SEPTEMBER: An Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle
AUGUST: Church on the Way
JULY: Social Friendship
JUNE : The beauty of marriage
MAY: The world of finance
APRIL: Fundamental rights
MARCH: The sacrament of reconciliation
FEBRUARY: For women who are victims of violence
DECEMBER: For a life of prayer
NOVEMBER: Artificial Intelligence
The 22-page document from the Congregation for the Clergy warns that under no circumstances can lay people give the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.
JUNE : Compassion for the world
May: Deacons
The Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI) carried out a pilot study among members in 36 parishes to explore the extent of lay leadership in the Catholic Church and the role that the laity plays in parish leadership.
Marie Collins tells We Are Church gathering, “If there is no consistent agreement across the Church as to what is sexual abuse of a minor, then how can we have any hope of consistent handling of the issue?”
Episcopal vacancies are an opportunity for the Church in Ireland to lay new foundations, says We Are Church Ireland.
“We have to face the fact that at the moment there are [fewer] priests than we were used to, and this has an effect on how parishes operate. Obviously, there is a whole richness within the laity that hasn’t been tapped into.”
There is “little sense of mission within the Catholic Church in Ireland” and no sense of what that mission should be, Bishop Dermot Farrell tells conference in Kilkenny.
“Unless there is a radical reappraisal of what a parish community should be, there can be no real progress.” —Bishop Denis Nulty
“In effect, a synodal Church seeks to invert the pyramid, to create a sense of all being on the road together” – Mgr Dermot Lane in his address to launch book by Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O’Hanlon.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life tells Intercom "the Roman Curia is overloaded with clerics, and it shouldn’t be like that.”
Bishop Leo O'Reilly of Kilmore speaks to pilgrims in Knock about the outcome of the abortion referendum and pays tribute to “the army of people, young and old, who campaigned to retain the Eighth Amendment”.
"Bishop Christy discharged his ministry at a time of seismic and rapid change both in civil society and in the church family."
The declining numbers of available clergy and religious lend a sense of urgency to this development.
“We now have an educated laity, perceptive of social change, anxious to play a part in the mission of the Church. We are foolish to ignore them.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin worried that a return to borders, checkpoints and customs could “play into the hands of those who would exploit it”.
At the annual Chrism Mass, Dr Nulty said he was “acutely aware of the ... strains that exist ... where the age profile of the priesthood continues to rise, and where sometimes even to organise relief cover is next to impossible”.
Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O’Hanlon argues that a synodal form of church at all levels is urgently needed to salvage the Catholic faith in Ireland.
New Vatican department which Bishop Kevin Farrell leads will join together the competencies of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the Pontifical Council for the Family.
New approach will see priests work across different parishes and while there won’t necessarily be a priest living in every parish, there will be a parish priest for every parish.
