A Church leader in Hong Kong has urged people to continue resisting Communist repression from China after thousands defied the city administration’s ban on remembering the Tiananmen Square victims. Some churches in the region marked the June 4 anniversary with Masses and prayers in memory of the young people who were crushed in the 1989…
The View Last week, the NI Assembly voted to reject the imposition, in Northern Ireland, of abortion legislation by the British government, which extends to all non-fatal disabilities including Down syndrome. What the British government should do now is repeal the law which was forced through parliament last year using an emergency procedure designed to…
The Outlaw Christ: The response in poetry to the question ‘Who do you say that I am?’ by John F. Deane (Columba Books, €16.99) Gabriel Fitzmaurice The Outlaw Christ, developed from a series of talks and lectures delivered by John F. Deane while he was the Teilhard de Chardin Fellow in Catholic Studies at Loyola University, Chicago…
The Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham, England has experienced the “biggest pilgrimage season” in its history, according to the shrine’s rector. The shrine, established by the noblewoman Richeldis de Faverches after she experienced a series of Marian apparitions in 1061, was forced to close and cancel pilgrimages due to the Covid-19 pandemic.…
Thomas Finan, Collected Writings ed. D. Vincent Twomey (Columba Books, €34.99) Fran O’Rourke Reading this delightful collection, the word that repeatedly came to mind was the Latin for ‘wisdom’, sapientia, in its original meaning of ‘sweet knowledge’, knowledge to be savoured. As the editor Vincent Twomey notes, Thomas Finan’s primary draw was towards the sublime or…
Highlighting the increase in domestic violence calls reported by An Garda Síochána over the last year, the bishop of Kildare and Leighlin has pointed people to Accord’s counselling service. Posting on social media, Bishop Denis Nulty said Accord counsellors are trained to help those suffering from domestic violence. He said there has been a “25%…
Letter from America The late US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. A Catholic equivalent might be that everyone is entitled to disagree with their bishop, but not to pretend he is not the bishop. Some years ago, whilst on…
Personal profile A priest from Northern Ireland says a lucky escape from a Nazi German bombing in 1941 propelled him on his faith journey into priesthood. Canon Sean Rogan from Belfast, who resides in Carryduff, Co. Down, narrowly avoided being bombed during the Second World War and was evacuated with his family. The retired 81-year-old…
Everyday philosophy There’s a chant that people seeking radical change have used for decades: it was used in the black civil rights movement in the US in the 1960s, and we’ve heard it a lot from the protesters in the past weeks. The chant is: “No justice, no peace.” The statement being made by the…
The archdioceses of Jakarta and Samarinda have reopened their churches after local authorities began to ease social restrictions imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. “Religious activities may resume starting,” said Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan in a live-streamed press conference last week. “All churches can be reopened but only for regular activities…all places of worship must…
Nuala O’Loan
John L. Allen Jr.
Ben Conroy