Since I returned to Ireland in 2013 and reacquainted myself with the Church in the country of my birth, having departed to study for the
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Category: Pastoral Theology
Madam Secretary and Conversations in an Age of Mass Media
I have been pondering how artists may help to shape political and moral conversations in an age of mass media. About a week ago I
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The Love of God and Neighbor: The Life of Saint Maria Skobtsova— Connecting Liturgy and Ethics
Mother Maria sought to connect the liturgy of the church with the liturgy of our lives.
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The Morning after the Feast of Francis
What I am most intrigued about in regard to the pet-blessing upswing is the quickness with which it has become detached from its origins in the feast of Francis, and how the world of pet-related commerce seems to have led it along.
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Book Review: Music, Theology, and Justice
Though the book’s primary focus is music, its two partners imbue the entirety of the essays.
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Reading Toward Writing Liturgical Theology
My pastoral-theological wager is that an as yet fully developed contemporary theology of the Easter Season, through examination of lectionary texts and the sacramental rites germane to Easter faith, can help form and invigorate believers’ self-appropriation as mutually responsible members of the body of Christ, priestly people with baptismal missions attuned to their particular life stages and conditions in this world.
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Pray for Journalists
We need to pray in ways that recall the community’s investment in courageous journalism, and pray for those reporters who face persecution and threats around the world.
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Is It a Mortal Sin to Miss Sunday Mass?
“it is a grave sin [not to attend Sunday Mass] and we must go to confession before receiving communion again.” – Archbishop Leo Cushley
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How to Translate Conversatio Morum?
In a recent liturgy, a candidate for simple profession to a Benedictine abbey promised stability (in English), obedience (in English), and conversatio morum (in Latin). Why couldn’t that third promise be rendered in English? And how best to do so?
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Should We Hire Armed Guards?
In the wake of the recent mass shooting in a church in Texas, religious leaders are more concerned than ever about what the proliferation of guns is doing to their communities.
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