Chris McDonnell     2013 articles                                          2012 articles

 

 

Oct 31: Hey Jude!
There are many  instances when we face situations that trouble us, occasions personal to our families, and our own life story, when faith is tested and the consequences of the experience asks questions that take us out of our comfort zone. Then those oft repeated words “Do not be afraid” take on a whole new meaning.

Oct 24: A Dusty Cardboard Box
 As we sift through the collection of faith experiences of a life time, we can get the same sense of surprise and wonderment. Different experiences are treasures at different times. They help us on our way, we grow because of them, we value the opportunity they gave to each of us. And we move on.  

Oct 17: The deadwood of trees
Fragmentation in the West proceeds at a pace. We see it in the breakup up of political parties where smaller groups are emerging representing a narrow platform of opinion. We see it in a society where often those who are already poor, get poorer and those who have wealth increase their considerable fortunes. We see it when smaller parts of a Nation seek independence, pursuing an ethnic or language based identity.
And where is the Christian Church in this, often chaotic, diversity?

Oct 10: A prophetic voice - Hans Kung      (also posted at ACP site)
A most significant and charitable action towards Kung would be for Francis to restore Kung’s credentials as a Catholic Teacher who, throughout these difficult years has remained a priest in good standing. The restoration of Teilhard de Chardin came after his death. It would be a pity if history were to repeat itself


Oct 3: Waiting

There have been those who have expected an instant response from Pope Francis to the major problems we face. Instead, we have been offered indications of a changed life style, the odd phrase here or there, the open hand. And we are having to be patient

Sep 28: Open Hands      
When someone is down, our first instinct is to help them up, to care for them and to re-assure them. Time enough for the discussion as to the why’s and wherefore’s of their predicament.
Isn’t this exactly what Francis has done? He has extended his hands to those who are in need of his care

Sep 21: A Theology of Liberation
What has slipped under the radar has been the meeting in Rome between Gustavo Guiterrez OP and Pope Francis. After reading the re-issued book, the front cover picture haunted me for a long while. It gave rise to a poem written last year

Sep 14: A thorny issue - priestly celibacy
Posted at PrayTell, with many comments

Sep 11: Reflection on 9/11- The sound of silence
with YouTube link to Paul Simon singing The Sound of Silence at Ground Zero

Also from Chris, for today's 40th anniversary of the Chilean-Pinochet coup:
The Chilean Coup of September 11, 1973

Sep 4: Death of a poet   (published also at PrayTell, with comments)
Not many live lives that, in their passing, are so noticed and admired as that of Seamus Heaney, who died last week. The greatness of his poetry was recognised internationally and he was rewarded with the Nobel prize in 1995, acclaimed as
Ireland’s finest poet since Yeats

August 30: Dream On - like Martin Luther King:
Our church, with all its current problems, could do well to reflect on the trust and hope in those fateful words from that time, We shall overcome, for that is what the Spirit of Pentecost is all about

August 23: The Coptic Church
In this time of stress, we owe our Coptic sisters and brothers our concern and our prayers as we do all the peoples of Egypt  

August 15: Sorry, no Mass today  
(this article posted on Pray Tell, with more than 70 comments!

Somehow, somewhere there must be a resolution of the crisis in priesthood that we presently face or we will have failed future generations. Let’s be realistic. More of the same is no answer for a pilgrim church      

August 8: This Feast of Light
- a reflection on the common date of the Transfiguration and Hiroshima

August 7: A contraceptive mentality?
To imply that acceptance of artificial contraception has a direct link with the gay marriage issue is mind-blowing. 
There is no connection

July 31: So we got married
With the many pressures on our lives, marriage has not escaped the questioning of a changing world. We need not be judgemental whilst we personally adhere to a Christian view of a sacrament that is not a one-off morning in a dressed-up church but is a continual life experience, ever changing and adapting, both joyous and sorrowful

July 24: A place apart
We should take great care with our own ‘holy places’, be they public within our community or within the privacy of our own homes. The image, the crucifix, the icon, the candle that help locate such a place, become tokens of our presence where we can listen to the Lord and enter into his peace

July 17: The Bread is Broken
For many years in our Parish, at weekday masses when smaller numbers were present, we gathered round the altar at Communion time. We shared the Sign of Peace with each other and each of us with the celebrant as we stood round him at the altar. That has now unfortunately been stopped and an action that had significance has been lost

July 10: A Date to Remember
"He did not operate by great exposition of ideas but by gestures and a certain personal style".
Yves Congar's words about Pope John XXIII apply to Pope Francis
....and apply to every Christian

July 3: A pertinent question
Brendan Hoban’s book is an honest and open attempt to look at the current reality. One would hope that it will be read by many, including our Bishops. When you are given warning of a likely train crash, it is prudent to adjust the points in good time. Read the book, it’s worth reading. It is available through the ACP website in Ireland.

June 26: I bow my head
The prayer of the people, heads bowed under the slanting rain that Wednesday evening in March, must continue for the man who bowed his own head, seeking blessing

June 19: A worthy place    We have, in our small parish church, the seven volumes, all now commercially available, of the St. John’s Bible, the original MSS being in St John’s College , Minnesota . It is placed in a wooden cabinet in front of the Font as you come into church, with a display lectern available for reading the text. It is a most beautiful piece of craftsmanship. The artwork is simply stunning.  

