Home!

I'm finally home for Christmas, after an immensely enjoyable trip to Rome. Fr Hugh in the Irish College (my former curate) was very kind to me out there - he did everything from drawing maps to interpreting papal speeches (in 'real time'!). I was really impressed with the warmth and friendliness of the Irish College. The priests and seminarians that I met there were all very engaging and cheerful - they didn't seem infected with the cynicism that affects many clergy. Even more encouraging, they were all refreshingly normal!

I didn't visit loads of churches this time, but I spent a lot of time in each one I visited. I spent hours in San Clemente (the church of the Irish Dominicans in Rome), being given an expert tour by fr Terence OP, a young priest studying at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. I bought dozens of postcards of the apse mosaic (above) with the intention of building a display in my classroom. It's absolutely full of theology: it portrays Trinitarian theology, ecclesiology (theology of the Church), and soteriology (theology of salvation)... As an example, the spirals of acanthus vines growing out from the 'Tree of Life' include little agricultural scenes, signifying the fact that ordinary lay Christians are drawn into the mystery of salvation as much as priests and nuns: