Following deadly protests against Haiti’s president and the drowning deaths of at least 28 people in an illegal crossing to the Bahamas, the country’s Catholic bishops have said all Haitians must come together for a wise solution to the country’s dangers. “We must wake up to take together the full measure of the danger that…
Personal Profile Chai Brady speaks to a renowned Catholic academic about his life and Faith “Do not be afraid to be holy” was then Pope John Paul II’s message to pilgrims during World Youth Day in 1989, and that struck a chord with a young man soon to enter seminary. Dr Neil Xavier O’Donoghue,…
Last Stories by William Trevor (Viking, £14.99) Derek Hand The title of this posthumously published collection, Last Stories, signals that this is the final work from William Trevor who died in 2016. The title is doubly appropriate because the 10 pieces gathered here are imbued with a melancholy sense of things ending. Trevor as a writer…
Dear Editor, Prof. Stephen Bullivant suggests the Irish bishops follow their English and Welsh counterparts and reintroduce Friday abstinence (IC 7/2/2019). Until 1966, healthy adult Catholics had to abstain from flesh meat on Friday. In 1966, St Paul VI allowed for substitution of abstinence with certain good works. St John Paul II confirmed this in…
I’m in Rome this week attending the unprecedented meeting on the protection of minors within the Church. Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon – as president of the Irish bishops’ conference – is here sharing the experiences of the Church in Ireland with his brother bishops. Even before the summit got underway this morning (Thursday) people…
Make human beings a primary concern, urges Vatican official Left unchecked, unbridled greed and a thirst for profit leads down a slippery slope that endangers the earth and all who live on it, especially indigenous populations, a Vatican official said. Msgr Fernando Chica Arellano, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the…
Samizdat, before the fall of the Iron Curtain, was the name given to the clandestine copying and distribution of banned literature; in David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest, however, it means something very different, a captivating film, also called ‘the Entertainment’, that saps wills and paralyses viewers, leaving them unable to tear their eyes…
The only thing that’s likely to surprise you at this year’s Oscar ceremonies is the fact that for the first time since 1989 it won’t have a host, only presenters. Other than that you don’t need a crystal ball to forecast what’s going to happen. The favourites in all the main categories are so odds-on…
The Notebook Go into your local supermarket and check out the food section. You’ll be amazed at the selection available for coeliacs. Business people know the statistics: more that one in every 200 Irish people is coeliac and needs a gluten-free diet. This fact poses a challenge for churches: one in 200 people makes…
A view of the flu For history lovers and those who want to discover more of their own heritage, the National Museum’s Country Life department is offering a chance for attendees to learn about one of the most severe flus that hit the country. The Enemy Within – The Spanish Flu in Ireland explores the…
Chai Brady
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly
Aubrey Malone