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…
Month: November 2016
Strange wizardry with Kathmandu cult
Aubrey MaloneDoctor Strange (12A)
Our resistance to love
Fr Ronald RolheiserThere’s nothing simple about being a human being. We’re a mystery to ourselves and often our own worst enemies. Our inner complexity befuddles us and, not infrequently, stymies us. Nowhere is this truer than in our struggle with love and intimacy. More than anything else, we hunger for intimacy, to be touched where we are…
Veritas: kept afloat by the bishops
Greg DalyThings have improved for Veritas, but it’s still in deep trouble, writes Greg Daly
People are ‘compelled’ to speak against deeply-held values
Courtney McGrailDear Editor, The Ashers Bakery case in Northern Ireland has shown a depressing number of self-proclaimed liberals in a chilling and most revealing light. As you say in your editor’s comment of October 27, the North’s equality legislation was fashioned after decades of discrimination against the minority Catholic community, and it was never intended to…
Pope’s Nordic noir
Dear Editor, It was interesting to see the Pope in Sweden this week to mark 499 years since an Augustinian monk from a small town in Germany nailed a set of heretical theses to the town bulletin board, in hope of starting a conversation about his new ideas. People with less education and training than…
Address problem of theological illiteracy
Dear Editor, I attended your splendid Conference on the subject of Faith-based Schools in a pluralist society and was struck by the high calibre of many of the contributions, especially those of Francis Campbell and Baroness Nuala O’Loan. However, I was also impressed by the letter of Julie Connolly (‘A tendency towards pantheism’ IC 20/10/2016)…
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…
Chaldean Patriarch expresses hope for unity after Mosul’s liberation
Iraq’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…