Drawing upon the text of Lumen Gentium, the Catechism reminds us that the office of bishop is lifelong and requires the exercise of office in a manner which ought to 'edify the spirit of service' (cf CCC 861 & 893). Similarly, the Code of Canon Law 1983 defines an 'ecc...

The Equal Treatment Directive (2006/54/EC) extended the principle of equality in the workplace. In doing so, it afforded protection to a number of protected characteristics, including religion or belief. Arts 9, 10 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECH...

If some years ago, I had ventured to ask a lawyer to explain to me the "presumption of innocence", I would doubtless have received an unqualified response along the lines of: "this presumption is one of the foundation stones of the rule of law". After all, he who asser...

In his Rule, St Benedict makes a good deal of both individual and communal responsibility: all are called to participate in a 'school of the Lord's service'. Since Vatican II much ink has been spilt in relation to the question of lay participation in the life of the ch...

As media coverage continues to rage about Pope Francis' handling of the Barros case, I received a report of a recent broadcast from EWTN. Hosted by the Raymond Arroyo (see The World Over). If the reports I have seen are accurate, a guest lawyer proceeded to offer...

The weeks following the papal visit to Latin America have been dominated by the reportage of his "defence" of an accused bishop. As far as one can tell - and allowing for issues of translation- it is not suggested that the bishop in question was in fact the perpetrator...

Each year the editors of the Oxford English dictionary conduct a detailed survey, their purpose: to identify those words which have entered into usage with sufficient prominence to merit inclusion in the dictionary itself. In 2016, their labours yielded the term: "post...

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 t...

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...

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 priest...