experience of Dublin Mass in referendum week

I arrived at Dublin airport only a few hours ago but in time to attend Sunday Mass at a nearby neighborhood church. Mass began with the deacon reading Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin’s pastoral reflections about Ireland’s upcoming constitutional referendum on marriage equality. Spoiler alert: he’s against it.

Mimetic Desire, The American Dream And the Next Global Financial Crisis

Mimetic Desire, The American Dream And the Next Global Financial Crisis

By applying René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire to the American Dream and national economies Aidan Hart shows how it reveals their deep sickness and inevitable journey towards another global crisis, increasing violence and the disintegration of the social, moral and religious fabric of society. Has Christianity the answer? Read on and find out!

OMG! A new catholic online quarterly

OMG! A new catholic online quarterly

A group of ordinary-but-imaginative Catholics, have launched a relatively new online quarterly called OMG! They want to establish a forum that will draw the attention of thoughtful people everywhere and appeal, ultimately, to men and women of good will looking to make...

ACI’s Campaign for Lumen Gentium 37

The Promise of Synodality

What we have experienced of synodality so far gives ACI real hope that a longstanding structural injustice in the church may at last be acknowledged and overcome.

As all Irish bishops well know, the 'co-responsibility' they urge lay people to share - as numbers and energies of clergy decline - has been sabotaged time and again by canonical rules that deny representational authority and continuity to parish pastoral councils.  ACI's 2019 call for the immediate honouring of Lumen Gentium Article 37 becomes more urgent by the day and is supported by the following documents - also presented to the ICBC in October 2019.

The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church
It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God
It was for challenging religious hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church
Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

For the full story of ACI's campaign for the honouring of Article 37 of Lumen Gentium, click here.

Prayer

"Come Holy Spirit, Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen."

Saint Pope John XXIII, 1962 - In preparation for Vatican Council II, 1962-65.

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