Catholic schools in the US are accepting students and enrolment inquiries from Puerto Rican families displaced to Florida after the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria. An informal survey conducted in early October by the Miami Archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools indicated that some 50 students from Puerto Rico had already been placed in Catholic elementary…
Pope Francis has announced there will be a special assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October next year on the state of evangelisation in the Pan-Amazon region of South America, with special attention paid to indigenous people. The purpose of the assembly will be to “identify new paths for the evangelisation” of people in…
Pope Francis has given his approval for an extraordinary ‘month of mission’ in 2019 to reinvigorate and renew the missionary spirit and action of the Church. October 2019 was chosen for the month of prayer because it will be the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s 1919 apostolic letter, Maximum Illud on the propagation of…
Loss of reverence part of Church decline Dear Editor, I note in Fr Joe McDonald’s interview (IC 05/10/2017) that he doesn’t hazard a guess as to why he thinks time is running out on the Church in Ireland. There is, however, one interesting passage in the article with which I agree wholeheartedly: “Instead of asking…
Each of us has a divine spark that can fuel our own happiness and brighten the lives of those around us, writes Martina Lehane Sheehan Research in positive psychology suggests that while around 50% of our happiness levels are influenced by genetic components, only 10% are attributable to external circumstances, despite the huge amount…
Catholic debate has revolved around a literal life-and-death issue since Pope Francis’ declaration last week that the death penalty is “contrary to the Gospel” and should be abolished. As usual, it’s always better to read the Pope’s own words in full – for example at en.radiovaticana.va – than to get embroiled in others’ comments, but…
Splashtastic events for little swimmers The first-ever National Baby Swimming Week organised by Water Babies will run from next Monday, October 31. The goal is to encouraging mums and dads across Ireland to take their little ones to their nearest swimming pool or swimming class for some fun family time, while gaining a host of…
We all make mistakes and we all experience failure. Failure is a painful experience and the conventional psychological advice is that we should not dwell on failure and we should try not to feel bad. However, new research just published by Noelle Nelson and others in the Journal of Behavioural Decision Making found that, when…
Dorcas Lane was the village postmistress in a TV series called Lark Rise to Candleford which we used to watch on a Sunday evening when our children were younger. Any time that Dorcas was caught doing something she felt she shouldn’t be doing, like eating a cream cake, buying another new hat or reading a…
Spirituality Nobel-prizing winning author, Toni Morrison, assessing the times, asks this question: “Why should we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another? Why should we want to close the distance when we can close the gate?” Except this isn’t a question, it’s a judgment. It’s a negative judgment on…
Greg Daly
William Reville
Bairbre Cahill
Fr Ronald Rolheiser