Ecumenism should be taken far more seriously, an Irish priest has urged, ahead of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Martin Browne OSB, a Benedictine monk based at Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick, and a member of the international group tasked by the Vatican and the World Council of…
The World of Books by the books editor With Twelfth Night, the Epiphany, Old Christmas and the Christmas of the Eastern Churches behind us wherever we are, the holiday season is truly past. The Christmas trees have come down, along with the lights, tinsel and holly, the cards received have been packed away as…
The Martins of Lisieux by Michael O’Connell (St Thérèse National Office, 56 Angier Street, Dublin 2, €5.00; contact Pat Sweeney at 086-819-8186) This brochure is a work of pietas by a devotee of St Thérèse. The beautifully illustrated booklet is in two parts, the first concerns the grave of the saint, the second the burial place of the…
Questions of Faith In the last few decades there has been a resurging belief within popular culture and even among Christians that God created Jesus – and this is no small number. A survey conducted by Lifeway Research a few years ago, which interviewed 3,000 Americans about their theological views, revealed that 78% believed that…
Trip to Romania confirmed for summer The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will travel to Romania to the cities of Bucharest, Iaşi and Blaj, and to a Marian shrine in eastern Transylvania, from May 31 to June 2 and will include a stop at a Marian shrine located in the Șumuleu Ciuc neighbourhood of the city of Miercurea Ciuc,…
Dear Editor, As you and your readers will be aware the Holy Father Pope Francis has called the presidents of bishops’ conference to Rome to discuss the vital issue of safeguarding at a meeting from February 21-24. As we are all too painfully aware in Ireland, this is an issue that has profound consequences for…
Pat O’Kelly While pianist Finghin Collins pursues a busy international career he also finds time to act as artistic director of both the late September New Ross Piano Festival and Music for Galway. The latter spreads itself across ‘the season’ and enshrines a Midwinter Festival in January. Although Collins’ brainchild, his Galway committee actively…
Sometimes a programme arrives with mighty hype and fails to live up to the high expectations, then sometimes you just about stumble upon a modest show that exceeds the low expectations. RTÉ’s War of Independence drama Resistance (RTÉ1, Sunday nights) was preceded by much hype. Now two episodes in, it is better than I expected.…
The Notebook Here are four letters guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any parish priest or indeed parish secretary or administrator: GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). It came into effect last May and now it applies to every parish in Ireland. In the parish where I minister, it affected us in at…
100 years on… This paper believed President Wilson would support Ireland and Poland in the same way, writes Gabriel Doherty Given that the Versailles Peace Conference formally convened on the same day that The Irish Catholic of January 18, 1919 appeared, it was inevitable that the paper would give it pride of place in…
Peter Costello
Colm Fitzpatrick
Brendan O’Regan