Bishop Colm O'Reilly with the choir of St Mary's, Keadue, Co. Roscommon during the church's rededication
    Mass is celebrated on Caher Island, Mayo, on August 15, the annual pilgrimage day to the island
    Bishop Kieran O'Reilly ahead of his ordination to the bishopric of Killaloe on August 29 in Ennis
    Newly- elevated Bishop Kieran O'Reilly of Killaloe after his ordination on August 29 at the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Ennis
    Bishop Colm O'Reilly with participants at the 2010 Youth Festival at Clonmacnois
    Fr John McCallion is put through his paces by coach Frank Gervin prior to a charity bout in aid of Derrylaughan football club
    Some of the congregation for the annual outdoor Mass at the cemetery in Ardcandrisk, Barntown, Co. Wexford
    Bishop Donal McKeown, author Alice Taylor, and Bishop Philip Boyce at the launch of In Praise of Priests in August
    Participants at the annual Intercession for Priests at All Hallows in Dublin in August
    The Mission Team of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word (with Bunclody PP Fr Aidan Jones) during its recent parish mission to Ferns

    Top Stories

    `Day of reparation would heal wounds'

    Michael Kelly

    The head of the independent child protection watchdog in the Catholic Church has called for a national day of reparation and urged bishops to hold assemblies of priests, religious and lay people to renew the Church.

    Writing in The Irish Catholic this week, John Morgan, who is chairman of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) called for an annual 'Reparation Sunday'. The event, he said, is ''primarily to help bind the wounds of all who suffered child abuse perpetrated within the Church - they are Christ's wounds and therefore they are our wounds too.

    ''Such a day of reparation must also lead to embracing the spiritual needs of all in our society who have been abused in childhood, and their families,'' he said.

    ...
    Pope prays for Pakistan

    Pope Benedict has expressed his condolences and solidarity with the suffering people of Pakistan.

    As Christian charities and Catholic dioceses within the country continue with attempts to provide for the millions affected by flood waters, the Pontiff issued a telegram to the head of Pakistan's bishops' conference, Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore.

    ''The Holy Father commends the deceased to the Almighty'' and ''prays for all involved in providing assistance to the victims,'' the papal message said.

    As floods continue to affect massive swathes of the country (the Indus river alone is now 18 miles wide), all Catholic dioceses are now engaged in supplying much needed supplies to the displaced, offering tents together with hygiene and kitchen kits...
    The heart is humanity's most trustworthy guide

    Next week I head off to Italy for the Meeting of Rimini, which runs from Sunday August 22 until the following Saturday. It is impossible to describe this event for someone who has never been. Its origin is Catholic, as is its driving ethos, but the religious dimension might not immediately strike the newcomer, not because this element has become diluted but because the modern sensibility tends not to recognise religion in its truest context.

    It is a vast indoor carnival, conducted annually in the Rimini Fiera, embracing everything from science to sport, via poetry, politics and philosophy. In the course of the week, some 800,000 people will pass through the vast venue to...

    Where is the transparency?

    In his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, under the section 'To my brother bishops' the Pope said: ''Only decisive action carried out with complete honesty and transparency will restore the respect and good will of the Irish people towards the Church.''

    The treatment of the resignations of Bishop Walsh and Bishop Field in Rome was neither decisive nor transparent, and the manner in which it has been handled since, would stretch the credulity of anyone calling it honest. The Vatican, we are told by Vatican Spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, doesn't comment on non-resignations - what a tidy and convenient answer, rich in bureaucratic correctness but lacking any respect for the laity. Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field don't want to speak either and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin...

    Comment

    Clericalism is still alive and well

    Another extraordinary and depressing story of child abuse and cover-up has emerged in the last week, this time from Belgium. The Catholic Church in Belgium, as in other parts of the world, has had its share of scandals and cover-ups.

    These scandals led in June to an extremely heavy-handed raid on Church offices by Belgian police that saw them go to the extreme of drilling holes into the tombs of two deceased prelates so they could insert cameras to search for files related to...

    Comment

    Media strategy still needed

    In his recent address to the movement Communion and Liberation at Rimini in Italy, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made several interesting comments about the relationship between the Church and media in Ireland today.

    He made a particularly astute observation that there are plenty of people in Ireland ''ready to comment on Church events with little knowledge of the nature of the Church''. As eager as many were to examine his address, there was a noticeable hesitancy to explore this particular comment. Perhaps it cut too close to the bone for many in the secular media. One sometimes gets the impression that a loud opinion is the only prerequisite needed to comment on the Church here in Ireland.

    The archbishop went on to describe as completely inadequate the belief that ''everything will be solved by a simple media strategy''. Diarmuid Martin is right. A media strategy is no panacea. If only our problems were so simple that they could be solved by a better communications policy. I made this point myself in a paper I delivered at a Church communications conference...