Crannóggy Island

Introduction Yesterday was Father’s Day. As usual my children and grandchildren gathered to celebrate the day.   After a meal and a few drinks, my daughter, now in her forties, surprised me when she said: “You’ve been different the last ten years Dad. I wish you’d been like this when we were young.” My two sons agreed. I was heartened when my four-year-old grandson came to my defence; “Granddad’s got super-powers,” he said. Our favourite game involves Marvel figures My twelve-year-old granddaughter simply said somewhat sternly ,”Mum!” She and I share an interest in history, particularly Winston Churchill. It was all said in good humour and I brushed the remark off, but it led me to reflect on the role of fatherhood and the pressures facing men balancing finances, career, and home-life; pressures more intense today.. Fatherhood Today Fatherhood today is often confused or diminished. The Catholic Church offers a clear, and positive vision: fatherhood is not just a role - it...

  Introduction The British Government is actively considering the use of chemical castration - the administration of libido-suppressing drugs - for certain sex offenders as part of wider criminal-justice reforms aimed at reducing re-offending and alleviating prison overcrowding. British Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has announced plans to extend a scheme employing selective serotonin-re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and anti-androgens (i.e. chemical castration), to reduce sexual offending and is contemplating making the “treatment” mandatory for high-risk offenders (paedophiles and rapists), including those on suspended sentences. The proposal has two principal elements: Voluntary participation – Offenders may elect to undergo chemical castration within a structured rehabilitation programme and, by demonstrating commitment, earn credits towards early release. Mandatory treatment – Compulsory administration is being explored for the most se...

Something a bit different ....   Introduction Of late I’ve been contemplating more and more the tension between the beauty and cruelty of nature; the beauty and cruelty that exists too between people. As I watch my grandchildren grow, I wonder how the world will treat and shape them, and I try to reconcile my belief in a good and caring God with a God who allows a world where survival so often demands suffering, competition, and death? Where humans, created in His image, inflict so much suffering on one another. Theologians and philosophers have wrestled with this since the dawn of human self-awareness. However, this is not the place for me to review the various “solution.” I want to offer something more experiential. Jesus’ teaching about sparrows and God’s love (Matthew 10: 29-31), doesn’t explain suffering - it affirms God's intimate awareness  within  it. God does not promise to remove every sorrow, but to be present in the smallest lives, in the falling of a sin...

Personally, I rather like the look of the new Pope and appreciated the devote way he celebrated his first Papal Mass, his early homilies and his general manner.  Well, I’ve read numerous articles on Pope Leo XIV – most being preoccupied with whether he’s a “conservative” or a “progressive.” It’s a debate dominated by American social media. Many comments posted on sites - both “conservative” and “progressive”- fill me with unease about the condition of the Church. But, then I remind myself, social media and the divisiveness and the competing echo-chambers these sites encourage, is not representative of ordinary Catholics nor of the world-wide Church.  That all said, and despite its 'click bait' title, this article in the European Conservative by Sebastian Morello caught my eye and whilst written from a traditionalist perspective, impressed as well-balanced and insightful. Enjoy …. it's unedited ...  Pope Leo XIV a Secret Conservative? So far, the signs are good. Bisho...

 As  Aleteia  commented: Beautiful : There's hardly another word for Pope Leo XIV's first Mass. The vibrant colours of the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel contrasted with the dazzling white vestments of row after row of cardinals, punctuated in places by a brightly-dressed cardinal of the Eastern Churches. The perfectly intoned melodies of the men and boys of the Sistine Chapel choir and the precise careful movements of the monsignors in charge of papal ceremonies. It is the Church in all her splendor, proud and joyous with her new Successor of Peter. The new Pope then began his first homily in English: I begin with a word in English -- and the rest is in Italian -- but I want to repeat the words from the Responsorial Psalm: "I will sing a new song to the Lord because he has done marvels." And indeed not just with me but with all of us, my brother cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to recognize the marvels that the Lord has done, the blessings th...