Martina Purdy In the 1950s, Americans would tune in to a popular game show called Truth or Consequences. Contestants were required to answer an almost impossible question accurately or perform a silly stunt. Answering truthfully often led to even more complicated questions, so contestants often skipped the truth part and opted for the consequences, however ridiculous, even…
As part of the Presentation Sisters’ celebrations for their 200th year anniversary in Portlaoise, Co. Laois, there will be a tour of the place the community was founded, where construction has commenced on 52 homes. Sophia Housing, who are delivering the housing are hosting the event set for July 2, 200 years after the community…
Since their foundation, the Irish State hospitals were under the supervision and operation of Church orders which provided care grounded in an ethos dictated by Catholic social teaching. Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, many of Ireland’s hospitals were established by religious orders, specifically orders of nuns. But as the issue of hospital ownership becomes…
Dear Editor, Fr Rolheiser wrote (The Irish Catholic 20/6/2024): “How we die leaves behind a legacy, a particular spirit, which either nurtures or haunts those left behind”. Reading that I thought of Charlie Bird and Rob Burrow. They suffered and died from Motor Neuron Disease which is a debilitating condition that is very demeaning, horrifying…
The Carmelite Sisters New Ross, a congregation of cloistered nuns, are using social media to share their lives inside the convent walls with the world. They post biblical and spiritual sayings on Facebook accompanied by pictures of the sisters doing daily activities around the convent’s property. Sr Gwen Collins, currently the responsible for sharing on…
The Government has been unable to clarify whether a law change allowing gardaí to make protestors remove face coverings will include religious garb, such as a burka. This comes following masks protestors demonstrating outside Taoiseach Simon Harris’s home in Wicklow and other attacks on politicians. However, it is not clear how far-reaching the law will…
The international organisation We Are Church (WAC) released an open letter to Pope Francis, requesting full equality of women, including ordination, to be included in the October 2024 Synod. “You have rightly called the Church to walk together in communion, participation and mission”, the letter reads. WAC also said that women are being kept in…
Caribbean Slave Owners & Other Lesser-Known Histories from County Mayo, by Dr M. M. O’Connor (Published by the author at The Morrigan, Murrisk, Westport, Co. Mayo, €25.00) This is a book which only recently came to my notice, for it was not sent to us for review. Certainly the title captures your attention at…
Fr Gerry O’Hanlon SJ The second (and final) session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality convenes in Rome next October. Where are we at? Judging by the Irish response to the 2023 synthesis report, ‘Towards October 2024’ (May 2024), we are very much on track. In that…
The HSE 2023 annual report, ‘Notifications in accordance with Section 20 of the health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018,’ reveals that 10,033 abortions were performed in Ireland last year. Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy, commented on the figures, stating, “We have now reached a point that for every six babies born in…
Chai Brady
Renata Steffens
Peter Costello
Renata Milán Morales