Antonio Banderas took to social media to share his participation in his native Spain’s Holy Week festivities. Spain is known for its huge processions at important times throughout the Catholic calendar, and it was to take part in these that Mr Banderas returned to Malaga. Writing on Twitter, he said, “After three years of waiting,…
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, and especially since Russia’s recent brutal invasion of Ukraine, there has been a queue of European nations applying to join NATO – the western military alliance led by the United States. Fourteen new states joined between 1999 and 2020, and the most recent applicants are…
Aidan Moffitt was remembered as a man of “strong faith”, while Michael Snee was described as having a “heart filled with love” by the priests officiating their funerals. Mr Moffitt’s (41) funeral Mass took place April 12 in the Church of Christ the King, Lisacul, Co. Roscommon, while Mr Snee’s (58) funeral was at St…
Writing from the Polish border and Kraków, Chai Brady investigates the fate of refugees who have fled Ukraine During Holy Week, the border is not as hectic as usual. Apparently four weeks ago NGO workers and volunteers could barely manage the huge numbers entering Poland from Ukraine, through the Medyka border crossing. The road leading…
Teresa Ball and Loreto Education: Convents and the Colonial World 1794 -1875 by Deirdre Raftery (Four Courts Press 2022) Frances Ball was born in Dublin on January 9, 1794. John Ball, her father, was a wealthy Dublin silk merchant. Although a convert, he was at that time one of the most prominent Catholic citizens of Dublin.…
Former Highland radio presenter Shaun Doherty, who presented for the popular Donegal station for more than thirty years, is set to become a priest after spending the last number of years training in Rome. Mr Doherty recently revealed that his life is constantly evolving but God’s presence has helped him use all his experience to…
When Fr Ruslan Mikhalkiv, rector of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Higher Theological Seminary in Vorzel, a forested village 50 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, returned to the abandoned seminary outside Kyiv in early April, he shockingly noticed that the statue of Our Lady of Fatima had been destroyed. “I have been studying for days how exactly…
Shannon Campbell The View On Ash Wednesday past, our chaplain, Fr Dominic McGrattan, invited students to consider what it is that makes a cross a crucifix? Crosses, we know, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are jewelled, others are intricately carved. I wear one my grandmother gave me when I was a child. What…
Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly Ordway (Word on Fire Academic, €25.00 / £20.99) There is a widespread belief that JRR Tolkien, the famous Catholic author of The Lord of the Rings, was against all things modern. Whether it was industrialisation, morals or literature, the narrative goes that he gave credence to…
A trip to Kraków revealed the loving service the Church in Poland is offering its Ukrainian neighbours fleeing war, writes Jason Osborne Poland has been lauded for its response to an unprecedented refugee crisis that comes off the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of April 15, nearly 2.8 million people fleeing the…
Mary Kenny
Ruadhán Jones
Chai Brady