SHARING THE GOOD NEWS

Monthly Newsletter of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Columba Centre, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co Kildare

Issue 1 – November 2013

Bishop Nulty reaffirms Church teaching on Marriage  

Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin and a member of the National Executive of Accord Catholic Marriage Care Service, responding to the announcement of a same-sex referendum in 2015 said: “Married love is a unique form of love between a man and woman which has a special benefit for the whole of society.

“With others of no particular religious view, the Church regards the family based on marriage between a woman and a man as the single most important institution in any society. To change the nature of marriage would be to undermine it as the fundamental building block of our society. The Church will therefore participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum and will seek with others to reaffirm the rational basis for holding that marriage should be reserved for the unique and complimentary relationship between a woman and a man from which the generation and upbringing of children is uniquely possible.

“The debate at the heart of the referendum announced by the Government is not about equality or about the false separation of a religious view of marriage from the civil view of marriage. It is about the very nature of marriage itself and the importance society places on the role of mothers and fathers in bringing up children.” See full text on www.catholicbishops.ie.

Cardinal Brady launches The Family Prayer Book

Cardinal Seán Brady recently launched a new family prayer book from the Bishops’ Council for   Marriage and the Family. Launching the prayer book he said: “We are all familiar with that saying ‘the family that prays together, stays together’ and in launching this new family prayer book I am encouraging families to do just that – to take time out for prayer. This prayer book is a very accessible and user friendly        collection of prayers we know, prayers we may have forgotten and new prayers. It is available from Veritas shops nationwide and online at www.veritas.ie.”

Archbishop Martin preaches on justice for all in society

At Mass for the beginning of the Michaelmas Law Term in October, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said: “Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to the men and women of An Garda Síochána who daily face the risks of being in the front line against an ever more sophisticated and unscrupulous world of crime and corruption.

“The Holy Spirit whom we invoke today on all those who are involved in the administration and fostering of justice in our society is the Spirit of truth. Our prayer is that all of us [will act with] … a care and respect for the truth of the other.”

See www.dublindiocese.ie for text.

Pope Francis’ tweet of the month: If money and material things become the centre of our lives, they seize us and make us slaves.  @Pontifex

News SNIPPETS

• November is the month dedicated to the remembrance of and prayer for the faithful departed.
• A special Church collection will be taken up at Masses on the weekend of 16 and 17 November to support the work of Trócaire and other Church agencies, such as Caritas, in response to the grave humanitarian crisis in Syria and the Middle East region.
• Year of Faith will conclude on 24 November, Feast of Christ the King.
• Recent Permanent Deacon ordinations in Armagh, Dromore and Kildare & Leighlin brings to 28 the total number of Permanent Deacons for the Church in Ireland.

Produced by the Catholic Communications Office of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.