The Luminaries did nothing for me. If you sewed my eyelids open and strapped me in front of the television I still wouldn’t have been able to watch it. But I enjoyed all six episodes of Behind Her Eyes, Eve Hewson’s latest outing on Netflix. As no doubt you know, she’s Bono’s daughter. It can…
Month: March 2021
Government is leaving people of faith ‘screaming into the void’
Dear Editor, Fair play to the Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler for acknowledging the importance of Mass for people of faith’s mental health [IC 04/03/2021] but to be honest it’s too little too late. For a large part of the last year we have been denied the sacraments. I understand the reason for the…
Appalled by the ill-treatment of a horse while ignoring the treatment of children
I can understand people getting upset about ill-treatment of animals, and I doubt that anyone who is cruel to animals would be kind to the human beings in their lives. However, I do think the reaction to the picture of trainer Gordon Elliott sitting on a dead horse two years ago has been excessive. Sports Minister…
Family News & Events
Japanese billionaire seeks eight people for Moon trip Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has invited eight people to join him for a trip around the moon on a SpaceX flight, according to the BBC. “I want people from all kinds of backgrounds to join,” he said in a video via Twitter, sharing a link to application…
The Pope in Iraq offers a powerful message of solidarity and fraternity
They say a picture paints a thousand words, and if that’s true the image of Pope Francis at the weekend standing in a bombed-out church in Iraq speaks more powerfully than any of the thousands of column inches that have been and will be written about the trip. As images go, it would be hard…
In Brief
Bishops address concern over Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s abortion link Use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, approved February 27 by the US Food and Drug Administration, raises moral concerns because it “was developed, tested and is produced with abortion-derived cell lines”, the chairmen of two US bishops’ committees said March 2. The bishops…
Birthdays bring us back to the beginning
Notebook I’m a year older! This week I turned 58. When I was ordained, a priest in his fifties seemed a lifetime away from me. Now I’m nearer 60 than 50 and I wonder where the years have gone. The big difference, and I’m sad to say this, is that there are no 24-year-old priests…
Bishops outlines synod plan to hear from Catholics who have walked away
The Church in Ireland is to hold a national synod within the next five years to – amongst other things – hear the voices of people who have left the Church. According to a communique issued following this week’s general assembly of the Irish bishops’ conference the Church leaders believe: “A synodal pathway leading to…
Iraq visit was ‘sign of hope’ for suffering people, Pope says
Despite years of suffering due to war and terrorism, the people of Iraq continue to look to the future with hope, Pope Francis said
Church criticises Taoiseach for failing to respond to plea on Mass ban
The Catholic bishops have hit out at Taoiseach Micheál Martin for not responding to a request to permit Mass for Easter almost three weeks after a meeting to discuss the vital issue. In their strongest intervention yet on public worship, the Church leaders insisted on Tuesday that ongoing restrictions banning people attending Mass would be…

Aubrey Malone

Brendan O’Regan

Michael Kelly



Ruadhán Jones
