Our faith should indeed determine our politics, argues Sean O’Conaill – in agreement with Archbishop Eamon Martin. However, in the wake of the Ryan report of 2009, a whole new conversation about that needs to happen.
Featured
Gloria Before Credo
Love before Knowledge: Aidan Hart suggests that the religious education of Catholic children and young people should follow the sequence of the Confession, Gloria and Credo of the Mass.
Can laypeople lead a parish? Look to Louisville, KY, USA
St William Parish, Louisville, Kentucky – the future for Irish parishes – ploughed by Irish emigrants from 1901. (Republished by permission of NCR)
High Time for Lumen Gentium No. 37 (1964)?
What different path might the Catholic Church in Ireland have taken, if this 1964 Vatican II declaration had led to never-ending dialogue in every Irish parish?
When did Jesus call anyone to a secondary role in the church?
That Jesus called people to ‘follow me’ in the Gospel is indisputable, but was he calling some to a primary role of ‘ministry’ and others to be merely deferential receivers of that ministry – a secondary role? Sean O’Conaill thinks otherwise.
‘Lay involvement’ – is it happening in your parish?
The ACI Steering Group asks for feedback from members on the progress of lay involvement in an Irish church running increasingly short of clergy.
Pope Francis’ experts disagree on the issue of women deacons
On May 7, 2019 Pope Francis said his own experts could not agree on whether women were ordained as deacons in the same way that men were in the early church. The Wijngaards Institute suggests that the Pope should consult documents in the Vatican library to clear his own mind on the subject.
21st Century ‘Status Anxiety’ is Gospel ‘Worldliness’
Is the ‘worldliness’ that Jesus ‘conquered’ the same as the 21st century ‘status anxiety’ that led to high-profile cheating re US university admissions? Sean O’Conaill thinks so, and offers a ‘cure’.
Richard Rohr – Jesus and the Cross
In the week of February 4th-8th 2019, Richard Rohr OFM reflects on the history of Christian understanding of the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus.
A New Year Resolution for ACI Catholics
Aidan Hart suggests an appropriate New Year’s resolution for ACI Catholics which would help bring about the necessary reforms of the Church into a Christ-centered lay movement, humbly served by priests and hierarchy.
Catholic Education and the Future: Insights from René Girard
Eugene McElhinney and Sean O’Conaill – retired colleagues in the same Irish Catholic second-level school – are optimistic about the long-term impact of René Girard’s key insights on Catholic Education.
What underlies René Girard’s ‘mimetic desire’?
What underlies the tendency that drives so much consumerism and rivalry – even at Christmas? Sean O’Conaill attempts an explanation.
Dublin Priests Blanking Archbishop on Parish Consultation?
How many Dublin parishes have responded to Archbishop Martin’s request for parish pastoral councils to consult their parish communities on faith renewal, beginning November 14th, 2018?
The Diaspora of a Disconnected Church
Sean O’Conaill, in a recent letter to the Irish Times, questions that paper’s continued use of the term ‘Catholic Church’ as if that term is describing a unitary entity instead of a much divided reality. The Irish Times refused to publish the letter. It is published on this website (below) to access the response of our readers to the issue.
Women deacons – when will we know?
The Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research wonders when Pope Francis’ Study Commission on The Women’s Diaconate (set up in August 2016) is going to report back and be published and if Cardinal Ladaria is right that it is impossible for the Catholic Church to ordain women to the priesthood or permanent diaconate.