At a “tense time” in the North, Bishop Donal McKeown has called for everyone in “leadership positions to ask for calm rather than confrontation” after a man was arrested at a memorial for the victims of the Ormeau Road massacre in Belfast – a loyalist attack the arrested man was seriously injured in. Speaking to The Irish…
A proposed ban on “conversion therapy” for sexual orientation or gender identity in Australia’s Victoria state is far too broad and could target normal prayer and conversations between children and parents, Catholic bishops and Muslim leaders warned this week. “Unfortunately, this bill doesn’t just ban outdated and insidious practices of coercion and harm, which we…
Our faith is not virtual and is not something to be moved online, writes Bishop Tom Deenihan The current restrictions on public worship are both understandable and necessary and also enjoy public support. The escalation of Covid-19 during the past few months has been a source of fear and huge concern. However, I must also admit that…
More than 2,700 healthcare professionals have signed an open letter stating that they are “gravely concerned” about the attempt to introduce assisted suicide in Ireland. Opponents of the bill, including the majority of geriatricians, argue that it stigmatises the elderly, sick and disabled. The letter came as submissions close for the second stage of the…
The last hope filled messages of Daniel O’Leary Horizons of Hope: Unpublished Fragments of Love by Daniel O’Leary (Columba Books, €19.99/£17.99) The cosmos as revealed by modern science is one of the subjects that theologians avoid if they can. That vast expanse of time and change is just too difficult to fit into a religious scheme…
Dublin’s new shepherd must continue to acknowledge the negative side of the Church’s recent legacy, while reminding us of the great good the Church has done and still does, writes David Quinn Ireland is one of the most anti-Catholic countries in the Western world. The often authoritarian behaviour of the Church in the past, in…
In the midst of the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, thousands of Eritrean refugees who fled oppression and authoritarianism have been deported back to their home country, said an Eritrean Catholic priest. Fr Mussie Zerai, a priest of the Archdiocese of Asmara, Eritrea, who works with migrants, said the refugees were in Schimelba and Hitsats…
President Joe Biden’s decision to rescind a regulation governing the Title X family planning programme that was enforced by the Trump administration “will force abortion” to be part of the programme and “may be unlawful,” said the chairman of the US bishops’ pro-life committee. “We have long supported efforts to ensure that the provision and…
While mother and baby homes were a product of a cruel and unforgiving culture towards unmarried mothers, some women found compassion and kindness, writes Jason Osborne The final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes cast further light on the disturbing treatment of many women and children in institutions throughout the…
Restrictions may make romance more difficult, but it’s certainly not impossible, writes Jason Osborne Last year’s St Valentine’s Day probably would have been a little more ostentatious if we’d known the kind of year we were in for. Perhaps we’d have made an effort to go on a trip we’d always wanted to, somewhere suitably…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello
David Quinn