It is reported (Irish Catholic, 19 March 2026) that Bishop Alan McGuckian ‘thinks the door to female diaconate is shut and that his fellow Jesuit Pope Francis should have said so’.
We respectfully disagree.
Bishop Alan has spoken boldly. But has he listened to the ‘sense of faith’ of the overwhelming majority of Irish Catholics on this issue? To the latest authoritative papal magisterium arising out of the Synod on Synodality, to which he contributed by his participation?
March 3, 2026
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The first Sunday in Lent gave us the creation story from the Book of Genesis as our first reading at Mass.
Due to advances in knowledge, we now know that the real story of creation is much more ancient, complex, and continues to this day.
The story we heard at Mass is mythological, and, treated as such, it can open up for us some pathways into the mystery of creation and the creator.
THE IRISH RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS
For two centuries, after the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, the Irish people were persecuted for their loyalty to Catholicism as the British State converted to various forms of Protestantism. Harsh penal laws were enacted following the Jacobite-Williamite wars in the 1690’s. The primary purpose of these laws was to ensure that Irish Catholics remained poor, socially backward, and uneducated.
Then, after centuries of displacement, poverty and persecution, came the calamity of the Great Famine in the late 1840’s. Despite now being an intrinsic part of the United Kingdom, the British Government did little to alleviate the dire situation in Ireland due to the laissez-faire politics of the time. In
