Pope Francis surprised thousands of teenagers by personally hearing confessions for more than an hour in St Peter’s Square on Saturday. The Pope administered the sacrament of Reconciliation to 16 teenage boys and girls. It was part of a three-day Jubilee for Teens, for young people aged between 13 and 16, which is an initiative Read more
A homily which suggested putting a paedophile priest in one of Jesus’ parables has sparked concern after it was published in an Australian school newsletter. In the homily, Fr Bill Edebohls of Malvern East in Melbourne took aim at lawyers and media at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He said Read more
The rate of people attending Confession in England and Wales has increased “dramatically” during the Year of Mercy, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said. Speaking during a press conference last week, the cardinal said: “Diocese by diocese, parish by parish”, the rate of people going to Confession had “increased dramatically during the past six months”. Continue Read more
No one doubts Pope Francis’ pulling power, whether in St Peter’s Square or on Instagram. But the fact that people want to see and hear Francis doesn’t tell you much about the impact he is having on them, or on the wider Church. To assess the success of a pope, you have to first identify Read more
New Zealand’s bishops have produced a pastoral letter on Mercy in which Catholics are asked to give themselves generously to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The letter, titled, “Be Merciful“, notes the interest in the jubilee Year of Mercy throughout the Catholic world. The bishops state that “as a way of life, mercy directs our outlook Read more
Mercy is a God-word, liquid in that it seems to take the shape of any container open to it. Poured without a container it can soak in a random way, refreshing dryness and encouraging new growth, regardless of the boundaries of belief systems. As Scripture says, it falls like the rain on all. Little wonder Read more
Sunday March 13 at Sacred Heart Cathedral Wellington, there was a full choral mass. The music, like incense, filled the sunlit space above the packed pews, and the gospel reading, as always for this Sunday in Lent, was the story of Lazarus raised from the dead. Inspiring? Yes. Absolutely beautiful. But there was something extra Read more
Cardinal John Dew of Wellington has told Catholic educators that a major challenge today is helping families to pray together. In a homily at a teachers’ commissioning Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart last month, Cardinal Dew said “prayer must be learned and discovered in families”. “I believe one of our major challenges Read more
Those who survived Auschwitz called the man in charge an “animal.” Rudolf Höss presided over the extermination of some 2.5 million prisoners in the three years he was commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Another half a million died there from disease and starvation. A year after his tenure came to an end, he returned Read more
Have you been doing anything special for the Jubilee Year of Mercy? Or do you have lots of good intentions but haven’t done anything yet, (except maybe walk through the Holy Door in your diocese?) Well, join the club. I did read Pope Francis’ “Face of Mercy” a few months ago though. And I noticed Read more