Welcome, Fáilte - Diocese of Cloyne

Jubilee 2025

Explore More

Welcome

Fáilte

Welcome

About the Diocese

Receive website news and announcements direct to your email

education

Resources for Schools

Homilies

Homilies offered by Bishop William Crean

Explore Homilies

Mission

Developing faith and ministry in the Diocese of Cloyne

Mission & Ministry

parishes

Discover Parishes

Welcome

Fáilte, Welcome

to the website for the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland

Bishop William Crean

01 October 2024

Sunday Oct 20th 2.00pm - 5.30pm

Pre-booking is essential

Contact the Parish Office:
021-4623749 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Parish Family Day 20th Oct 2024

01 October 2024

The Parish of Youghal is delighted to welcome the return of the image of Our Lady of Youghal in conjunction with the celebration of the 8th centenary of the Dominican presence in Ireland.

All are welcome to participate in this joyful celebration of the Dominicans contribution to our history of faith and their spreading of devotion to Our Lady of Graces.

For full details please see below.

Visit of the image of Our Lady of Graces to Youghal

Sunday 8th September, Mass was celebrated for the Indian Community in St. Mary’s Church, Carrigtwohill to celebrate the Birthday of Our Lady, followed by a Procession to Our Lady's Grotto and a celebration.

Munster Konkans, a community of families originating from Mangalore in South West India, and currently living in and around the Munster region, gathered together for the celebration of ‘Monthi Fest’ (Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on Sunday, 8th September.

This is the biggest family feast of the year in the Konkan culture, and is also celebrated as a harvest festival, where the first fruits, vegetables, and grains of the season are offered to God in a gratitude for His blessings.

Carrigtwohill Parish - Mass celebrated for the Indian Community

Bringing Lourdes to the Faithful

September 15^th - 16^th 2024

The visitation of the holy relics is an opportunity to have Lourdes come to our diocese so that we can all experience the pilgrimage in Lourdes at home in Cloyne.

Petitions

There will be an opportunity for pilgrims to leave petitions and personal intentions to Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette.

Petitions should be written at home and brought to the churches. A petition box will be located at the Marian shrines in the churches.

Veneration of the relics ends at 9pm each evening in both churches.

Our Lady of Lourdes help our faith!

Visit of the Relics of St. Bernadette to the Diocese of Cloyne

Page 1 of 3

Email Subscription

Receive diocesan news and announcements direct to your email

Latest Homily

29 Sep 2024 - Benemerenti Presentation Sr. Perpetua O'Donoghue

Latest Articles

Search

Coram Fratribus

Conversation with AC Wimmer

A conversation about the ecumenical declaration on ‘sexual diversity’ published today. You can find an English version of the interview by scrolling down. The online version is here.
Bischof Varden, könnten Sie uns etwas über die Ursprünge dieser Erklärung erzählen? Was Read More

Coram Fratribus

On ‘Gender Diversity’

While the big synod is going on in Rome, a more modest synodal enterprise has taken place in Norway, showing the usefulness of walking together towards a shared goal. A broadly ecumenical conversation about a controversial issue, so-called sexual and Read More

Coram Fratribus

28. Sunday B

Wisdom 7.7-11: The spirit of Wisdom came to me.
Hebrews 4.12-13: The word of God is alive and active.
Mark 10.17-27: Sell everything you own.
Our first reading is a paean to wisdom. Incomparably wonderful is wisdom! The text literally praises Read More

