The sisters of Kylemore Abbey are a hardworking group of nuns who welcome tens of thousands of eager visitors each year to their home in the heart of Connemara. The nuns are famous for their delicious home-baking and the wholesome food in the abbey restaurant and tea rooms. Built as a breath-taking castle in 1868…
Irish citizens who voted to protect the constitutional right to life during May’s abortion referendum should not give up hope, a prominent pro-life group has said. The remarks come after the news last week that the bill which allows for the introduction of abortion services in Ireland passed all stages of the Oireachtas and will…
The Vatican has said that while there are no immediate plans to add new members to the C9, Pope Francis has released the three eldest cardinals from the duties of the advisory group. Papal spokesman Greg Burke told journalists in a briefing last week that the Pope has sent letters to Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal…
A controversial priest who the Vatican removed from ministry in 2012 has said there is “no possibility” now of him signing a statement that he accepts the fullness of Church teaching. Writing on his website, Fr Tony Flannery CSsR says the head of his order has told him that although he had been withdrawn from…
Faith means taking the long view, writes David Quinn When you read the Bible it is easy to miss important ideas when you are not concentrating. How many times have I read, or listened to someone else reading, the opening chapter of St Luke’s Gospel where the Angel declares to Zechariah that his wife,…
Gratitude to the stories that formed him drives one of England’s leading Catholic writers, writes Greg Daly Liverpool, that most Irish of English cities, is still a place with Catholicism in its bones, and a natural home even now for the Liverpool-born writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “I have been other places,” he says, having studied…
The bells of every Catholic Church in Strasbourg rang for 10 minutes last week to honour the victims of a terror attack at a Christmas market the previous day. On December 11, a shooter opened fire on the crowd, killing three people and injuring 12 others. Police said Cherif Chekatt (29), presumably linked to radical…
Christopher White In a decision that will undoubtedly create shockwaves around the globe, Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Church official to stand trial for sexual abuse, was found guilty last week by a Melbourne Court. In one of the most closely watched trials in modern Catholic Church history, after nearly four full days…
A Pakistani official announced this week a new ‘Minorities Empowerment Package’ and the creation of a task force to ensure the rights of religious minorities in the province of Punjab. According to the Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs, Ijaz Augustine, the package will include new legislation and implement existing laws to assist…
I’ve never been happy with some of my activist friends who send out Christmas cards with messages like: ‘May the Peace of Christ Disturb You!’ Can’t we have one day a year to be happy and celebrate without having our already unhappy selves shaken with more guilt? Isn’t Christmas a time when we can enjoy…
Greg Daly
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser