Dear Editor, Your vocations supplement this week (IC 9/5/2019) was really quite fascinating and the sort of thing that young men and women discerning clerical or religious vocations would surely find both interesting and useful. I’ve no doubt that the many religious orders that have advertised in your paper were delighted with this kind of…
The Notebook Fr Conor McDonough In the late afternoon of Holy Saturday last I found myself huffing and puffing down a windy, bumpy road in Glendalough. I had lost the pilgrim group I was meant to be leading, and I wasn’t sure if this path led back to the monastery, where our lift was…
Big benefits for baby swimmers Babies have a real affinity with water, and because they’ve spent nine months floating in the womb, being in warm water feels much more familiar to them than being on dry land. However, this early confidence usually diminishes with time, and can even turn to fear. What better way to…
Tolkien (12A) We’re in World War I. A soldier stands in the trenches in the heat of battle. Memory and desire percolate in his brain. He has a fever. He’s looking for a lost friend. His mind wanders back to the past – to the poverty of his childhood, the death of his mother, finding…
The Alabama Senate approved a bill yesterday that will outlaw nearly all abortion in the state. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Governor Kay Ivey, is intended to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional state measures prohibiting abortion. The Human Life Protection…
Christians recognise life’s great paradox that so much evil and temptation exist in the world, but that God is always present, too, ready to help and give people the strength to persevere, Pope Francis said. Each person has been given life, “dreams of love and the good”, but is then “continuously exposed to evil” aimed…
Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles said his new book addressing the church’s sexual abuse crisis and urging Catholics to “stay and fight for the body of Christ” comes from his “pastor’s heart”. “It is simply my statement coming out of my whole life as a Catholic – 33 years as a priest, almost…
There needs to be a “significant shift” away from managing homelessness in favour of ending the crisis, the CEO of Focus Ireland has said. Speaking at the official opening by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy of a 31-home development at Dublin’s John’s Lane West, Pat Dennigan said the charity is committed to working with the State…
Pope Francis has revised and clarified norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable in protecting minors as well as in protecting members of religious orders and seminarians from abuse. The new juridical instrument is meant to help bishops and religious leaders around the world clearly understand their duties and church law, underlining…
Greg Daly and Chai Brady Parishioners should take advantage of politicians canvassing support and fundraising outside churches after Mass by holding them to account and quizzing them on their stances, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has said. Bishop Doran, who has in the past questioned the propriety of politicians in favour of redefining marriage or legalising abortion seeking funds…
Aubrey Malone
Greg Daly