Advent means ‘coming’. “The advent of the motor car”, means when cars first came to the streets. During advent we look forward to the coming of Jesus. At the end of Advent, on Christmas Day, we celebrate the feast of the coming of Jesus – the birth of the baby [...]

Christopher Moriarty takes a look at the life of Haydn, one of the greatest composers of classical music and a devout Catholic.

Joe writes: Some Protestant denominations are almost as strict as the Jews about Sabbath observance. Why are Catholics so lax about it? Fr Bernard McGuckian replys.

Christopher Moriarty introduces one of the greatest composers who ever lived, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, examining in particular his fraught relationship with his father.

A 3 hour video training workshop, demonstrating the effective use of ritual, symbol, music and the Arts in Eucharistic and non-Eucharistic liturgical celebrations, as well as providing input and formation on the nature and structure of liturgy.

Again this year the Cloyne Commission for Liturgical Formation, in conjunction with Fr. Patrick Jones of the National Centre for Liturgy, editor of the Liturgical Calendar for Ireland 2009, has produced a beautifully coloured and comprehensive liturgical wall calendar.

It displays at a glance all the liturgical feasts and saints days for the [...]

Janice writes to ask: Why does the Feast of the Sacred Heart fall in May this year? I thought that June was the month of the Sacred Heart and that May was the month dedicated to Our Lady. Fr Bernard McGuckian SJ replys to Janice’s query and explains the history behind [...]

An interview with Liam Lawton, composer and performer of sacred and liturgical music, about music as a part of the symbolic language of worship.

Anne Thurston explores the season of Advent using the themes of waiting and longing, hope and expectation. Pregnancy is the potent symbol here, along with stories of annunciations and visitations.

The recent Synod of Bishops in Rome on the Word of God (October 2008) highlighted ways of more effective proclaiming the Word of God in today’s world and having it inspire the lives of Christians. In anticipation of this, the Cloyne Commission for Liturgical Formation last year produced two beautiful [...]

This is an extract from “Those Three Days: A resource for the celebration of the Easter Triduum”, by John McCann and Pat O’Donoghue. It highlights some suggestions for the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost.