1 minute read
From the Archbishop’s Desk
Most Rev Malcolm McMahon OP Archbishop of Liverpool
Among my Christmas gifts was Derek Scally’s excellent book on the Church and State in Ireland, ‘The Best Catholics in the World’. It is a fine mixture of personal stories, history and journalism which cast a unique light on Catholicism in Ireland. It’s a good read, easy to dip in and out of, and would be of special interest to those of us who have Irish heritage.
Advertisement
My reading of this coincided with a visit to St Patrick’s College in Maynooth which used to be the largest seminary in Ireland. In its vast and beautiful buildings and chapels it accommodated nine hundred seminarians in its heyday. There are no more that twenty-five men in formation and St Patrick’s is the last remaining Irish seminary. It is as though the Catholic Church in Ireland has fallen off a cliff. I was quite shocked by the scale and pace of the decline of the Irish Church. It is more apparent in urban dioceses than in the rural areas. But despite these very stark facts the Irish bishops I met were not downhearted; they were realistic and full of hope for the future even though they are uncertain where it is going. With hindsight it is easy to see where things went wrong, and Derek Scally’s excellent work helps us understand this – we may even learn lessons for the present and future, but the reason the Irish bishops are hopeful is because they are very aware of the Holy Spirit’s enduring presence in Ireland and its people.
Editor Peter Heneghan
Editorial Catholic Pictorial Magazine, St Margaret Clitherow Centre, Liverpool Archdiocesan Office, Croxteth Drive, Liverpool L17
1AA Tel: 0151 522 1007 Email: catholicpictorial@rcaol.co.uk
Advertising Sales team 0151 709 7567 sales@cpmmmedia.com
Website: www.catholicpic.co.uk
Twitter: @PicCatholic Youtube: CPMM Media
Pictures Cover and main feature: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Copy deadline March 2023 - Friday 10 February 2023
Contents
4 Main Feature Church says farewell to Benedict XVI
7 Sunday Reflections
Liturgy and Life
8 From the archives
Good and peaceable citizens
10 News
News from around the Archdiocese
17 Cathedral Record
Annual Archdiocesan Civic Mass
Come and Sing
18 What’s On
Whats happening in the Archdiocese
27 Animate Youth Ministry
Why mission weeks matter
28 Pic Extras
Mums the word
News from the KSC
29 Nugent News
Returning to Canada
Upcoming events with Nugent
30 Dialogue and Unity
Racial Justice – a challenge to us all
