Christians celebrated Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre this year after the storied church remained closed last Easter due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over Palm Sunday Mass on March 28 at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a small group in the church and…
I long for the day when the self-serving, virtue-signallers who jump on bandwagons will be exposed, writes Fr Nicholas Grace To be a social media pariah, or frowned upon by your peers, abused by your enemies, cancelled by your favourite platform, even fired by your employer, are a few of the punishments meted out directly…
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has paid tribute to the Year of St Joseph declared by Pope Francis and urged Catholics to read Francis’ apostolic letter Patris corde, describing it as a simple text “coming from the heart and going to the heart, yet containing such profound depth”. In an interview with the German Catholic weekly newspaper Die Tagespost, the…
Pope Francis on Easter offered consolation to all those still struggling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and he urged speeding up production of Covid-19 vaccines amid global delays and ensuring they reach the poorest countries. In his Easter Urbi et Orbi address, the Pope said the resurrected Christ is a sign of “hope…
My two-year-old has now spent most of her life under coronavirus restrictions. Of course, she doesn’t understand the bigger picture, but she does know that, at times, the Government stops the older children from going to school and her from going to her beloved childminder. She knows that sometimes we are not allowed go to…
You would really have to wonder how public health advice intersects so neatly with secular convenience, writes Paul Brosnan It has been such a difficult year for myself and indeed all other practicing Catholics across Ireland. Government policy has made it impossible to perform our natural obligation as Christians, which is to attend and participate…
Medical Matters Memory decline is common in older age and indeed about 20% of adults over 65 have some degree of clinically significant cognitive impairment. Notably, the incidence of dementia also doubles every 5 years from the age of 65 reaching a prevalence of about 20% by the time one achieves octogenarian status! Despite the…
Personal Profile Dr Jessie Rogers made history recently, becoming the first lay person and the first woman to be dean of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. To her, it seemed as natural as anything – but she recognises the privilege and responsibility that comes from the appointment. “From my own internal experience of Maynooth, it didn’t…
Pilgrimage: Journeys with Meaning by Peter Stanford (Thames & Hudson, £25.00/€30.00 approx.) Peter Stanford, a former editor of The Catholic Herald, is also the author of a long series of books that explore aspects of Christianity from a Catholic point of view which manage to appeal to a wide audience through his skill in making the often…
Living Laudato Si’ Jane Mellett Last month we saw one of the world’s biggest cargo ships, the Ever Given, get stuck in the Suez Canal. While this event provided much needed light relief in the form of many memes floating around social media, it also highlighted some pretty startling statistics. The ship had 20,000 forty-foot…
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello