Courtney McGrailIraq’s Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Louis I Sako has expressed hope that the country’s second city, Mosul will be liberated to return to the “beautiful mosaic” of communities and faith traditions it was before the onslaught of so-called Islamic State (ISIS). In a letter to the nation, the Patriarch assures all soldiers currently fighting to rout…
Month: November 2016
A missed opportunity to tell an intriguing tale
A new drama on the papacy is more ignorant than anti-Catholics, writes Charles Collins
‘No’ to inter-communion ahead of unity
A Joint agenda for “prayer and renewed commitments to working together to help the poor and promote justice” builds bridges, writes Cindy Wooden
Trump or Clinton? For US Catholics, it’s hard to choose either
Just days after this issue of The Irish Catholic comes out, millions of Americans will go to the polls to vote in the ugliest – and surely the most worrying – election in living memory. It is difficult to see how Catholics can vote for either candidate without serious – even grave – reservations. …
Native transplants
From Laois to Kerry by Michael Christopher Keane (Beechgrove, Ovens, Cork €20 + P&P; contact: mjagkeane@gmail.com).
Pandemonium: Playing the Brexit card in Britain
Unleashing Demons: the Inside Story of Brexit by Craig Oliver (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99)
Croagh Patrick: A mountain at the heart of the world
Peter CostelloAtlantic Tabor: The Pilgrims of Croagh Patrick, text by Patrick Claffey, photographs by Tomasz Bereska and Tomasz Szustek (Liffey Press, €19.95)
Ashers to ashes, equality in dust
Brendan O’ReganThe culture wars were firing on several fronts last week, and it started early. In the ‘gay cake’ controversy the Ashers bakery decision was announced on Monday of last week in Belfast. The appeal by the McArthur family, owners of Ashers, was rejected by the Court of Appeal, which led to quite a bit of…
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.…
World News in Brief
Asia Bibi judge resigns from the bench The Pakistani judge whose absence from court on October 13 caused yet another postponement of Asia Bibi’s appeal against her blasphemy death sentence has resigned from the bench. Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman is understood to have submitted his letter of resignation on the basis that he is also a judge in the case of…