Charities that support missionary work across the world have said the increase in vocations to Irish missionary orders abroad is “encouraging”, and it could help spread the Faith in Ireland. The National Director of Missio Ireland, Fr Michael Kelly SPS, told The Irish Catholic while most Irish missionaries are elderly and many have retired, “there’s…
Month: October 2023
Irish pilgrims praise God after safe return from the Holy Land
A group of 52 Irish pilgrims caught in the Holy Land as war broke out have returned safely to Ireland, with the group’s spiritual director saying that “God’s supporting presence” was very much felt by the pilgrims during their time there. At least 1,400 people were killed and another 3,400 injured in Israel after the militant…
Stewardship: Five keys to respond to Jesus’ call
Stewardship describes our whole relationship with God, writes Susan M. Erschen What is ‘stewardship’? Stewardship is perhaps one of the most misunderstood words in the Church today. Some people think it is all about money. Others think it means only time, talent and treasure. Some wonder if it is just another word for fundraising or…
Irish priest maintains prayerful presence in Holy Land amid war
An Irish priest based at Magdala on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the Holy Land has said that he’s staying put to look after those under his care and provide a prayerful window into the Middle East for those living abroad. Vice director at the Magdala tourist centre in the north of…
The rosary is a mighty tool for evangelisation
SueAnn Howell ‘Unleash the Power of the Rosary’, a panel discussion hosted by Paradisus Dei and the Dominican friars of the Province of St Joseph, offered a lively discussion about the rosary as a powerful tool for evangelisation that connects people to Jesus through Mary and guides them on a journey to the centre of…
How an artist responds to senseless violence
The Pianist, about a Polish Jew’s experience of WWII, was a bit of a passion project for its Polish-Jewish director, Roman Polanski. Since coming out in 2002, it has been hailed as a classic. It stars Adrien Brody as pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, a real-life Holocaust survivor who wrote a memoir also called The…
Recruitment freeze must not lead to further pressure on HSE – chaplain
A recruitment freeze must not add further pressure to Ireland’s health service, particularly in the context of a growing and aging population and large number of refugees entering Ireland, a hospital chaplain has warned. This comes as the HSE introduced a recruitment freeze which includes junior doctors, clerical, agency and patient staff, healthcare assistants and…
No one would publish this famous author’s Catholic book – so he did so himself…
Piers Paul Read is one of Britain’s most distinguished novelists and writers – author of such best-sellers as Alive (the story of the Andes survivors), The Templars, and 17 novels in all, including A Married Man, Monk Dawson, and The Free Frenchman – the last being a riveting account of a French family during the…
Irish youth encouraged to follow oft risky footsteps of missionaries
World Mission Sunday 2023 – Celebrating and Supporting the Legacy of Irish Missionary Work An Irish missionary speaks to Chai Brady about police brutality and oppression, and tackling gender-based violence in South Africa The profound culture shock and oppression witnessed after landing in South Africa as a young idealistic sister in 1984, ready to help…
Can private revelations be false?
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: I have a question on discernment of private revelations. I don’t mean big ones like Medjugorje, etc., but individuals who say they ‘have had a word from the Lord’. Couldn’t this be just their own opinion interpreted as God talking? A: Yes, this is a concern. With these kinds of…

Chai Brady





Ruadhán Jones

Mary Kenny

