Hallowe’en should be spent with family and friends, not in A&E, writes Colm Fitzpatrick Hallowe’en is a highlight for many in the calendar year; the opportunity to dress up as your favourite superhero or ghoul, stay up late into the night, and eat an endless supply of sweets makes it a favourite among the…
A friend of mine shares this story. She grew up with five siblings and an alcoholic father. The effect of her father’s alcoholism was devastating on her family. Here’s how she tells the story: “By the time my father died his alcoholism had destroyed our family. None of us kids could talk to each other…
Mainly about books by the books editor St Mary’s Abbey in Dublin was founded, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, in 846. Over the coming centuries it in grew in size into an important ecclesiastical institution, eventually holding the country’s largest library. The nature of such places began to change with the arrival…
Your Faith in Our Schools About 170 Catholic school principals from across Northern Ireland enjoyed a conference in which they could share their “common vision and values” and hear advice on mental health and wellbeing as well as modern Faith-based education. The Catholic Principals Association (CPA) conference began with a prayer and a tribute to…
A Parents Perspective Parents worry about the amount of time that young people spend on social media. I have concerns about the nature of some of the content they might see, the hours of time wasted and the need to measure up to others they see posting online, but I have another misgiving. Being a…
Green Fingers “Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils” – Cyril Connolly If left on the grass of your lawn for long enough, leaves will cause it to weaken and yellow, which will encourage fungal diseases and bare patches. Gather them up and turn them into…
It’s popcorn time! Films speak to everyone irrespective of age or race; they transport you to another world for a brief period of time where you can laugh, cry or be astonished. To celebrate the power of the cinema, Cork Film Festival will be running this November. Award-winning films from the international film festival circuit,…
Notebook Last Sunday two young men called to see me after Mass. They’re students, sharing accommodation and, apart from their studies, they want to grow in holiness, to become the men God made them to be. They told me they had cleared a space on their bookshelves for books that would help them in this…
Irish Catholic readers should be able to wallow in a bit of nostalgia! On Wednesday of last week I happened upon The Dick Powell Theatre on satellite movie channel Talking Pictures TV (TPTV). It was an innovative TV drama show in its day (early 1960s) – a TV series of one-off dramas. This particular episode…
It is the finest sort of autumn morning. The sun shines kindly upon the apple trees, their boughs now heavy with fruit. Clusters of ripe apples gleam red against pale blue skies. The leaves of the beech and sycamore are already turning a golden brown. Yet the ash trees stand defiantly green, in a willful…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Peter Costello
Maria Byrne
Paul Gargan
Brendan O’Regan