John Wyse Jackson Windharp: Poems of Ireland since 1916 edited by Niall MacMonagle (Penguin Ireland, £20.00hb) A plethora of poetry anthologies has appeared in Ireland over the last few years. This latest one takes as its starting point the date of our nation’s foundation myth, 1916. Its editor, a teacher and broadcaster, is an old hand at…
Stark new figures provide opportunity to plan for the future, Fr Gareth Byrne tells Cathal Barry The number of priests in the Dublin archdiocese is set to plummet by as much as 70% by 2030, new research has found. Other key findings include a predicted 33% decline in Mass attendance by 2030 and a higher…
Staff reporter The Primate of All-Ireland has warned against allowing this year’s centenary commemorations of the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme to divide Irish people. “I hope that in our remembrance of 1916, we are very aware of the present and the possibility that we could drive a wedge during this year, rather…
Ireland has to answer to international organisations overwhelmingly secularist and ‘liberal’ in their outlook, writes David Quinn The bishops will have to starting preparing themselves for a possible referendum on schools within the lifetime of the next government. The distinct possibility of such a referendum was flagged at an appearance by Ireland before the UN…
Eilis Humphreys Faith schools empower students with an understanding of the spiritual dimension of life, writes Eilis Humphreys We are living in a world that is changing too fast to be easily understood and that poses a challenge to everybody in the coming years not least those involved in our schools. There has been much…
Bishop Brendan Leahy has launched a new book which considers the subject of mercy, not only through a careful reading of relevant Scripture passages, but by exploring revealing extracts from literary classics and examples from popular culture. The book, The Message of Mercy, is written by Amalee Meehan, who works in faith development at the…
We share the responsibility for the deaths of desperate migrants when we stand by silently, Pope Francis has said, urging Catholics to see migrants not in legalistic terms but as fellow human beings with their own inherent dignity and abilities to contribute to their new homes. Speaking on the World Day for Migrants and Refugees,…
Mercy at the heart of the Pope’s new series of talks God’s mercy is constant and limitless, and he is faithful in his mercy for his children, even when they are unfaithful, Pope Francis has said in his first general audience of 2016, the first of a series of weekly talks on mercy. Claiming that in the Bible, from the “Old Testament to the full…
Kenya’s bishops have said they are “shocked and surprised” by government plans to regulate worship in the east African country. Responding to concerns that some pastors were fleecing followers and some mosques are becoming centres of radicalisation, the government has published new rules requiring religious leaders to have theological degrees and religious groups to submit…
On any list of the biggest religion stories of the 20th Century, the positive revolution in Catholic-Jewish relations that unfolded post-World War II, accelerating after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, would have to finish near the top. Sunday brought a reminder of this, as Pope Francis visited the Great Synagogue of Rome, becoming…
Cathal Barry
David Quinn
Mags Gargan
John L. Allen Jr.