What’s in an image? An image can imprint itself indelibly into our consciousness so that we cannot not picture a thing except in a certain way. Take, for instance, Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper. Today if you close your eyes and try to picture the Last Supper, that image will spontaneously…
Dear Editor, Mikhael Gorbachev would seem to have played, unintentionally, an important role in the unfolding of the Message of Fatima. On March 25, 1984 Pope St John Paul II, in accordance with the request of Our Lady, consecrated the world including Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The following year Gorbachev was elected General…
Last week I was reflecting on visionary political leadership, but I didn’t expect to be returning to the topic so soon. Queen Elizabeth II was one of those leaders, though perhaps ‘inspirational’ might be a better description. Her unexpected death last week was one of those impactful events that grabs a huge amount of media…
The Sunday Gospel In the past I often heard people complaining that too many Sunday sermons were about money. I don’t hear it nowadays, probably because the parish newsletter and parish council publicise the financial needs. This Sunday however the Gospel (Luke 16:1-13) suggests that the preacher should talk about money, dealing with its wrong use…
“I have heard their cry…I know their sufferings…Come, now! I will send you…I will be with you” (Ex 3: 1-12). ‘Listen to the Voice of Creation’ is the theme for this year’s Season of Creation which began on September 1 and runs until October 4. This year we are invited to be more attentive to the…
Pope Francis shares nuclear war concerns The role of the Church in a world shaken by war and other global issues was the subject Pope Francis raised with his diplomatic representatives around the globe September 8. “Unfortunately, Europe and the entire world are shaken by a particularly serious war, due to the violation of international…
Saoirse Ronan can do anything – even a Dublin accent. Well she’s done everything else, right? Why not go back to her ‘real’ voice? It squeaked through in Brooklyn. Here we get the full “Dublin can be heaven/with a coffee at eleven” version. How strange that she chose the role of a trainee constable from…
Still Points: A Guide to living the Mindful Meditative Way by Bro. Richard OFM Cap (Hachette Books, €14.99/£12.99) Bro. Richard Hendrick is a Capuchin priest-friar working in Dublin. He wrote a long poem Lockdown which went viral. It was picked up by both the BBC and by CNN in North America. From there it went…
Concern appoints new CEO Concern Worldwide have appointed Accenture senior executive, David Regan, as its new Chief Executive Officer, following an extensive recruitment process. Mr Regan has served in a number of voluntary roles with the Irish charity in the past. He was elected as chair of the board and in more recent years also…
Life is full of surprises. If you had told me 30 years ago that I would be writing an article in praise of the Breviary, I would have thought you mad. Yet that’s just what I am doing today. Thirty years ago, I was very sporadic in my praying of the Divine Office. I was…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Peter Costello
Ruadhán Jones