According to Ecclesiastes [3:1-8] there is a season for all things; including a time to be born and a time to die. The Catechism teaches us that God created man to participate in His own blessed life. This ‘life’ is a gift to be proclaimed; a fundamental component of the natural law. For those visiting Belgium in the past months, the political vista is somewhat different. Played out in the public media is a dispute which one would not have thought possible: a catholic healthc

Few will have failed to notice the demise of our senior seminaries. All Hallows (Ireland) and Ushaw (England) are only recently casualties. Commonly such closures are attributed to a shortage of vocations to the priesthood; such that the operation of these institutions is no longer considered viable in financial terms. Over the past months, the last remaining seminary in Ireland (Maynooth) has been bedeviled by a number of difficulties. Assertions of imposed confidentiality a

During a recent visit to nearby Diocese I had the pleasure of meeting three young priests. I accept that in our present times, the term ‘young’ has both a subjective and relative quality. As is common in such encounters, the three men shared their experiences of priestly life. One – a member of a religious order- spoke with humour and affection of his own formation experience and the realities and demands of community life. The elder of the three spoke with a sense of humour