Fr Tim Finigan, Author at Catholic Herald

Fr Tim Finigan

Hearts on fire: What we can learn from St Margaret Mary Alacoque

June 19, 2020

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus existed long before St Margaret Mary. The special vocation of the holy Visitation sister was to popularise the devotion which was a vital counterpoint to the heresy of Jansenism. In one of the “what ifs” of history, it might even have prevented the French Revolution if the King

Catholic Dilemmas

March 24, 2016

Our parish newsletter advertises the Sunday after Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday”, with the chaplet asking the Father’s mercy for the sake of Christ’s sorrowful Passion. Is this appropriate for the Easter Octave? St John Paul decreed that the day should be called “The Second Sunday of Easter or of Divine Mercy” and granted a

Catholic Dilemmas

March 17, 2016

I go to Confession twice a year, at Easter and Christmas, because I feel I should. But I find it difficult to know what to say as I no longer seem to be assailed by the temptations of earlier years. One priest told me rather irritably not to come to Confession if I had nothing

Catholic Dilemmas

March 10, 2016

Our church has a garish Sacred Heart statue. It makes me wonder why we are supposed to worship parts of the body of Jesus. Isn’t it enough just to worship the whole person? After all we don’t have a devotion to the sacred toes of Jesus. The humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ are united

Catholic Dilemmas

March 03, 2016

Watching some of a recent fight on television, I wondered about the morality of boxing as a sport. Should Christians be involved in this modern form of barbarism? Although some Catholics would condemn all boxing as a modern version of the gladiatorial contests of the Romans, I think it is possible to make a distinction

Catholic dilemmas

February 18, 2016

I enjoy the kind of fast food that is decried as unhealthy, and generally take no notice of the dire warnings that are thrown at me. Is it a sin to enjoy my favourite burger and fries? Weakened by our fallen human nature, we do have to exercise restraint in our use of food and

Catholic Dilemmas

February 04, 2016

My children nag me to allow them to watch 15- or 18-rated films which their school friends have seen. I am inclined to say no, but do not want to be seen as too strict. Our Lord asks what father would give his son a scorpion if he asked for an egg (Lk 11:12). When

Catholic Dilemmas

January 28, 2016

My grandchildren often stay with me at the weekend and I usually bring them to church, but I feel bad about forcing them to go if they don’t want to, in case it puts them off the faith. In different times and circumstances, grandparents have been a powerful influence in keeping the faith alive, whether

Catholic Dilemmas

January 21, 2016

We seem to be hearing a lot of talk about a “personal relationship with Jesus”. It all sounds rather cloying and Evangelical to me. Sherry Weddell, along with other authors, has been influential in proposing discipleship of Christ as a necessary part of renewing Catholic life in parishes. One of her most disturbing findings was

Catholic Dilemmas

January 07, 2016

We seem to assume that Jesus was the only child of Mary and Joseph, but didn’t he have brothers and sisters? Sometimes people are confused by the Gospels referring to the brothers or sisters of our Lord as, for example, when James and Joseph, Jude and Simon are spoken of as the “brothers of Jesus”

Catholic Dilemmas

December 22, 2015

Although I am buying Christmas presents, I worry about the extent to which I am contributing to the commercialisation of Christmas. We all need to keep in our hearts and minds the reason for celebrating Christmas, which is the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ our Saviour. We do experience commercial influences, especially in

Catholic Dilemmas

December 17, 2015

A lot of what is said about mercy for the Jubilee seems to be simply about God’s love in general. Is there something particular about mercy that we should be focusing on? In the Old Testament, the word hesed is usually translated as “mercy”. It means God’s profound goodness and faithfulness to us, but is

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