Sean Walsh

"A long walk down a short corridor into a circle of strangers... Emma across from me, strangest of them all..."

Tackle Clericalism first – then reform the priesthood. Peter Daly.  If the priesthood is to be reformed, we must tackle the disease of clericalism. It won’t be easy. Clericalism is so deeply ingrained in our structures and way of thinking that we almost can’t imagine how things could be otherwise. In his 2018 “Letter to the People of God,” Pope...

Many Catholics are overwhelmed, shocked, appalled, traumatized by the sex abuse crisis that is tainting their Church. And so am I. But what can we do? Above all, we must express our compassion and empathy for the victims, whose suffering is much greater than ours. This crisis demands that we transform the Church, which is made up of us all....

The weekend we took off for a break, leaving her in charge… Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and her promising she’d lock up, switch on the alarm, share with Ciara in Carsons until we got back? Sure we were hardly gone – treading Friday afternoon traffic – when she was on the phone, ringing round, spreading the word: Jenny’s...

There was this shrine, as I recall. Oh, well known it was, locally… We walked the three miles, there and back. Out the country. ‘Summer’s day… Me still in short trousers, ‘boots that needed mending. Six miles in all. A killer…   ‘Knelt for the Rosary. Nudging, gawking around, stifling a giggle… Every bead a penance…   ‘Grass trodden underfoot...