Peter CostelloIrish involvement with Africa is all too often seen though the work of missionaries, especially in Nigeria and Kenya. But this reissue of a book by the late Wicklow novelist Gerald Hanley, better known for The Year of the Lion and Gilligan’s Last Elephant, deals with a very different area and very different kind of…
Month: November 2013
In the wake of the Rising
The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence, by Charles Townsend (Allen Lane, €29.50/£25)
Pope makes Typhoon donation
Paul KeenanPope Francis has donated €111,000 to aid the victims of super-typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The monies will be made available through Cor Unum for the immediate needs of residents, in particular of Leyte and Samar islands, which suffered the full force of the typhoon which brought 315kph winds as it made landfall on November…
Pope meets Italian president
For the first time since his March election, Pope Francis travelled to the Quirinale Palace in Rome to meet with Italyís President Giorgio Napolitano on November 14. Following a private meeting, the two leaders addressed a press conference at which it was revealed that the Pontiff had addressed the need for greater efforts in the…
German communion ruling
Germany – Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has instructed the Archdiocese of Freiburg to withdraw a policy under which it signalled its willingness to offer Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics. The Communion move was undertaken by diocesan officials shortly after the departure of Archbishop Robert…
Hawaii passes same-sex marriage law
The island state of Hawaii has become the latest to legislate for same-sex marriage following a 30-19 vote in congress and a 19-4 vote in the senate. Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu has criticised the move as “disappointing”, stating: “It is very sad that many of our state legislators and our governor have confused a…
US senators appeal for Abedini intervention
United States – A number of senators have issued a joint letter to President Barack Obama urging him to again intervene in the case of Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned in Iran for his faith. Praising Mr Obama for having previously raised the pastor’s case with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani during the pair’s historic telephone…
Abuse report scathing of Victoria Church
The parliamentary inquiry into the mishandling of abuse by the Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has issued a report scathing of the local Church. Betrayal of Trust, the final report of the cross-party inquiry, launched in 2012, covers incidents of abuse by clergy from 1960 to 1985 and details what inquiry chairwoman…
Kurtz the choice for pragmatic prelates
The US bishops have made shrewd choices in their new leadership, writes Paul Keenan
Defending the review of Philomena
Dear Editor, Fionn O’Grada took issue with my review of the film Philomena (IC 14/11/13) citing the review header ‘The Sins of the Mothers’ as apparent evidence of the fact that I ‘only’ saw sin in the fact that Philomena became pregnant outside marriage and not in the cruel way she and the other young…