Coram Fratribus

An Unworthy Law Proposal Last March, Norway’s Council of Catholic Bishops responded to a hearing proposing new legislation on abortion. We asked for the proposal to be rejected. That call has met with no resonance. The proposal was recently subject to a public hearing at the Storting. A final call for responses is now ben made, with a deadline tomorrow, 16 October. Here is the text which the Council has submitted:
To the Committee for Health and Welfare, Stortinget
RE THE PROPOSAL FOR NEW LEGISLATION ON ABORTION
Norway’s Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) refers to the invitation issued by the Committee for Health and Welfare inviting written responses to Proposal 117/L, ‘Law on Abortion’, which will now be treated by the Storting.
The NCCB consists of the bishops who govern the Catholic Church in Norway, made up of the diocese of Oslo, and the prelatures of Trondheim and Tromsø. After the [Lutheran] Church of Norway, the Catholic Church is the country’s largest denomination, counting between 150,000 and 200,000 registered members. At present the NCCB is constituted by Bishop Bernt Eidsvig (bishop of Oslo) and Bishop Erik Varden (bishop of Trondheim and Apostolic Administrator of Tromsø).
In March the NCCB submitted its response to the ministry’s hearing regarding NOU 2023:29 Abortion in Norway: A New Law and Improved Service. Our response is mentioned a couple of times in the proposal put forward by the government of Prime Minister Støre. The NCCB notes with satisfaction that MPs from Senterpartiet expressed dissent on crucial points when the proposal was presented to the King in Council.
The NCCB refers to its previous statement. We cannot see that any element in the subsequent process has weakened our strong reservations with regard to the proposal. Nor can we see that government has taken any note at all of our strong objections to the proposal.
In the estimate of the NCCB current legislation on abortion and the practice ensuing from it are extremely problematic. The problematic aspects are exacerbated by the new proposal, partly on account of its statements of principle, partly on account of the proposal that the temporal limit for ‘free abortion’ shall be extended from the 12th to the 18th week of pregnancy, with further provision being made for abortion until the end of the 22nd week.
The law proposal pretends to balance the pregnant woman’s ‘right‘ to free abortion with respect for the unborn child (§ 1). The NCCB cannot see, however, that this statement of intent has had any effect at all on the material decisions made.
Whereas existing legislation lays down the purpose of keeping the number of abortions as low as possible, this purpose has been eliminated from the new text. The ministry’s proposal for ‘a new abortion law better adapted to today’s society’ appears as pure propaganda, unbased on any scientifically proven understanding of the embryo and its relationship with its mother, and with society. There is no sign anywhere in the proposal of engagement with a scientific fact: that human life begins at conception.
In the response already submitted by the NCCB we wrote: ‘Of course the state should not subjugate women. Of course women, as men, should enjoy autonomy and the right to dispose of their bodies. The question of abortion, however, cannot be reduced (as the Bill tends to reduce it) to a question of gender conflict. What makes the question complex is the fact that it touches, not just one subject – the pregnant woman – but two subjects, in as much as the unborn child must also be recognised as a person.’
The only case in which the proposal specifically rejects abortion is that of ‘selective interruptions of pregnancy … based on the embryo’s distinguishing features such as gender or potential handicap.’ Thereby ‘gender’ appears a category more worthy of protection than human life as such.
The NCCB notes that ‘capacity for independent life’ is no longer included as a decisive criterion against abortion; no, the proposed ‘right’ attaches purely to calculations of the length of pregnancy. In the Middle Ages, even Catholic philosophers and theologians connected the embryo’s human status with the length of pregnancy, basing themselves on Greek philosophy. The Church has long since distanced itself from this position, regarded as pure fantasy without scientific foundation. Yet this fantasy is a carrying principle in the proposed legislation. We wish to repeat this statement from our previous response: ‘In practical terms this presents us with the hypothetical scenario of two women both eighteen weeks pregnant turning up at the same hospital: one, desiring to interrupt her pregnancy, is referred to the abortion clinic; the other, desiring to keep her baby, is referred to the maternity ward.’
On the terms of the law proposal the least and most vulnerable human beings, supremely in need of protection, are considered objects, not subjects, and submitted to an unprincipled fate.
We do not primarily speak on behalf of ourselves, of the Catholic Church, or of Catholics in Norway. We are doing what has always been the Church’s call and task: we speak on behalf of the weakest, in this case unborn children with a personal history running to between four and five-and-half months. We speak up for them to the strong, in this case the politicians of the Storting, with a mandate to decide over life and death.
Norway’s Council of Catholic Bishops asks the Storting to reject the entire proposal, unworthy of a truly humane society in which each human individual is accorded respect.

Oslo, Trondheim, Tromsø, 15 October 2024

BERNT EIDSVIG CAN.REG
Bishop of Oslo
ERIK VARDEN OCSO
Bishop of Trondheim stift and Apostolic Administrator of Tromsø

Coram Fratribus

Conversation with AC Wimmer A conversation about the ecumenical declaration on ‘sexual diversity’ published today. You can find an English version of the interview by scrolling down. The online version is here.
Bischof Varden, könnten Sie uns etwas über die Ursprünge dieser Erklärung erzählen? Was hat zu ihrer Entstehung geführt und wie kam die Zusammenarbeit zwischen verschiedenen christlichen Konfessionen in Norwegen zustande?
Das Projekt hat eine Vorgeschichte in einer ökumenischen Erklärung zur Ehe aus dem Jahr 2016, bei der die katholischen Bischöfe ebenfalls Mitunterzeichner waren. Ein Seminar, das in diesem Frühjahr stattfand, regte den Gedanken an, dass es konstruktiv sein könnte, eine ähnliche Erklärung zur Frage der sexuellen und geschlechtlichen ‚Vielfalt‘ ins Auge zu fassen, ein Thema, das derzeit viel diskutiert wird und das Leben vieler Menschen zutiefst berührt.
Die Erklärung behandelt biologische Realitäten neben biblischen Lehren. Wie sehen Sie diesen Ansatz als Beitrag zu Diskussionen über Geschlecht und Sexualität in der heutigen norwegischen Gesellschaft?
Ich denke, es ist wichtig, diese Diskussion so objektiv wie möglich zu führen. Für Christen hat die Bibel objektive Autorität – aber wir wissen, dass viele in einer multikulturellen Gesellschaft dies nicht anerkennen. Es ist also wichtig zu zeigen, dass die christliche anthropologische Vision, ihre Vision davon, was ein Mensch ist, was es heißt, eine Frau oder ein Mann zu sein, mit empirischen Daten übereinstimmt. Ein christliches Verständnis des Lebens ist eminent konkret.
Es umfasst den Menschen in seiner Ganzheit und geht davon aus, dass unser Selbstverständnis nicht auf eine Idee im Geist, eine individuelle Wahrnehmung reduzierbar ist, sondern in unserem Körper, unseren Genen eingeschrieben ist. Es kann schwierig, manchmal schmerzhaft sein, die subjektiven und objektiven Dimensionen der Identität in Einklang zu bringen: Ein Großteil der Weltliteratur beschäftigt sich mit diesem Konflikt. Aber um zu gedeihen, um Freiheit zu finden, müssen wir von der Realität ausgehen, wie sie ist. Der Versuch, die Realität auf der Grundlage persönlicher Wahrnehmung anzupassen, ist ein riskantes Unterfangen, besonders wenn es beginnt, den Verletzlichen, Einsamen und Verletzten unmögliche Versprechen zu machen. Ein wichtiger Teil unserer Erklärung konzentriert sich auf den Respekt, den wir Kindern schulden. Er betont unsere Pflicht, sie sich selbst so schätzen zu lassen, wie sie sind, fähig zu Beziehungen und Freundschaften, ohne sie in eine selbstreferenzielle Vision von sich und der Welt zu locken.
Wenn diese Note gehört wird, wird sie die öffentliche Diskussion bereichern und ihr Nuancen verleihen.
Könnten Sie einige Einblicke in die pastoralen Ansätze geben, die Sie angesichts dieser Erklärung in Betracht ziehen? Wie planen Sie, diese Lehren aufrechtzuerhalten und gleichzeitig allen Mitgliedern Ihrer Diözese zu dienen?
Im letzten Jahr verfasste unsere nordische Bischofskonferenz einen Hirtenbrief über menschliche Sexualität. Wir bestanden in diesem Text darauf: Wir sind für alle da, um alle zu begleiten. Das ist die Aufgabe und das Privileg jedes Seelsorgers.
Wir glauben, wie die Erklärung sagt, dass jeder Mensch von Gott geliebt ist. Wir sind verpflichtet, unsere Begegnungen auf dieser Grundlage zu führen. Aber jemanden zu lieben, bedeutet nicht unbedingt, ihn in allem zu bestätigen, was er tut und sagt: Das Evangelium zeigt uns das deutlich.
Als Hirten haben wir keine Illusionen über die Komplexität des menschlichen Lebens und der Beziehungen. Wir möchten komplexe Situationen mitfühlend und kreativ begleiten. Gleichzeitig sind wir dazu ordiniert, nicht selbstgemachte Vorstellungen zu verkünden und zu lehren, sondern das Evangelium Christi, wie es vom Lehramt der katholischen Kirche gelehrt und dargelegt wird, einer Kirche, die nicht irgendein ferner, zynischer, bürokratischer Körper ist, sondern – wie Johannes XXIII. in einer entscheidenden Enzyklika, Mater et Magistra, betonte – eine Mutter und Lehrerin, die uns Gutes wünscht und eine immense, klarsichtige Erfahrung der Menschheit hat.
Die Kirche versucht, uns über unsere zu engen Kategorien und Erwartungen hinauswachsen zu lassen, hin zu jener Fülle des Seins, die die christliche Tradition Heiligkeit nennt, eine Teilhabe am Leben Gottes selbst. Dies ist das Ziel, auf das wir hinweisen müssen, in der Überzeugung, dass jeder Mensch, egal wie widersprüchlich sein Ausgangspunkt ist, es durch Ausdauer und Gnade erreichen und dadurch tiefes Glück erlangen kann.”
Das Dokument erwähnt Bedenken hinsichtlich des Ansatzes der öffentlichen Behörden zur Gendertheorie. Könnten Sie die Herausforderungen, denen Christen in dieser Hinsicht gegenüberstehen, näher erläutern?
Es gibt heutzutage nur wenige Länder in der Welt, die den öffentlichen Diskurs auf der Grundlage einer einheitlichen Vision der Realität, der Wahrheit führen. Unsere Welt ist durch Vielfalt definiert. Das ist in vielerlei Hinsicht eine Bereicherung, ein Segen.
Das Risiko besteht jedoch darin, dass wir den Versuch aufgeben, die Gesellschaft auf teilbaren Vorstellungen zu gründen. Wie kann eine Gesellschaft so wachsen und gedeihen? Wir enden mit einer zersplitterten Bürgerordnung. Dies wird dringend bei Fragen, die das menschliche Leben, die Würde und die Identität berühren.
Man läuft Gefahr, von Theorien, sogar Ideologien, mitgerissen zu werden. Das zwanzigste Jahrhundert zeigt uns, mit unvorstellbaren Kosten an Leid, wie zerbrechlich Theorien sein können und wie vorübergehend. Die Gendertheorie hatte einige Jahre lang Rückenwind, aber wir sind uns zunehmend der Menschen bewusst, die davon schwer verletzt wurden.
Die Folgen der Tavistock-Klinik-Affäre in England sind ein bekanntes Beispiel für die Auseinandersetzung mit diesen Verletzungen; es ist bei weitem nicht das einzige. Der Chor der Stimmen, die gehört werden wollen, wird immer lauter. Das ist eine gute Sache.
Unsere Erklärung besagt: ‚Meinungs- und Gewissensfreiheit sowie Religionsfreiheit sind für uns zentrale und wesentliche Werte.‘ Innerhalb dieser Freiheit glauben wir, dass auch unsere Stimme es verdient, gehört zu werden. Und wie wir sagen, sind wir der Meinung, dass öffentliche Behörden ihr Mandat überschreiten, wenn sie versuchen, die Anpassung an Theorien durchzusetzen, die, nun ja, genau das sind – keine ausreichende Grundlage für Gesetzgebung oder Indoktrination, zum Beispiel in Schulbüchern.”
Als katholischer Bischof, der eine ökumenische Erklärung unterzeichnet, wie sehen Sie den Einfluss dieser Erklärung auf die christlichen Antworten auf aktuelle Debatten über Geschlecht und Sexualität in den nordischen und anderen Ländern?
Unser Ziel ist es, konstruktiv beizutragen. Unsere Erklärung ist weder zornig noch überspannt. Sie entsteht, im Gebet, aus unserem Engagement für unsere Nation und unserem Wunsch, sie aufzubauen. Wir bekräftigen die Kostbarkeit des Lebens jeder Person, in der wir eine Schwester, einen Bruder, einen potenziellen Freund erkennen wollen, indem wir sie so weit wie möglich so sehen, wie Gott sie sieht, das heißt, mit immenser Hoffnung.

***

Could you tell us about the origins of this declaration? What prompted its creation, and how did the collaboration between different Christian denominations in Norway come about?
The project has a prehistory in an ecumenical declaration on marriage from 2016, to which the Catholic bishops were likewise cosignatories. A seminar held this spring prompted the idea that it might be constructive to envisage a similar declaration on the question of sexual and gender ‘diversity’, an issue much debated now, touching many people’s lives intimately.
The declaration addresses biological realities alongside biblical teachings. How do you see this approach contributing to discussions on gender and sexuality in contemporary Norwegian society?
It is vital, I think, to conduct this conversation on terms that are as objective as possible. For Christians, the Bible carries objective authority — but we recognise that many, in a multicultural society, do not recognise it. It matters, then, to show that the Christian anthropological vision, its vision of what a human being is, of what it is to be a woman or a man, concords with empirical data. A Christian understanding of life is eminently concrete. It embraces the human being in its fullness, and holds that our notion of self is not reducible to an idea in the mind, an individual perception, but is inscribed in our body, our genes.
It can be difficult, sometimes painful, to harmonise the subjective and objective dimensions of identity: a massive part of world literature deals with this conflict. But in order to thrive, to find freedom, we must set out from reality as it is. To try to customise reality on the basis of personal perception is a risky enterprise, especially when it starts holding out impossible promises to the vulnerable, lonely, and hurt. A key section of our declaration focuses on the respect we owe children. It stresses our duty to let them appreciate themselves as they are, capable of relationship and friendship, without luring them into a vision of self and of the world that is self-referential. If this note is heard, it will enrich the public conversation and give it nuance.
Could you share some insights into the pastoral approaches you’re considering in light of this declaration? How do you plan to balance upholding these teachings while ministering to all members of your diocese?
Last year, our Nordic bishops’ conference wrote a Pastoral Letter on Human Sexuality. We insisted in that text: ‘we are here for everyone, to accompany all’. That is the taks and privilege of every pastor. We believe, as the declaration states, that each human being is loved by God. We are committed to conduct our encounters on that basis. But to love someone is not necessarily to affirm them in all they do and say: the Gospel shows us that clearly.
As pastors we have no illusions about the complexity of human life and relationships. We wish to accompany complex situations compassionately, creatively. At the same time we are ordained to proclaim and teach, not homemade notions of our own, but Christ’s Gospel as taught and expounded by the magisterium of the Catholic Church, a Church that isn’t some remote, cynical, bureaucratic body, but as John XXIII pointed out in a crucial encyclical, Mater et Magistra — a mother and teacher that wishes us well and has immense, clear-sighted experience of humanity.
The Church seeks to let us grow beyond our too narrow categories and expectations, towards that fullness of being which the Christian tradition calls holiness, a participation in God’s own life. This is the goal towards which we need to point, in the conviction that every human being, no matter how contradiction-ridden his or her starting point, can by perseverance and grace achieve it, and thereby reach deep happiness.
The document mentions concerns about public authorities’ approach to gender theory. Could you elaborate on the challenges Christians are facing in this regard?
Few are the countries in the world, these days, that pursue public discourse on the basis of a unifying vision of reality, of truth. Our world is defined by diversity. This is in many ways an enrichment, a boon. The risk is, though, that we relinquish the attempt to found society on sharable notions. How can a society grow and flourish that way? We end up with a civic order that is atomised. This becomes urgent in questions that touch human life, dignity, and identity. One risks being swept away by theories, even ideologies. The twentieth century shows us, at an unimaginable cost of suffering, how brittle theories can be, and how transitory. Gender theory has had wind in the sails for some years, but we are increasingly conscious of people badly bruised by it. The fallout of the Tavistock Clinic affair in England is a well known example of engagement with these bruises; it is far from the only one.
The chorus of voices demanding to be heard is growing. That is a good thing. Our declaration states: ‘Freedom of expression and conscience, as well as religious freedom, are for us central and essential values’. Within that freedom, we believe our voice, too, deserves to be heard. And as we say, we hold that public authorities exceed their mandate by attempting to enforce adaptation to theories that are, well, precisely that — not a sufficient basis for legislation or indoctrination, for instance in school textbooks.
As a Catholic bishop signing an ecumenical declaration, how do you envision this impacting Christian responses to current debates on gender and sexuality in the Nordic and other countries?
Our aim is to contribute constructively. Ours isn’t an angry or overwrought statement. It is born, prayerfully, of commitment to our nation and of our desire to build it up. We affirm the preciousness of life, of each person — in whom we wish to recognise a sister, a brother, a potential friend, seeing them as much as possible as God sees them, that is, with immense hope.
Caravaggio’s Narcissus, in the Gallerie Barberini. Where do I seek the source of the reality whose image I am?

Coram Fratribus

Blindness & Sight The trajectory traced by St Teresa of Ávila reaches from the outset right to the loftiest end of spiritual life. She counsels souls who wobble ‘like hens, with feet tied together’ but also those who soar like eagles. Nor does she forget the perplexing darkness of the long intermediate stage when the soul, like a timid dove, is dazzled by rare glimpses of God’s Sun while, ‘when looking at itself, its eyes are blinded by clay. The little dove is blind’. Everything she writes, she tells us, is born of experience. For long years she herself ‘had neither any joy in God nor pleasure in the world’. She lived in an in-between state, a no-woman’s land. What changed it? No summary can do justice to her subtle account of the transformative miracle wrought in her by God. We can, though, get some sense of its impact. Teresa testifies how, at a decisive juncture, ‘todos los que me conocían veían claro estar otra mi alma’: her soul had become other; it was no longer what it used to be.
From a conference given in 2015.

Coram Fratribus

On ‘Gender Diversity’ While the big synod is going on in Rome, a more modest synodal enterprise has taken place in Norway, showing the usefulness of walking together towards a shared goal. A broadly ecumenical conversation about a controversial issue, so-called sexual and gender ‘diversity’, has issued in a joint statement intended to function as a roadmap by which Christians may find their bearings in difficult terrain where strong feelings are expressed and where we encounter vulnerability, sometimes great pain. Vulnerability and pain require a response of respectful gentleness; epistemological confusion, meanwhile, calls out for clear thinking and lucid definition. The statement attempts to balance these considerations, conscious of a special responsibility with regard to our society’s children. Thirty Christian organisations and denominations stand as cosignatories, the Council of Catholic Bishops side by side with the Pentecostal movement. In a spirit of parrhesia, we present this text as a constructive contribution to the public forum. Below is the text in English. It is also available in Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, and German.
You may also wish to read (or re-read) the Nordic Bishops’ Conference Pastoral Letter on Human Sexuality from 2023.

***

A Joint Christian Declaration on
‘Diversity of Gender and Sexuality’
Based on our faith in the Bible as the Word of God,
on the recognition of biological realities and
out of respect for the human rights of children
we affirm the following principles:
ON THE BASIS OF THE BIBLE
God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He has created human beings male and female.
All people are created in the image of God. All are deeply loved by Him, have the same inherent human dignity, and are equally precious.
Marriage is a divine institution inscribed in natural law. Marriage unites one man and one woman. Founded by God, confirmed by Christ and the Apostles, this institution of marriage has been recognised by the Christian church throughout the centuries (cf. Genesis 1:26-28 and Matthew 19:4-6).
Marriage between one man and one woman constitutes the Biblical framework for sexual relationships. Other forms of sexual relationships represent a ‘diversity’ at odds with the Bible’s theology of creation and with Jesus’s ethical teaching, even when these relationships are marked by long-lasting fidelity.
The doctrine and example of Jesus teach us that every human being is our neighbour. However deeply we may disagree about matters of faith and our very worldview, about ethics and moral codes, we urge all to encounter one another with respect, in a spirit of friendship.
ON THE BASIS OF BIOLOGY
There are only two biological sexes: female and male. The sex of each individual is determined at conception.
Our sex is principally determined by the size and function of the reproductive cells. Women produce large reproductive cells (egg cells); men produce small reproductive cells (sperm cells).
Further to to the crucial importance of reproductive cells, female or male chromosomes (XX or XY) are woven into almost all the body’s thousands of billions of cells. The affirmation that there are two biological sexes, and no more, is not invalidated by the fact that some children are born with chromosomal anomalies or by the fact that an extremely small number of children (in Norway, 10-15 per year) are born with unclearly defined genitalia.
The notion that gender is a subjective category and that sexual and gender identity can be freely chosen on the basis of feelings or preference, irrespective of biological sex, is based on ideology. It has no biological or scientific foundation.
It is immensely problematic to teach children and young people that there are ‘boys, girls, and other genders’; that there exists an ‘interior gender’; that they may happen to have been ‘born in the wrong body’; and that gender is ‘fluid’. This manner of influence may lead to confusion, insecurity, and destructive life choices for many children and young people.
The relationship between mother, father, and child is biologically singular. Divinely ordained, it is the foundation of the family and of society.
OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE CHILD
Children are a gift from God. It is no adult’s right to have a child.
Human beings originate from the egg of one woman and the sperm of one man. Neither mother nor father, nor the wider family of either, is superfluous or irrelevant in a child’s life.
It is a human right for every child, as far as possible, ‘to know and be cared for by his or her parents’ (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 7.1).
To deprive children deliberately and intentionally of the right to know their biological mother or father, and their wider families – for example through assisted fertilisation or surrogacy – violates God’s will for creation and children’s rights.
Regardless of the manner in which they are conceived, all children are equally precious, equally loved by God.
Children’s rights and the best interests of the child must take precedence over the demands and wishes of adults – in secular society and in the church.
CORE VALUES
We regard the Bible as our highest authority in matters of faith, doctrine, and life. As Christian churches, congregations, and organisations, and as individuals, we commit ourselves to the truths, values, and convictions expressed in this declaration.
We wish to encounter all people with respect, reasonably and kindly – ‘speaking the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15). But we will not compromise on Biblical truths, even if these truths should conflict with political pressure or societal trends.
We reject, in every setting, all forms of bullying and ostracism, manipulation and coercion, harassment and hatred, sabotage and violence.
We hold that much of the content of modern gender ideology, indeed the very concept of ‘gender and sexual diversity’, is not based on medical and natural science. We find it to be incompatible with our faith, thought, and worldview as Christians.
We stand up for a democratic, pluralistic, and open-minded society where there is space for diversity of beliefs characterised by mutual respect. Freedom of expression and conscience, as well as religious freedom, are for us central and essential values.
We hold that public authorities and governmental bodies exceed their mandate and power by attempting to pressure citizens and organisations to adapt to ‘queer theory’ on gender, sexuality, and marriage. Such activism on the part of government violates religious freedom and freedom of conscience, as well as the rights of parents.
We, the signatories of this declaration, adhere to the Declaration on Marriage published in 2016 by 36 Norwegian Christian organisations and denominations. We stand united with hundreds of millions of Christians of almost all denominations worldwide.
Some 30 Norwegian Christian organisations and denominations are joint publishers of this declaration. You may find a list of the co-publishers and familiarise yourself with resources elaborating the content of this declaration on the project website www.Felleskristen.no
All co-publishers of this declaration support the intent and message of the document. They are free, however, to express reserve regarding specific formulations in the text.
We encourage all who support this declaration to share it generously with others.

