Ruth Kennedy
Have you ever wondered why the Catholic Church is structured in a hierarchical form? Or, what makes the difference between a deacon and a priest? Or how our local parishes fit into the global relationship of the Church? Each member of the Church has an equally...
I sometimes think that Lent is a little easier to live out than Eastertide is, perhaps because we are so much more familiar with suffering than we are with joy. We’ve all experienced suffering, probably more than we wanted to, but joy doesn’t seem to be as obvious in...
“What are girls made of?” That’s the question this Nike commercial asks. “Made of flowers and rings, gossip and marmalade, that is what our girls are made of,” is the response in a traditional song that the young girl in the ad responds with. The audience nods...
Self-care is a term that has grown in popularity of late. Suddenly it's everywhere: thrown around with hashtags all over social media, used in advertising and on lifestyle blogs, and even making appearances on health websites. Clearly, it means different things to...
So, we’re approaching the midpoint of Lent! How is it going for you so far?! No matter how you feel you’re doing, this is a good time to pause and reflect on what has happened so far and to remind yourself of the purpose of this important time. To help you, we’ve...
In sitting down to write on this video, I am more aware than I have ever been of how little there is to add to the excellent and well-reasoned words of 16-year-old Autumn from StudentsForLife.org. All I can say is, go, go and watch the video for yourself! Still, I...
“If you want to challenge yourself, you have to rethink what you consider impossible.” So begins the opening of this 2015 experiment that involves the Berlin Wall, a group of school children and a storybook about a cat. The challenge that has been set in this video is...
There is a lot of well-founded emotion in this Buzzfeed spoken-word video “I Am Not That Girl”. There is honesty, and not a trace of self-pity as the narrator says: “having a lack of male attention in this world is seen as an abnormality, is seen as less than womanly....
This recent ad, made by a film student and ignored by the brand it was created to promote, is so profound and moving that it's not hard to see why it's gone viral. It tells the tale of an aged marathon runner waiting out his final years in a care home. We see him...
Millennials! I don’t know about you, but as a young person, all the argument about whether millennials are the most spoilt, snowflake generation yet gets boring after a while. So when my (older) friend shared the “THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS GENERATION!”...
Christmas 2016 marked one year without alcohol for me. I still haven't had any alcohol and I still do not intend to ever drink again! Back in 2015, I had long been aware that I had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but I was not aware of the depth of my...
This article is for you, especially for you, if you have been thinking about going back to Mass. On the part of all of us at Catholic-Link, let me personally invite you back to mass (we even wrote a letter for you!): We want you back! Today's article looks to give you...
This short video from Speak Life shares a brief but beautiful insight into the life of a mother and her daughter Leeva, who has Down’s syndrome. Leeva is taking part in a Nativity play, and all her cast-mates also have Down’s syndrome. It is explained that the play...
One solitary life. It was full of failure, and it ended in a premature and shameful death. There were no career accolades, family, or world acclaim. Just a life that was born into an enemy occupation, grew up in a working-class trade, lived at home, and ended with a...
Its become the trend in the last few years for Dictonary.com to announce their ‘Word of the Year’, the word that they feel is most relevant or trending to the year. Past years words have included ‘Privacy’ (2013), ‘Exposure’ (2014) and ‘Identity’ (2015). 2016’s Word...
Growing up Catholic, Advent was always strictly observed in our home. We never skipped over it to start Christmas early. Though I had a good idea of the purpose of Advent- it being a time of preparation and prayer- I made my way though it grimly. I understood the head...
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve just had a Year of Mercy! It ends pretty soon, on November 20th. Maybe, like me, you start out on these extraordinary years full of interest and hope and enthusiasm, and get to the end a little worn out with the repetition of it and...
Ever since I first heard about kintsugi a few years ago, it has been one of my favorite motifs for understanding healing and redemption. As is explained in this video, kintsugi is the is an ancient Japanese art of repair. Think of a cracked vase. Rather than throwing...
This coming Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, an initiative organised by Open Doors USA, a non-profit organisation. What more can be said about the persecuted Christians? Perhaps you, like me, can feel a guilty fatigue when you read...
I don’t know about you, but when I’m in a place of pain or distress, my prayer life can go one of two ways. Either I can feel closer to God, and prayer comes more easily, or my prayer life dries up and any kind of communication with God feels impossible. It is in...
When you’re a youth minister you are often short on time, juggling several jobs, trying to keep up with the youth and wondering how you got so old and uncool without even realising. You’re walking that constant tightrope of trying to imaginatively, creatively and...
“When I began this project, I thought of nuns as always dour and serious.” So says Marcela Taboada in her beautiful photo-story “the Secret Lives of Mexican Nuns”. She quickly proves this wrong with her photos of cake-slice waving sisters, a habited exercise biker and...
Anyone who has seen the movie Good Will Hunting will know the famous “It’s not your fault” scene. Even if you haven’t seen it, the moment stands powerfully alone, uncomfortable at first, until you cannot fail to be pulled into the breakdown of emotion that Will (Matt...
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis. Among many other wonderful things, St. Francis was known for his love of animals and uncanny ability to connect with them. It is said that he treated animals with the utmost respect, love, and care. Legend has...
I was fourteen years old and mad at my parents. They were wasting a whole day of our French vacation driving a four hour round trip to the Basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux. The car was uncomfortable, it was a perfect hot sunny day and I didn’t want to go. All I knew...