Pastoral Letter for the Year of the Word 2019/2020 Read at all Masses on the weekend of 28/29 September 2019 “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St Jerome) My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Tomorrow (Monday 30th September) Cardinal Nichols will launch the Year of the Word, under the title “God who […]
Pastoral Letter read at all Masses on the weekend of 26/27 October 2019 My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ On Vocations Sunday in May, I invited, through a Pastoral Letter like this one, for men to come and meet me to find out more about becoming a Priest. Now I am offering the same […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ, I am pleased to have this opportunity to be with you through the written word today, Vocations Sunday. In the gospel chosen for today’s Mass we hear the final words of Jesus in which He makes reference to Himself as the Good Shepherd. He uses the image, to […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ, In late August this year, you may recall that the World Meeting of Families took place in Ireland in the presence of Pope Francis. The event was a little overshadowed by the revelations of historical child abuse cases in Ireland. However, I know, having spoken to some […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ, Happy feast day! Each year, today’s feast of Christ the King marks the end of the Church’s liturgical year and heralds the season of Advent. For many years now, today is also celebrated as National Youth Sunday. As some of you may know, I spent the […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters At a Service on New Year’s Eve in 2013, Pope Francis encouraged all those present (including himself!) to look back over the year and “courageously ask ourselves: ‘How did we live the life God gave us?’”. And he went on to say that there are: “So many people, marked by material […]