Lauretta Brown When I mention to priests and religious that I am reading one spiritual classic a month this year, I often immediately get the advice not to read The Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross. I have obligingly avoided that intimidating work, but when one Carmelite encouraged me to…
When I was a teenager – maybe about 16 – a friend and I decided to follow a fad of “decadence”. We weren’t all that sure what “decadence” was, but we knew it had little to do with normal life in our then cosy village of Sandymount in Dublin. But teenagers soon find out about…
Alan Whelan The recent International Catholic GRACE Report pointed out that 35% of Irish Catholic school teachers do not believe in God and that only 48% of Catholic Religious Education teachers attend weekly Mass. Meanwhile there is the Dublin Archdiocese decision of a very few years ago that sacramental preparation should be more firmly placed…
After the monumental changes in the West of Ireland, with three bishops now leading six dioceses, some may wonder what the future is for Ireland’s 26 dioceses considering the rapid decline of priestly vocations and practise of the Faith. Speaking to an expert on Church history it is abundantly clear that the established diocesan boundaries,…
Amid the Catholic Church’s push under Pope Francis to increasingly engage with and welcome Indigenous peoples and cultures, Australia’s bishops have approved a new liturgy incorporating elements of Aboriginal language and culture. Called the ‘Mass of the Land of the Holy Spirit’, or Missa Terra Spiritus Sancti in Latin, the liturgy was formally approved for…
Last week ‘Associated Press’ highlighted the polarising shift that is taking place across Catholic America in which younger Catholics are opting for more traditional liturgies and practices than their older counterparts. It reported that younger cohorts of committed Catholics consider the Vatican II generation to have exchanged “the promise of eternal salvation [with] guitar Masses,…
Silvio Cuéllar Over a decade ago, my wife Becky and I decided to cut our cable service and go without television. It was a drastic decision at the time, but one that helped our children learn many skills, such as playing instruments, painting and developing their talents at a young age. We made that decision…
In new essay for the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Dr Pia Matthews, senior lecturer at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London says that surrogacy is “always an injustice.” In Ireland, surrogacy is not legal nor illegal, as there is no legislation for it. In a press release, an Anscombe Bioethics Centre’s spokesperson says that “Surrogacy by its…
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa ordained Zimbabwean Angelic Molen as a deaconess in the Orthodox Church. Taking place on May 2, Orthodox Holy Thursday, the ordination was conducted at St Nektarios Mission Parish near Harare, Zimbabwe, by the archbishop of Zimbabwe, Metropolitan Serafim. The St Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, a US-based organisation…
Effie Caldarola One morning, I was half-listening to America’s National Public Radio as I quickly prepared for an appointment. Into the shower, grab the coffee, find the toothbrush and in the midst of this, bits and pieces of the day’s news. Then, ‘StoryCorps’ was playing. An independent nonprofit, StoryCorps exists to let people tell their…
Mary Kenny
Chai Brady
Renata Steffens