Coram Fratribus

28. Sunday B Wisdom 7.7-11: The spirit of Wisdom came to me.
Hebrews 4.12-13: The word of God is alive and active.
Mark 10.17-27: Sell everything you own.
Our first reading is a paean to wisdom. Incomparably wonderful is wisdom! The text literally praises it to the skies. If we take it seriously, it is almost shocking to see how much it considers wisdom to be worth: ‘I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light.’
Honestly, for what purpose would we risk our wellbeing, looks, and outlook?
If we look up ‘wise’ in a dictionary, the definition is ‘learned and prudent’. Biblically speaking such a definition is quite inadequate. In Scripture wisdom appears not so much as a quality as a presence. In Proverbs, chapter 8, wisdom herself offers us a poetic autobiography: ‘I was set up at the first’, she says, ‘before the beginning of the earth’. No grain of dust had yet been brought into existence. ‘I was there, when he made firm the skies above. I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always.’ This rejoicing can be understood as play, and has often been translated thus. This is worth noticing. For the description is repeated: ‘I rejoiced [or played] in his inhabited world and delighted in the sons of men.’
When we hear the word ‘wisdom’ we associate it with something earnest and grave, with thick books, furrowed brows, and long white beards. There’s something geriatric about modernity’s wisdom. The wisdom of Scripture, by contrast, is playful and young. It represents God’s firstborn and is divine, a bridge between time and eternity, created matter and uncreated Light.
Wisdom is the principle allowing us to look on the world we inhabit, heaven and earth, and ask, not just ‘What?’ and ‘How?’, but ‘Why?’ – and provides an answer to that question. Wisdom corresponds to a longing rooted deep in man, yearning for more than just a discernment of patterns in things, seeking to understand and to know. Our world today anaesthetises this longing. It is content just to count and measure. It is concerned with algorithms, not metaphysics, and has largely shelved the question ‘Why?’. Yet that questions vibrates within us. It is good, therefore to be recalled to wisdom’s claim, to be bidden to follow it wholeheartedly. Only when once again we start considering the purpose and finality of things, of life, of the universe, will a renewal of our weary civilisation come about. Only then will we see our task as human beings no longer just as an anxious battle for survival against all sorts of political, ecological and digital odds, understanding it instead as a creative vocation. That vocation will resemble a high form of play. True play is serious: anyone who has eyes to see children play knows that. But at the same time play is marked by wonderful lightness and joy. Lightness and joy! These are qualities which our depressed world desperately needs. We are commissioned to impart those qualities.
I noted the connection between wisdom and prudence. It is real. Prudence is a desirable virtue. The Romans called it the mother of all virtues. To be prudent is to be capable of rational discernment; to know when it it is right to hold back, when to let go; to distinguish between good and evil; to plan responsibly. Prudence is praised in the Gospel. Think of the parable of the virgins with their lamps, or of the servants asked to invest their talents. Think of what Jesus said to the crowd who ambled after him, more or less committedly: ‘Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?’ The message is clear: one who wants to be a disciple of Jesus must gather and save resources – and for that purpose prudence is needed.
