Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have never watched Titanic It’s too sad To watch a story knowing that they die In cold uncaring waters Beneath a starless sky Bodies floating killed by cold A world left wondering why   But I watched another film today About people then on board Fourteen souls from Addergoole In the county of MayoContinue reading “Waking The Titanic”

I’m now an online catholic Flitting here and there Seeking out nice churches And people there at prayer And listening for a sermon For words now said aright For someone with something to say Direct line of sight   Retired I am and at my ease Every day my own No work demands attending meContinue reading “Order Of The Day”

He wanted to see Jesus That was all And so he climbed a tree He wasn’t tall But Jesus came and talked to him I want to dine with thee His lonely days were over Nearer my God to thee   Association changed his life Changed his mentality All his wealth he will now shareContinue reading “Entering Jericho”

Anything he wrote I would read Guardian articles these past fifteen years Born very near my home A Lancashire boy till seven And then to Scotland home And reared in Fife   A photo of his face was evidence I want to tell something good and interesting A concerned expression piercing eyes you see And yetContinue reading “In Memoriam: Ian Jack”

He is not bitter He does not point the finger of blame 38 years in prison A long time all the same A black man in America Is colour involved in this? DNA has cleared him A sorry sorry mess   Life is full of trouble Injustice everywhere Many folk are bitter Give the angryContinue reading “Human Witness”

Cobblestones and cotton mills Coalmines everywhere Factory chimneys reach the sky Coal dust in the air   Coal dust is the ground we walk The Monday washing line Coal dust clings to my little church And in a miner’s phlegm   Then every summer way out west A farm and running river Cows and sheepContinue reading “Childhood Days”

Be good and love one another It’s pretty simple really It is our truest nature But a lesson bought so dearly   Other things come between us Ambition and possessions Power and pride and pleasure Fill life’s daily sessions   But somewhere deep inside us We know the simple truth Kindness is the measure InContinue reading “The Way Of Life”

Jordan Petersen is an intriguing analyst in our modern world. Many young men are keen to listen to him because his words seek to promote human strength and power in life. This in an age when men are greatly vilified for the overbearing forcefulness, that masculinity has exercised in the world, greatly to the hurtContinue reading “Life’s Achievement”

  He did not know where he came from. A little boy in an English care home, transported to Australia. Grew up thinking he was Irish. In old age he discovers that his mother was a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust. She had even followed him out to Australia trying to find him andContinue reading “Where You Come From”

How many will be saved? That is not the question The question is ‘will you be?’ Enter by the narrow door   Life demands a discipline A daily set routine A practice of the virtues Enter by the narrow door   Every morning hear the call Rise and shine and pray Read the gospel dailyContinue reading “The Narrow Door”

Our paths crossed in a public park in Sunderland. I was still a priest at the time and he was the Member of Parliament for Sunderland South. I recognised him immediately. Chris Mullin, one time journalist and now a Labour politician. We smiled a morning greeting as we passed one another. Among politicians, among peopleContinue reading “A Little Politics”

I am English born, of Irish descent. I am familiar with English/Irish tensions. Brought up on songs and stories, heroes of renown, Brian Boru and Cromwell and the rest. In 1982 I went to Rome to live in the Redemptorist mother house and to study there for two years. There were about seventy men livingContinue reading “Human Race”

  Mid West Radio in Ireland has an obituaries page where people can write in and send their condolences for those lately dead. It always reminds me of the moment in mass, in the old days, when the priest would get up into the pulpit and read out the names of the sick and latelyContinue reading “Rest In Peace”

You are not allowed to say You cannot speak For that would spread ideas among the weak And words would make us strong Against a world of wrong So you must die And I will wring your neck   The Lord knew from the start How things would be His words would challenge All theContinue reading “Speak The Word”

Two powerful memories stay with me from the time my mother died, both of them meteorological. I travelled down by car from Belfast port to a hotel in Fivemiletown, Coutny Tyrone and all along that journey I was facing directly into a blazing and setting sun. The sky was yellow and amber and red, brightnessContinue reading “Blazing Sun and Pouring Rain”