In our calendar, Holy Week is one which turns from triumph on Palm Sunday to breaking bread together on Holy Thursday, betrayal in Gethsemane, death and humiliation on a cross on Good Friday, the silence of Holy Saturday and ultimately the victory over the grave of Easter Sunday. On the first Holy Thursday at the…
Nothing quite prepares you for the intensity of Holy Week lived in a religious community. Since I entered the Dominican novitiate in 2009, every Easter has been profoundly moving, with an emotion that is communal. Together the community experiences disorientation in this week: familiar timetables are altered, familiar statues are covered, and the Lord is…
Dear Editor, There is much public discussion about the place and role of Catholic schools in Ireland today; a great deal of which is anecdotal and without much evidence. To this end, researchers with the Theology and Religious Studies Department of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick are currently undertaking a study to gather data that will…
Amidst supporting refugees and ongoing instability the Jesuit Refugee Service are determined to support ‘hugely significant’ papal trip, Chai Brady hears The Covid pandemic and now the devastating invasion of Ukraine have gripped the world, both causing untold grief and sometimes leaving little room for other thoughts or concerns – particularly among the people of…
The San Damiano Cross: An Icon of the Crucifixion by Madeleine Stewart (Conard Press, €12.00 / £10.50; ISBN 978-1-9161432-0-3; orders to conardicons.com) Madeline Stewart, who is an accredited expert on icons and their interpretation lives in Northern Ireland, but mentally she is a well-travelled global person through her explorations of icons of the Orthodox tradition.…
It’s great to see the idea of pilgrimage becoming more popular in recent years but sometimes it just becomes a secular or self-improvement exercise, with the spiritual side vague or side-lined. Pilgrimage: Road to the Scottish Isles (BBC One, Sunday) is the third outing in this series from BBC. The formula is the same –…
I joined Netflix against my better judgment. People kept telling me I was missing out on a lot, that it had anything and everything. Maybe, I thought to myself, that’s the problem. I was accused of being snobbish when I said it reminded me of the cinematic equivalent of Woolworth’s. That was my first impression.…
My babi (granny) makes this bread a lot. It is a traditional Czech bread which is served around Easter, Christmas, or other special celebrations and is a kind of mix between a brioche and challah. This Easter version is usually shaped in a round loaf to symbolise the sun, with a cross cut into the…
The Archbishop of Dublin has announced major plans for every parish in the sprawling archdiocese to meet to see how they should best respond to a changed Ireland, insisting this must involve all parishioners. In a pastoral letter delivered this evening (Wednesday), Dr Dermot Farrell reflected on the synodal process that has been taking place…
The Church leaders’ group of Ireland said in their Easter message that the world is “overshadowed” with the darkness of war in Ukraine this Holy Week, and called on people to do all they can to help.
Michael Kelly
Chai Brady
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Ruadhán Jones