Anyone who has held their newborn child in their arms knows that time, when nothing else is of any account,  when the miracle of new life is our total focus, when we become aware of the awesome continuity of it all. As any parent knows the journey through the pregnancy is one of hope, joy, worry, optimism, struggle, expectation and fear. In a way the birth becomes such a focal point that we can’t see past that day, everything is building up to the delivery almost as if time beyond that point doesn’t exist.   But, of course, it does, and far from being a destination the new birth ..read more

In the Gospels the writers report that Jesus warns of the times to come, of the apocalypse that his listeners should expect. The fact that the apocalypse didn’t happen as they felt Jesus had foretold, should not blind us to the truth that for them, at the time, it truly felt like the end. After the sacking of the city and Temple in AD70 Jerusalem was never the same again, the Jewish faith and the Jewish nation, were never the same again. In this way, the Gospel, is not so much mistaken, even if it is not exactly correct. Instead, we might regard the voice of Jesus, at least as reported by Matt ..read more

This interview was originally broadcast in February 2022 on Radio Dublin South. The Revd Kevin O'Brien (Rector of Drumcliffe Union of Churches with Kilnasoolagh in County Clare was speaking with Revd Martin O'Connor). The interview has been edited to remove an autobiographical introduction and also copyrighted music ..read more

There is a critical question that I believe every honest Christian should ask themselves - one that all too often we either skate over and ignore, or simply don’t understand, but the answer to which has profound implications for what we believe and how we practice the Christian faith ... Do you believe in the ‘Fall ..read more

As a parish priest, first in England and now in Co. Clare, Ireland, whenever someone says to me ‘I don’t believe in God’ generally the first question I ask is “Define the God you don’t believe in’ and the second is ‘What do you mean by the word ‘believe’”? Because all too often we use these words as if there is one agreed definition as to what they mean, but, in reality, we can all mean something quite different when we profess to believe or not believe in God ..read more