Courtney McGrailThe death of a Limerick man shortly after finding intruders in his home has raised a national awareness of the need to support the elderly living alone, his parish priest has said. John O’Donoghue died of a heart attack outside his house at Upper Toomaline, Doon, Co. Limerick, last week after he returned home to discover his house…
Month: September 2015
Priests saved from Hiroshima blast lived Fatima message
Dear Editor, In the article on Hiroshima in the August 13 edition of The Irish Catholic (World of Books), I was disappointed that the miracle which saved the group of priests who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped was not mentioned. The presbytery was demolished, but the priests were not affected and suffered no…
It’s not all bad news for Catholics
Dear Editor, I am going on 95 years and looking at the sad stories that are being discussed in our world today, I want to remind Catholics of our wonderful past over 2,000 years and the dictators that tried to undermine our Church. In my time Stalin got into power and immediately got rid of…
Educate Together schools discriminate against Catholics
Dear Editor, Educate Together CEO Paul Rowe claims that giving preference to children who live in a school’s catchment area could be unfair to non-Catholic children from further away (IC 27/08/2015 ‘Divesting Catholic schools could result in segregation’). Does he not see the irony in this? ‘First come, first served’ admission policies, as favoured by…
Christian schools in Israel closed by funding crisis
Christian-backed schools in Israel are set to remain closed when the autumn term begins due to an ongoing funding crisis. In an announcement from the Secretariat of Christian Schools in Israel, which provides education to some 33,000 pupils, despite a positive meeting on the issue with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin last week, schools are set…
Planned Parenthood failed to report suspected abuse
American abortion provider Planned Parenthood is facing a fresh scandal following claims that it failed to report a suspected case of sexual abuse to the authorities. As the group continues to suffer fall-out from video exposés of its trade in foetal body parts, an online news outlet in Alabama has revealed documents it says show…
Lawyer for Chinese Christian communities is arrested
A lawyer representing hard-pressed Christian communities in the Chinese province of Zhejiang has been arrested. Zhang Kai, of Beijing’s Xinqiao Law Firm, had travelled to Zhejiang to work fulltime in assisting communities directly affected by a drive to remove crosses and demolish church properties. Since late 2013, the campaign has affected some 1,200 church properties.…
Iraqi government moves to protect Christian minority
The Iraqi government has moved to establish a committee with the aim of identifying and countering persecution against Christians in the country. On the orders of Prime Minister Haydar al Abadi, the committee will work to collect details of incidences of persecution from the long-suffering community and formulate concrete security responses to better protect Christians.…
Vatican Roundup
Pope reaches 100th General Audience Pope Francis reached a personal milestone on August 26 when he preached his 100th Wednesday general audience. The Pontiff used the occasion to revisit a topic which has been at the heart of many of his most recent addresses, the family, and specifically this time, prayer within the family. “We all know how important…
Suffer the little children
Syrian refugee children scream as they sit in front of Macedonian riot police at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the village of Idomeni, Greece. As thousands of desperate migrants continue to seek salvation in Europe, Pope Francis referred to the plight of persecuted Christians during his August 30 audience address. Photo: CNS