Courtney McGrailLast week, for a mere 60 hours – fleeting when set against the last 1,500 years – the tomb of the crucified Jesus lay fully open for the first time within the sanctified confines of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. With the power to move Christians everywhere, more locally the site’s…
Month: November 2016
Religious institutions need regulation
Dear Editor, The recently issued Vatican directive “that the ashes of loved ones, after cremation, must be buried, stored or scattered, only, in sacred, consecrated communal places” was a timely and welcome one. It brings to mind a little story related by the late Liam Clancy, youngest of the famous singing Clancy Brothers. While…
Follow Bishop Buckley’s leadership
Dear Editor, Having had the experience and privilege of teaching in a faith-based Christian Brothers school with a rich tradition of catering for students from a variety of social background and some from the Jewish faith, the recent education conference on faith-based schools was timely. It is inevitable that pressure for a more secular and…
A day to remember victims of abortion
Dear Editor, Your letters’ page (IC 27/10/2016) has yet again raised the worthy idea of having a national day to remember those who lives have been cut short by the abortion industry. May I suggest that the Friday following the solemnity of Christ the King – falling between November 25 and December 1 inclusive –…
A poor choice as a ‘symbol of life’
Dear Editor, I was at Mass this morning and picked up the bishops’ postcard for Ireland’s Day for Life. I was dismayed to find Mary Robinson pictured on the postcard. Mary Robinson was for the legalisation of abortion as early as 1998. How in God’s holy name could our bishops use her as a symbol…
Some like to live, work and preach with God’s compassion
Dear Editor, Since I am named in a recent letter in your paper, under the heading, ‘Some priests are openly at odds with Church teaching’, ( letter from C.D.C. Armstrong, Belfast, IC 20/10/2016.) I hope you might allow me a small space to reply. Indeed your correspondent expresses the hope that I will be censured…
A peculiar detail
Dear Editor, One of the most peculiar details in your troubling analysis of Veritas’ financial position (‘Veritas: kept afloat by the bishops’ IC 3/11/2016) is a passing reference to how 2014’s closing inventory was revalued after the submission of the 2014 accounts. If 2014’s closing stock was really worth almost €400,000 less than previously estimated,…
The real presence
Fr Ronald RolheiserWhen I was a graduate student in Belgium, I was privileged one day to sit in on a conference given by Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels. He was commenting on the Eucharist and our lack of understanding of it full richness when he highlighted this contrast: If you stood outside of a Roman Catholic church…
Green Party chief rejects Pope on women priests
Greg DalyThe Church should have women priests, regardless of Pope Francis’ views on the matter, the leader of Ireland’s Green Party has said. Speaking in the Dáil about whether Ireland should have an annual public holiday to commemorate the Easter Rising, Eamon Ryan TD countered that such a holiday would be poorly timed, Easter Monday already…
Rome-approved bishop to be ordained in Diocese of Changzhi
A Vatican-appointed bishop in China will be elevated to his new bishopric on November 10 after two years waiting for approval from Beijing. Bishop Peter Ding Lingbin will be ordained for the Diocese of Changzhi, home to at least 50,000 Catholics, at a ceremony to be held at the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul.…