Courtney McGrailIn one of her final acts as Miss Universe 2015, devoted Catholic Pia Wurtzbach has made a public donation of personal items to Caritas Manila towards helping the Church’s efforts for the poor in her native Philippines this Christmas. During a meeting with Cardinal Luis Tagle on December 12, just ahead of the competition to…
Month: December 2016
Maynooth advertises for new president
The national seminary at St Patrick’s College Maynooth is advertising for a new president. The position, advertised on the college website and elsewhere, is for a five-year term. Those wishing to apply for the job should submit their applications to Father Enda Cunningham, Secretary to the Trustees, c/o Columba Centre, Maynooth, Co Kildare, no later…
A total misapplication of the Pope’s teaching on mercy
David QuinnCondoning assisted suicide would be disastrous pastoral practice, writes David Quinn
Where stones and soil speak
Paul KeenanThe Holy Land yielded startling finds in 2016, writes Paul Keenan
Apollo House occupation ‘no solution’ to homeless problem – campaigner
Staff Reporter The occupation of an empty Dublin office block in order to provide emergency housing for the city’s homeless could send a dangerous message that any kind of accommodation will do for homeless people, Fr Peter McVerry SJ has said. The campaigner’s comments came following the occupation of the 10-storey Apollo House on Tara…
Don’t give up
Dear Editor, I was pleasantly surprised to read in your paper of December 15 that almost 40% of people in the Republic of Ireland plan to see Pope Francis when he visits Ireland. With curiosity likely to increase over the next two years, I would expect the 11% who are undecided to come to think…
The year in films
Aubrey MaloneIn a world where commercialism rules OK, Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village – ostensibly a documentary about the Marian shrine in Knock and the people who visit it but ultimately a commentary on the state of religion in Ireland today – was never going to wipe the more mainstream releases off the screen.…
Vatican Roundup
Vatican envoy warns of rising anti-Christian violence in Europe Anti-Christian intolerance and violence are on the rise in Europe, the Holy See’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has warned. In three addresses to a December 14 conference in Vienna on ‘Combating Intolerance and Discriminations of Christians’, Monsignor Janusz…
The strain of it all…
Being a dad is tiring work, pupils in Senior Infants, Guardian Angels’ NS, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, discover when performing the Christmas story in their annual Nativity play. Photo: Anne Collins
Jane rings a bell
Jane Luft, a first-year student at Calasanctius College, Oranmore is the first to strike ‘Nicholas’, the newly-consecrated bell in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Oranmore, Co. Galway. The bell, which was consecrated by Armagh’s Archbishop Eamon Martin, is named after the patron saint of sailors, children and the Diocese of Galway.