Lay Leadership
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Ireland’s National Assembly: A numbers person’s view
Half of Ireland’s baptised Catholics rarely attend church, and none of them had a delegate at the National Assembly. Who is Ireland’s Church listening to?
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The rise and rise of Conversations in the Spirit
Who attends, who sets the agenda, who writes the report and who acts on it. These questions test whether co-responsibility exists.
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The bishop isn’t the hall’s most important person
The Church pours energy into leadership. Its future may rest with quieter people whose influence is real but hard to measure.
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The synod that forgot what it heard
When a process omits its own findings, listening begins to look like selective hearing, and discernment begins to look manufactured.
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The hard part — implementing Synodality
Approving a document was the easy. What happens next depends on whether laity, bishops and priests actually change how decisions get made.
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Theology as a resource in Christian discipleship
Theological literacy is a tool every disciple needs to navigate faith, doubt and daily life. It makes everyday life easier and richer.
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Parish mergers not enough to save a shrinking church
Consolidating parishes by staffing numbers addresses the symptoms, but real renewal asks something deeper of communities facing decline.
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When parishes pick maintenance over mission
Reflection meetings reveal real comfort with stewardship and clear reluctance toward mission, a pattern that could spell trouble across post-Christian Britain.
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Being heard
In a saturated media landscape reaching beyond shrinking parishes means embracing fresh tools that carries the Message further.
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Tend the flame
Valuing tradition means keeping its living fire alight. A dynamic tradition fosters maturity and freedom.
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