cormacburke.me.ke - English, General

Brave New Ireland

webmaster — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 16:23:02 +0000

Brave New Ireland (Position Papers (2015, no. 492), pp. 11ss)
For the last forty years we have been forming a generation to think that the fewer ties or commitments one has, the freer one is. This is just not so. Freedom is useless unless it ends in a choice. And perhaps it is worse than useless if one has been taught that all choices must be temporary, because nothing can give more than a passing satisfaction, nothing in fact is worth a definitive or binding choice. Always keep yourself 'free' for something or someone else. That is the philosophy our new generations are being taught.

Christian optimism: and God's logic

webmaster — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:29:47 +0000

Christian optimism: and God's logic (Homiletic and Pastoral Review: May 2010, pp. 26-41)

For the Christian mind, today's world appears to offer little that is encouraging. To all appearances, the most fundamental institutions and values are in rapid disintegration: marriage and the family, human sexuality, the sense of the unique dignity of human life and of the respect due to it before birth and at the moment of death. Moreover, our modern society seems dominated by a lack of solidarity, growing suspicion, distrust, separation, alienation, opposition and even hatred.

Modern man seems to have turned away from God, and to no longer care about him. "European culture", according to John Paul II, "gives the impression of a 'silent apostasy' on the part of men who are sated, who live as if God did not exist" (Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Europa, no. 9). In the last few years the apostasy has become less and less silent.

Law and Medicine in the Service of the Person and Society

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:40:19 +0000

(A lecture given in Wellington, New Zealand, 1994, to a combined meeting of the SS. Cosmas and Damian Guild and the St. Thomas More Society)

'Every Abortion is a Tragedy': Barack Obama

webmaster — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 04:26:14 +0000

'Every Abortion is a Tragedy': Barack Obama (Position Papers, 474, Dec. 2013, pp. 25-28)

The recent interview of Pope Francis, published in September 30, 2013 in America magazine [1] moved many people deeply, especially with his insistence that we live in a wounded world which has the right to expect healing of those wounds from the Church. His repeated insistence clearly came from his heart; "the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds.... Heal the wounds, heal the wounds."
He is not referring to bodily wounds so much as wounds of the spirit. Knowing well that this will provoke "scandal" among some, I would firmly assert that by far the greatest number of wounded people in today's world are the millions, the tens of millions, of women who, over the past decades, have had an abortion; and, admit it not, are still suffering from the wounds of this tragedy.

Pastors and Penance (Position Papers, no. 262: Oct 1995, pp. 259-264)

webmaster — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:41:40 +0000

Recent decades have seen a remarkable fall-off in the number of Catholics frequenting the sacrament of Penance, one of the two sacraments which they can - and used to - receive frequently. The phenomenon, it should be added, characterizes the "developed" Western world. Africa is certainly an exception; so, it seems, are the countries of Eastern Europe. But allowing for such exceptions, we are in the presence of a pastoral phenomenon that is remarkable, and cannot be without significance. How should we regard it? Are there lessons to be learned from it? Does it matter? If it does, what to be done about it?

Inculturation: John Paul II and the Third World (East Asian Pastoral Review 32 (1995) pp. 277-290)

webmaster — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:37:10 +0000

"The Split between the gospel and culture", said Pope Paul VI, "is without a doubt the drama of our time"[1]. The drama is still being played out today in two main theaters, each with very distinctive features.

The Mass Explained (Scepter Limited, Nairobi: 2002)

webmaster — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:25:47 +0000

The Mass Explained
INTRODUCTION
To judge the "quality" of the Christian life of a community is always a difficult task, and perhaps a foolhardy one. There are so many factors that should be taken into account. And the most important of them are hidden!
Nevertheless, if the Holy Mass is the central act of our Catholic life, then Mass-going must surely remain one of the most indicative of these factors. With good reason therefore we consider the number of people coming to Mass, not only on Sundays but also very specially on weekdays. With even better reason we try to assess the "quality" of their participation in the Mass; their understanding of its nature and their application to their own lives of what it should mean for them. And we often think of the ways in which we can help them.

The Purpose of University Education in the mind of St. Josemaría Escrivá

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:47:15 +0000

The Purpose of University Education in the mind of St. Josemaría Escrivá
(Strathmore University, 2002)
John Henry Newman, writing 150 years ago in a famous work entitled "The Idea of a University", held that modern man is instructed, but not educated. In other words, he is taught to do things; and to think sufficiently in order to do them. But he is not taught to think further... And that, in Newman's view, is instruction, not education: "Education is a higher word; it implies an action upon our mental nature, and the formation of a character; it is something individual and permanent, and is commonly spoken of in connection with religion and virtue". Education and especially university education, then, should teach people to think; further, broader and deeper than they have been so far brought up to do.

THE ABORTION MOVEMENT (Catholic Position Papers, Feb. 1975)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:42:39 +0000

The campaign for legalized abortion has assumed worldwide dimensions. There is probably not a single country that has not felt its impact in the past few years. Where abortion was already legal, on restricted grounds, the campaign has been aimed at removing these restrictions. And those countries where abortion is still illegal (countries like Ireland or Spain) are under growing pressure to legalize it: perhaps on restricted grounds, to begin with, but the campaign, here too, is evidently aiming at the ultimate goal of abortion "on demand."

RANDOM THOUGHTS (Position Papers, Dublin, 1994)

webmaster — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:40:59 +0000

RANDOM THOUGHTS

For many years Msgr. Cormac Burke has been a favourite among "Position Paper" readers because of his clarity of thought and lucidity of expression. In the following wide-ranging interview with Rev Charles Connolly these characteristics are to the fore.