Prudence is a prerequisite for Christian living, but sooner or later it meets its limit. That limit is put before us in today’s Gospel by way of an example. The young man who comes to Jesus has since childhood lived prudently and well: he has kept the commandments, honoured his parents, and managed his inheritance well – it has made him ‘very rich’. Jesus approves of all this. He sees that the young man is an honourable person of good will. To live well is to him a matter of course: ‘But Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days!’ When Jesus hears this exclamation, something remarkable happens, something unique in the Gospel. Mark writes that ‘Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him’. From this we learn that a man’s good intentions can touch the heart of God. God rejoices, as on the seventh day, to see his image unfold in creation, to see men and women rise to their full stature.
Such women and men God wishes to lead further, beyond the boundaries of material virtue in order to know God’s love from within. To receive such a call is a wonderful grace. It is also scary. All at once I am faced with absolute choices: Do I really desire treasure in heaven, or do I prefer to live undisturbedly on earth? Do I want eternal life, where earthly luggage must be left behind on the doorstep, or would I rather snuggle down in a comfortable nest in time? By all means, not everyone is called to be a St Francis, who in the market place of Assisi put off his very tunic so as wholly poor to follow the poor Christ. But all of us are called to evaluate earthly goods, and earthly values, in the light of God’s kingdom. The empirical criteria of prudence are not, then, enough. We need wisdom’s creative, playful, audacious, confident strength. And all of us will, one day, stand face to face with eternity. ‘Pray for us’, we plead in each Hail Mary, ‘now and at the hour of our death.’ Whether that hour is near at hand or far away, none of us knows. But we know it will come. What will we be holding on to then? It is good to ask this question with serenity from time to time so that we can order our priorities. For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
Lift up your hearts! Amen.

The Andromeda galaxy. What does the boundless universe mean and towards which finality does it move? Wikimedia Commons.

Today we celebrate St Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr.
He died a martyr in Rome c107. He urged Christians to unity in and through the Eucharist and around their local Bishop. 5 Likes

Posted: 20 hours ago

Photos from Radio Maria - Ireland's post 10 Likes

Posted: Yesterday

9 Likes

Posted: 2 days ago

Today we celebrate St Teresa of Ávila.
1515-82, deeply contemplative, highly active and practical, established Carmelite convents under a reformed rule and wrote much on prayer and the spiritual life. Patron of Spain.
Pray for us St Teresa 🙏 5 Likes

Posted: 2 days ago

Photos from Cloyne Diocese's post Next Sunday is Mission Sunday - envelopes will be available in all Parishes and a special collection will be taken up at weekend Masses
www.missio.ie
#missionsunday2024 6 Likes

Posted: 3 days ago

Ballymacoda & Ladysbridge Parish Family Day 20th Oct 2024

Sunday Oct 20th 2.00pm - 5.30pm

Pre-booking is essential Contact the Parish Office:021-4623749 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Visit of the image of Our Lady of Graces to Youghal

The Parish of Youghal is delighted to welcome the return of the image of Our Lady of Youghal in conjunction with the celebration of the 8th centenary of the Dominican presence in Ireland.

Carrigtwohill Parish - Mass celebrated for the Indian Community

Sunday 8th September, Mass was celebrated for the Indian Community in St. Mary’s Church, Carrigtwohill to celebrate the Birthday of Our Lady, followed by a Procession to Our Lady's Grotto and a celebration.

Visit of the Relics of St. Bernadette to the Diocese of Cloyne

Bringing Lourdes to the Faithful

September 15th - 16th 2024

Email Subscription

Latest Homily

Latest Articles

Search

Pre-booking is essential

Contact the Parish Office:
021-4623749 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

September 15^th - 16^th 2024