Historian Dr Donal Corcoran describes his lifelong fascination with the Irishmen who served the Pope in defending the Papal States during the war of Italian unification in the 19th Century, which had lead him to do extended research on the subject for his newly published book. As a child I was fascinated with two war medals that my grandfather…
What do you do during a desert time, when confidence in leadership has disappeared, trust in an institution of established record has collapsed, anger is on the ascendant, recriminations are flying about unmoored, chaos is a partner of the times? One might think I am talking about the ever-roiling political reality in the United States,…
Medical Matters One of the most commonly prescribed medications in Ireland are proton pump inhibitors which are used in the treatment of acid reflux and peptic ulcers. In fact, up to 20% of adults suffer with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) which appears to be increasing in prevalence and is more common in those of…
I Will Not Serve: The priest who said NO to Hitler by David Rice (Red Stag / Mentor Books, €14.99) This is a true story of Fr Franz Reinisch who was beheaded for refusing to serve in the Wehrmacht. His refusal arose from his unwillingness to swear an unconditional oath of obedience to Adolf Hitler, its…
Chai Brady speaks to director Callum Macrae about the killing of 11 innocent people by British paratroopers in 1971 “Revenge or punishment” are not on the agenda for families of people killed by British troops in Belfast just months before Derry’s Bloody Sunday, a priest who served in the area at the time has…
The View Although the scandals in the US concerning criminal sexual abuse by clergy cast a grey and dispiriting shadow over the World Meeting of Families, there were still many uplifting and inspiring aspects to it. I know that thousands of prayers have been offered by faithful Catholics in the hope that the Church…
Vending machines can be corrosive to children’s health, writes Davis Clark Evolutionarily speaking, human beings aren’t built to resist easy doses of glucose, hence the proliferation of fast food restaurants all over the rich world. With a slew of fast food chains available in pretty much every major city, it can be difficult to…
More than 6,700 Catholic women religious are among those helping more than 1 million people taking shelter in relief camps after unprecedented floods ravaged Kerala state in southwest India. “This is the biggest rescue and relief operation the Catholic Church in Kerala has undertaken in its history,” said Fr George Vettikattil, who heads the Church’s…
A church in Cork was filled with applause and tears on Sunday after baby shoes were placed on the altar to commemorate the victims and survivors of clerical abuse. Canon David Herlihy said he proposed the commemoration ceremony that took place in St Mary’s Parish Church in Youghal after members of the Standing4Women movement had…
Carlo Carretto was an Italian monk who died in 1988. For many years he lived as a hermit in the Sahara desert, translated the scriptures into the Tuareg language, and from the solitude of the desert wrote some extraordinary spiritual books. His writings and his Faith were special in that they had a rare capacity…
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Chai Brady
Breda O'Brien
Fr Ronald Rolheiser