Today’s Fine Gael would have no place for its 1970s Taoiseach, writes David Quinn Liam Cosgrave is the first Taoiseach I can remember. My father, a newspaper man like his father before him and his son now, was thrilled. My father was Fine Gael through and through and Cosgrave’s was the first Fine Gael-led…
Catholic bishops in the Philippines say they are not acting to undermine the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte by offering sanctuary to several policemen allegedly linked to drug-related killings. Fr Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the bishops’ conference, said the church leaders should not be perceived as plotting against anyone. “The Church is not one…
Accused of historic sexual abuse Cardinal George Pell will face a four week committal hearing next year, and up to 50 witnesses are expected to be called upon. Cardinal Pell (76) is the most senior Catholic Church official to face such charges, and is currently on leave from his position as the Vatican’s Prefect of…
Polish Catholics from hundreds of parishes joined a rosary prayer along the border of the country to pray for Poland and the world. The event, called ‘Rosary to the Borders’ was held on the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7, and almost 320 Churches along the border were identified as…
It has been discovered that the head of the Legionaries of Christ’s Rome seminary fathered two children in yet another scandal for the order. In a statement, they announced that Fr Oscar Turrion, who was the rector of the Pontifical International, would leave the priesthood. It included a letter from the priest who asked “forgiveness…
People wave Spanish flags during a demonstration organised by the Catalan Civil Society in Barcelona. Photo: CNS
Catholic leaders in Mali warned that parishes face increasing assaults by Islamic militants despite attempts to enforce a peace deal in the North African country. “Our churches and chapels are now being targeted by extremists, who’ve told Christians not to gather to pray,” said Msgr Edmond Dembele, Secretary General of the Malian bishops’ conference. Tensions…
China is a communist nation therefore the Catholic Church must be realistic and seek a stance of mutual tolerance with the government, said a former teacher at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University. “I’m an optimist, above all because I believe in God. God is the Lord of human history. Whatever way human history proceeds, it never…
Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life by Henri J. M. Nouwen, edited by Gabrielle Earnshaw, foreword by Brené Browne (Hodder & Stoughton, £10.99) Anthony Redmond Fr Henri Nouwen was one of the most prolific and important spiritual writers of the 20th Century. Since his unexpected death in 1996 his fame and influence as a spiritual writer…
Thirty years ago, the American Educator, Allan Bloom, wrote a book entitled The Closing of the American Mind. This was his thesis: in our secularised world today our language is becoming ever-more empirical, one-dimensional and devoid of depth and this is closing our minds by stripping us of the deeper meanings inside our own experience.…
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser