Parishes report increases across country
Month: January 2014
Al Qaeda in Iraq blamed for Christmas bombings
Al Qaeda militants are being blamed for the deadly Christmas bombings in Iraq which claimed at least 37 lives. The Christian community in Baghdad was targeted on Christmas Day in three near-simultaneous bombings at St John’s Catholic church, where 26 died, and at a marketplace in the nearby Assyrian Christian district. The car bomb at…
New Year offerings
January looks like being an interesting month in the cinemas For starters, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio renew their collaboration from Shutter Island days with The Wolf of Wall Street. This has DiCaprio as a fraudulent Long Island stockbroker heading for a fall after a riotous lifestyle starts to catch up with him. The Coen Brothers…
Dramatic stories old and new
Brendan O’Regan reviews some Christmas offerings
Here’s to the memory of a Dubliner
Paradise Alley by John D. Sheridan (Seven Towers, €11.99/£15.00)
We expect accountability from those in authority
Dear Editor, I write in response to Fr Gabriel Daly’s letter published in The Irish Catholic (12/12/2013), where he criticised how Cardinal William Levada described Fr Tony Flannery’s views as heretical, and came heavily down upon what he saw as the aggressive imposition of conservative Catholics’ views upon liberal Catholics. I have no doubt that…
The priesthood is not just a matter of rules
Dear Editor, Fr Gabriel Daly OSA (Letters, 12/12/13) writes about elusion on the grounds of narrow minded and arbitrary rules of Catholics who look for conformity to the rules and regulations imposed by one party in the Church. Then having declared that Cardinal Levada had no right to accuse Fr Flannery of heresy, Fr Daly…
We need more celebrities like Donncha O’Callaghan
Dear Editor, I was delighted to read Cathal Barry’s interview with the impressive Donncha O’Callaghan in the Christmas edition of the paper (19/12/13). It was a joy to read of the pride the Munster rugby player has for his faith and the “inner peace” prayer brings him. I was pleased to read that the fame…
We need to learn from past mistakes
Dear Editor, I would like to point out to Hilda Nelson (Letters IC 19/12/13) that I have always accepted priests who have “paid the price” for their child sexual abuse crimes should be allowed to move on with their lives. Also that any wrongful accusation of priest or lay person is devastating to that individual…
America ‘out of love’ with the death penalty
More Americans than ever are opposed to executions, writes Paul Keenan

Paul Keenan
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan