Pope signals further reforms to tackle financial crime Signalling further reforms of the Vatican City State penal code, particularly when it comes to financial crimes, Pope Francis said the laws must reflect “the equality of all members of the church” by doing away with “privileges that go back in time and are no longer in…
The world will be saved by beauty! Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that, Dorothy Day quoted it, and centuries before Jesus, Confucius made it central to his pedagogy. They were on to something. Beauty is a special language that cuts through and sidelines all the things that divide us – history, race, language, creed, ideology, politics, economic…
Iraqi cardinal: Pope Francis gave $350,000 for poor during Iraq trip During his recent visit to Iraq, Pope Francis gave a donation of $350,000 to the Chaldean Catholic Church to support local families affected by conflict and the pandemic. Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako told Agenzia Fides that the Pope’s gift was “intended to be a sign of…
Notebook There’s a sense of the Church at its best going on this weekend. It’s that early enthusiastic excitement of a new relationship or hobby. We’ve got all the gear and are ready to spend ourselves fully in the pursuit of love of person, sport or activity. We couldn’t imagine missing a meeting, training session…
Talking to people in Catholic circles in Ireland in recent weeks there are mixed views about the plan of the Irish bishops’ to move towards a national synod of the Church. From my reading, the closer one is to active participation in the life of the Church, the more apprehensive one is about the potential…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. As we noted at the start of Lent, the number 40 is usually associated with a period of preparation. Following the 40 days of Lent, there are 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension. My very young grand-nephew asked me a deep question one day: “Where…
Dear Editor, The unelected Secretary of State Brandon Lewis is preparing to impose a further horrific abortion regime on the North, riding roughshod over the wishes of the vast majority of the population here who wish to save the lives of both mothers and their unborn babies from this murderous onslaught. Abortion is exclusively reserved…
Language workshops The Dublin School of Drama and Communications is offering a range of classes for both children and adults looking to develop public speaking, confidence, and performative abilities. Elocution classes, vocal training and public speaking and communications classes are all on offer, as well as children’s group drama, roleplays and various other workshops. For…
Raymond Chandler once said there were only seven plots. Everything else was just variations on a theme. The idea came back to me as I watched the French thriller In the Shadow of Iris (Netflix). It starts interestingly enough with a kidnapping but there are so many convolutions in the storyline afterwards I lost interest…
I could probably fill the whole paper with reviews of all the religious programmes on over the Easter season – the media tend to put in an extra effort at Easter. RTÉ’s coverage of the ceremonies was impressive. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper (RTÉ One) on Holy Thursday was a memorable event. Fr Martin…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan