Is it right to fear God? What is the difference between a destructive fear and a “holy trepidation”? An Advent homily by Fr Stephen Wang: Look around you at the chapel walls. Look at the […]
Br Conor McDonough
Br Conor McDonough OP is a student in the Irish Province of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). Some of his posts were first published at http://dominicansinteractive.com/ They are re-posted here with permission.
Br Conor McDonough's Latest Posts
Eight Songs for the Easter Octave
Divna Ljubojevic, Christos Anesti x https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRlJC-ckL4 Normally Orthodox liturgies are considerably more verbose than their Latin equivalents, but the opposite is the case for the Easter proclamation. While the Exsultet lasts ten minutes, the Byzantine […]
Holy Saturday: feeling His absence; yearning for His presence
Anyone visiting a church or chapel this Holy Saturday will meet the shock of an open and empty tabernacle, and an extinguished sanctuary lamp. We all know it’s coming, but each year it’s upsetting to […]
Identifying the Crucified One
Who is hanging on the Cross today? Who is it? An innocent man, wrongly condemned? A great man, put to death by the small-minded? A radical free thinker, cornered by conservatives? The Incarnate Word of […]
John Legend, Self-Gift, and the Last Supper
When a video has 800 million views on YouTube, it’s probably fair to say that it’s tapping into something pretty deep in our common humanity. John Legend’s love song, ‘All of Me’, is one such […]
Youth 2000 Summer Festivals coming up in Ireland and the UK
Take a look at this video about the Youth 2000 experience. It’s made by the Irish team, but it represents the spirit of Youth 2000 wherever you are in the world. If you are a […]
How to enter into the Passion and Resurrection of Christ
Lent is passing so quickly and we are in the final days before Holy Week. I don’t know about you, but I always find the emotion of Holy Week quite hard to take. Perhaps it […]
Where is Ireland going? What would St Patrick say and do today?
The video above, produced by Fáilte Ireland (the Irish tourist board) has been doing the rounds recently. It was produced in honour of St Patrick’s Day, and its central message is, ‘Ireland Inspires’. It celebrates the […]
The Scent of Lemons: the non-neutrality of new media and emerging technologies
In the last 20 years or so, the revolution in communications technology has radically changed the lives of billions of ordinary people. In many ways, this technology has made our lives easier: communication is speedier, […]
The wisdom and continuing relevance of St Thomas Aquinas
The feastday of St Thomas Aquinas passed by unnoticed to most of the world last week, but for those who have come to know him as a steady guide in thinking about the biggest questions […]
Horcruxes, technology addiction, and the search for personal wholeness
Just in case you don’t know what a Horcrux is: Slughorn: “Well, well, it can’t hurt to give you an overview, of course. Just so that you understand the term. A Horcrux is the word […]
The ‘Catholics and youth culture’ problem: how to use the culture without dumbing down the faith
There is an ongoing debate about how much the Catholic Church should embrace youth culture in its quest to reach out to young people. What happens when the Catholic faith meets contemporary culture? What are […]
Religion, celibacy and ‘Game of Thrones’
‘Celibacy and Game of Thrones’. Now there’s a phrase you probably won’t find anywhere else on the Internet. ‘Game of Thrones’ is the most successful show on television at the moment and, like a lot […]
What kind of loyalty do we owe to political authority?
If you haven’t seen the picture of Manu Tuilagi giving ‘bunny ears’ to David Cameron you’re not spending enough time online. Was it a puerile gesture? Certainly. But it was pretty hilarious too, in my […]