June 12: A meeting place
Every so often, some event, some person, some meeting reinvigorates us, and the sun shines. Francis has had that effect on the Church since his election in mid-March. He has shown us another way of doing things. He is a person who respects people

June 5: The Parish Community
"The parish is a holy place. I take off my shoes."
What finer, yet simple, summary of the place that you and I call home, our Parish?  The image that heads this posting, of the Mother and Child collecting water in a pitcher, should be a reflection of our parish, a place of sustenance and refreshment. Like our family home, our parish is indeed a sacred dwelling. We disturb its balance at our peril

May 29:  Spirit of Freedom
The dove, being released by Papa Francesco, is gaining again the freedom of the skies and there is immense joy on the face of Francis that he is giving the dove its liberty.  Each one of us who profess the Risen Christ has that freedom of the Spirit who now lives in us, freedom to act, to pray and to share the gift that is given us. And with that Spirit comes responsibility to be honest with each other, to care for each other and to give voice to the issues of conscience that beset our times.

 2013-05-22: Open Hands        
But apart from the month of May, we should take time in the stillness of prayer to reflect on the significance of Mary and allow our own favourite image to instill in us the tranquil peace and, at the same time, challenge, that Epstein achieved in his Mother and Child

2013-05-15: On the margin 
Nouwen then poses a question “Why do I avoid silence?”, a challenge that asks us to face up to our difficulties.
 
As we approach the feast of Pentecost may we be open to the Spirit and may we help and sustain each other on the journey

May 8: The shadow of the Cross
It is the shadow of the cross that has hovered over
Europe and many parts of the Earth for 2000 years. It is an integral part of our Christian Faith. We talk about “the crosses that we have to carry”, the difficulties and stress that are part of our human condition. But that burden is something that we do not carry alone

May 1: A Birthday Celebration

It would be good if Pope Francis was able to publicly recognise and proclaim the value of de Chardin’s life of faith, his prophetic writings and the bridge he built between science and belief

The Mass on the world La Messe sur le monde  Teilhard de Chardin, 1923

April 24: Community or isolation?
I went to the tomb and rolled back the stone.
Out came the poor and destitute,
the prisoners,  the old and forgotten, 
blinking in the sunlight,
all ready for a  new birth

April 17: Prayer aint easy
There are times when the words aren’t there, when the feeling has gone and there is an aridness of spirit that seems overwhelming

April 10: Opportunity for renewal
Reflection on the anniversary of Martin Luther King
Recently I have used the word ‘exhilaration’ to describe these early days of Francis, for the Church seems to be emerging from a dark night.

April 3:  And so it happened
Dare we think that the vision of the Church that came from the Council is at last being considered, a Church that is open to the world rather than inwardly turned to its own structures? 

March 27:  An intimate act of love
This ritual of washing feet made its modern appearance with the reform of the Easter Liturgy in 1956. It had not been seen since the Middle Ages. From the time when Canons of the cathedral washed the feet of beggars, through to the substitution of a gift of money instead of washing, to the Rite we now use on Holy Thursday, our appreciation of this action has become somewhat blurred  

March 22: Rain swept man

March 20: The Joy of Morning
But from the moment that a simply clad, white figure emerged on to the balcony, there was the realization that something significant had happened. This man was going to be different

March 13: Out of Solitude  
Now is a time of rebuilding, a time to come out of the dark tunnel of forest undergrowth and seek again the vision of a pilgrim Church  

March 6: Light in the Shadows
How much do we need a light in the darkness! These could be, should be, transformative days for the Church. 
The days of a centralised structure must surely be numbered as the need for a real collegiality becomes self-evident.  

Feb 27:  The Empty Chair
Mistakes have been made across the world, people have been hurt. It must not happen again. Throughout this time, the regression of power to a central Roman Curia has continued apace as the open vision offered by the Council has been severely limited

Feb 20: Do not be afraid
But maybe the cardinals should remember the words of Yogi Berra when he spoke about baseball managers,  "If you do what you have always done, you are going to get what you have always got."  

Feb 13: And so Lent begins
Maybe we should all enter this period of Lent anxious to learn where the Spirit is leading us and help each other on the way.

Feb 6: Praying the Psalter
The Psalms are rich and fertile ground wherever we find ourselves of our journey. They speak of joy and suffering, success and failure, life and death. The words of the Psalms have been read and prayed through the centuries and are still at the core of the Liturgy of the Hours

Jan 30: On the Lower East Side
But in the end, fine and inspiring though they might be, buildings are not the Church. It is we, the people who walk through the doors, sit in the pews or kneel in prayer, who are the Church. That is why, with all our present difficulties, we should respect those with whom we differ and seek to be along side each other as we try to resolve our differences 

Jan 23: We, the people
Re the case of people like Fr Tony Flannery: We, the people, who are voiceless need their voices to speak on our behalf. They must not be allowed to stand alone, for if they are silenced after so many years of faithful service to their Christian calling, then so too are we. This is not an issue of dissent, but a matter of freedom to speak, to discuss, to be heard and to seek together a way through difficulties.  

Jan 16: Our Baptism
We celebrate, each year, our birthday, the occasion when we achieved independence from our Mother’s nurturing care and brought joy to our family.  Would it not be a good idea to do the same for our anniversary of Baptism? And if we don’t know the date, how about finding out?

Jan 9: The Didache
It is mentioned by the Early Fathers and then appears to have been lost. It was only re-discovered in Constantinople in the late 1800s. It gives us a valuable insight to those formative years. It gives us direction for the Christian Community emerging from its Jewish root and reflects on the lived experience of those early Christian years.  

Jan 2: The space between words
Silence is precious and necessary for a Christian.  So as we welcome another year maybe we should seek those silent spaces more often, when we might listen for the Lord and he in turn might find us, waiting, in silent expectation