Courtney McGrailThe Irish-made film The Call to Fatima has received the backing of both the Fatima Shrine and the Portuguese government in exclusively promoting the 100th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. According to filmmakers Thomas and Solvita McCormack, the award-winning DVD, now translated to 12 languages, “emphasises the importance of the Fatima Message left behind by…
Month: February 2017
Carlow joint diocesan pilgrimage to Luxembourg
Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare & Leighlin and Bishop Michael Burrows, CofI Bishop of Cashel, Waterford, Lismore, Ferns, Ossory and Leighlin will lead a historic joint diocesan pilgrimage in June from Co. Carlow to Echternach, Luxembourg in honour of St Willibrord. St Willibrord was ordained in Co. Carlow in the 7th Century and is patron…
Cardinal Desmond Connell – ‘distinguished and caring’
Paul Keenan
“He was a just, holy, prayerful man, aware of his own failings.” Among the tributes paid as the news of Cardinal Desmond Connell’s death came on February 21, Msgr Dan O’Connor’s was one steeped in a long-time personal knowledge of the prelate and the man who was his friend for so many years. Having known…
Celebrating Our Lady of Fatima in Westmeath
This year marks the centenary of the appearance at Fatima, Portugal of Our Lady to the three children, Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco Marto and their cousin Sister Lucia Santos from May 13 to October 13, 1917. In celebration of this event, all are invited to Holy Mass in the church of Saint John the…
Bishop invites community of sisters to Elphin
Mags Gargan
A new community of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother will be established in Roscommon at the invitation of the Bishop of Elphin. Last week Bishop Kevin Doran visited the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother Cantabria in the north of Spain to finalise the agreement with Mother Ana Maria…
Bishops unhappy with speed of Vatican trials for alleged abusers
Greg Daly
Delays in how the Vatican tackles cases of priests accused of abuse continue to be a concern for Irish bishops, a spokesman for the hierarchy has confirmed. Addressing Australia’s royal commission into the institutional handling of abuse allegations earlier this month, Teresa Devlin, CEO of the Irish Church’s safeguarding board, said she believed that Ireland’s…
Commission campaigning for abortion
Dear Editor, The State-funded Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) is now campaigning for abortion. In its statement to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on February 13 in Geneva, and in its report submitted to the committee in January, it focused on “a woman’s right to bodily autonomy” and…
Iraqi Muslims repair Christian church
It has been reported that Muslims in the frontline Iraqi city of Mosul have prepared the Virgin Mary Chaldean church for the benefit of Christian families returning after the left-bank of the coty was liberated from the grip of so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Having served as a logistical base for the terror group during its…
Pastor killed in outbreak of violence in Bangui
A Christian pastor has been killed in his church in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR) by militants angered at the loss of their leader in a military raid. Pastor Jean-Paul Sankagui of the Eglise du Christ en Centrafrique (ECC) was one of at least three people reported killed, with a further…
Of winning and losing
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Our society tends to divide us up into winners and losers. Sadly, we don’t often reflect on how this affects our relationships with each other, nor on what it means for us as Christians. What does it mean? In essence, that our relationships with each other tend are too-charged with competition and jealousy because we…