St Patrick’s day sees the arrival of great numbers of visitors from abroad, many of them part of, or deeply interested in the Irish diaspora. This seems an appropriate moment then to visit the EPIC presentation down on Customs House in the Dublin Financial Centre. EPIC stands for Irish Emigration Museum, by the way. This is…
Thanks to its intrepid artistic director, Fergus Sheil, Irish National Opera is currently midway through its latest production – Richard Strauss’ single act Salome at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. A concert performance in Wexford’s National Opera House on March 3 preceded the fully staged production by Bruno Ravella that opened at BGET last Tuesday.…
For those who avoid meat anyway, is there another Friday penance? Catholics I know are doing ‘fish on Friday’ to conform to the fasting and abstinence requirement. But if I typically avoid meat or eat fish most days anyway, should I do something different for Lent, or just stay the same? I’ve heard some Catholics…
Dear Editor, The Synod on Synodality is occupying the centre stage in the Catholic media at present, so it is important not to miss matters relating to day-to-day problems needing swift resolution. In this context the ‘Notebook’ on the back page of The Irish Catholic is always worth reading. Fr Martin Delaney’s contribution ‘Poorly proclaimed…
He was in the other room when I walked in. I knew the door would be unlocked so just gave a quick tap, said hello and walked in. “Who’s there?” he asked and when I said it was me, he said that he’d be with me in minute. He walked in, carrying a mop and…
Laura Kelly Fanucci The first thing I noticed about our parish was the music. Everyone sang. From the moment the opening hymn began, the sanctuary was filled with a robust chorus. I looked around and couldn’t believe my eyes (or ears) – adults, children, women and men were all singing at full voice.I grew up…
The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) was campaigning for a No vote in the referendum even though the McKenna judgement prohibits state funded bodies from spending state monies. If the NWCI was using ‘non-state’ monies as it has claimed it should publish the amounts raised, and from where and how they were spent, in…
Tis a tale of two days I have for you – a Saturday and a Thursday. If Ireland had beaten England at Twickenham last Saturday it would have been the icing on the cake, after that day’s stunning win for the No side in the referenda. But the cake is more important than the icing…
Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA) From Moscow to NATO headquarters, from Kiev to Washington, political decision-makers have been discussing the Pope’s statements on the subject of negotiated peace in the Ukraine war over the past few days. On Saturday, excerpts from an interview became known in which the Pope spoke of the “courage of the white flag”…
Bonn (KNA) A spokesperson for the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference has described Pope Francis’ recent statements on peace negotiations in Ukraine as unfortunate. The German bishops had made it clear in their peace statement published in February that Ukraine would ultimately have to decide when the time had come for peace negotiations, explained bishops’ spokesman…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan