Knock Shrine’s basilica was full with young people as they attended the Donal Walsh day on Thursday, May 11. The day marked the 10th anniversary of the Kerry teenager’s death after a battle with cancer. Donal Walsh touched many lives through his writings, public appearances and fundraising, and the foundation named after him continues to…
For those with ears to hear, every so often it’s actually possible to detect the sound of history’s tectonic plates as they shift. Such was the case Thursday, with a remarkable gesture by Pope Francis of inscribing a group of Coptic Christian martyrs into the Roman Martyrology, Catholicism’s official compendium of saints. The move was…
It’s common in this day and age to hear the Old Testament decried as mad, bad and barbaric. Many atheists say that it’s an instruction manual for how to be a bad person, rather than how to be a good one. Others say that God seems to have undergone a major personality shift between the…
The Pope’s new ambassador in Dublin has presented his credentials to President Michael D. Higgins. Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor, the new Apostolic Nuncio, presented the documents appointing him to the role at a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin on Thursday. The prelate was accompanied to and from Áras an Uachtaráin by an Escort of Honour…
Judith Sudilovsky Faith leaders and activists for coexistence from across Israel gathered in prayer in front of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem May 10, in a week that once again saw yet another increase in violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The prayer march came after the May 2 death in prison…
Frank Litton War By Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation Who Revolutionised Resistance, by Daniel Akst (Brooklyn / London: Melville House, $28.99 / £22.94 / €28.00) Paul Ricoeur, the French philosopher, observed that the state can be – has been – a source of great evil. Writing in the aftermath of…
In much of the secularised world, we live in a climate that is somewhat anti-ecclesial and anti-clerical. It’s quite fashionable today to bash the Churches, be they Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical. This is often done in the name of being open-minded and enlightened, and it’s the one bias that’s intellectually sanctioned. Say something derogatory…
After hundreds of public prayers for peace in Ukraine and 443 days after Russia launched an all-out war on the Eastern European country, Pope Francis welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Vatican. The topics of the conversation May 13 included “the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused by the ongoing war”, the Vatican…
Jem Sullivan The Sunday Gospel May 21, 2023 The Ascension of the Lord Acts: 1:1-11 Ps 47:2-3,6-7, 8-9 Eph 1:17-23 Mt 28:16-20 The making of promises is part of special celebrations that mark the days and weeks of spring and the Easter season. As we celebrate graduations, ordinations, weddings, baptisms, and first Communions, we hear…
Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker, by Aoife Brady, with essays by Babette Bohn and Jonquil O’Reilly (National Gallery of Ireland, distributed by Yale University Press, €40.00 / £35.00) Exhibition: May 6-August 27; Rooms 6-10, Beit Wing | Ticketed, check opening hours online. Lavinia Fontana (1552 – 1614) was a remarkable artist of great achievement,…
Ruadhán Jones
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Peter Costello