Monasa Narjara (CNA) On November 21, Brazil’s Federal Police charged Fr José Eduardo de Oliveira e Silva of the Diocese of Osasco in São Paulo state as part of a group of 37 people that includes former President Jair Bolsonaro on suspicion of plotting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, plotting a…
In many traditionally Catholic countries, the faith that once united and inspired generations is facing a modern-day challenge: disconnection. This isn’t solely due to societal secularisation but also because Catholics often fail to actively support and grow bonds with one another in the practical aspects of life. While the Church has long been a spiritual…
If you wanted a book about saying Mass, would you turn to a professor of maths and computer science? My guess is that you wouldn’t — but I have come across one who writes well on the subject — and has a catchy title to his topical book to boot. How Not to Say Mass…
Southern Irish Protestant – Histories, Lives & Literatures, by Ian d’Alton (Eastwood / Wordwell, €25.00 / £22.95) Robert Marshall Ian d’Alton was born in Dublin, moving to Cork at the outset of his teenage years. He graduated from University College Cork. There he read history under Oliver MacDonagh before going up to Peterhouse…
Illiana Ochoa Bravo A priest’s prayer was answered after a baptismal font was “beautifully” restored and given to St Crona’s Church. Fr Johnny Moore from the Diocese of Raphoe told The Irish Catholic, “the baptismal font is a representation of bringing the old into the new.” When Fr Moore become the parish priest of the church…
Madalaine Elhabbal (CNA) A recently released report from a European watchdog group has found nearly 2,500 documented instances of hate crimes against Christians living in Europe. Approximately 1,000 of these attacks took place in France. According to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) report, which drew on both police and civil…
Ireland and the Crusades, edited by Edward Coleman, Paul Duffy & Tadgh O’Keefe (Four Courts Press, €49.50 / £41.50) I cannot be the only one who has wondered over the years about medieval Crusaders from Ireland. Across Western Europe, from Scotland to Sicily, the adventures and misadventures of these knights of the Red Cross…
Boys are more boisterous than girls. Are we still allowed to say that, or has it fallen into the category of forbidden thoughts and utterances? A new study is being undertaken in the French city of Strasbourg which believes that yes, boys are more boisterous, and this is a bad thing, and boys must be…
Q: These days we hear so much about trans people. I really have never heard anything ‘official’ about the Church’s position. What does our Church say about it? Thank you. A: It is true that, with transgender issues being a relatively new phenomenon in modern society, the Church does not yet have an extensive teaching…
The opening pages of the Bible offer us a series of stories set at the beginning of history which are meant to explain why the world today is as it is. The Adam and Eve story about original sin is one of those stories. There are others. These stories, because they use imagery that might…
Peter Costello
David Quinn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser