Earlier pilgrims of the faith donned sackcloth and ashes during the Lenten period, whereas in today’s Ireland it’s arguably more a question of giving up KitKats or Guinness and saying extra Hail Marys – which is not to trivialise the Lenten sacrifices of the faithful but rather to set them in context against the serious…
I experience a Church full of hope and willing to learn, engaged at all levels. From the bishops to the lay movements, there is a real commitment to walk together, writes Janet Forbes The Irish Catholic Church is at a crucial juncture in its synodical journey. With Cardinal Mario Grech’s recent letter to bishops around…
Richard Burton was the twelfth of thirteen children born in the Welsh village of Pontrhydyfen 100 years ago. His mother died two years later. Richard Jenkins – his birth name – would probably have spent his working life ‘down the mines’ like his father and most of the other male inhabitants of the village were…
The need for a more realistic understanding of the Irish Church Our experience, understanding and relationships are important in helping us to lead others to Christ. Since our experience is limited and can be subject to bias, real-life data supplements this to strengthen and clarify our approach. This article focuses on factors that…
The role of the faithful in maintaining the balance For Christians, the challenge is to be careful of patterns of thought or habits of communication that too readily divide the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’, writes Fr Chris Hayden We live in a time of name-calling, pigeon-holing, and labelling. Perhaps, given our flawed human…
The sacred power of the religious habit In a world where everyone’s obsessed with being unique, the habit makes the most countercultural statement of all, ‘My truest self (Identity) is found only in Christ,’ writes Bro. Oman Ashraf OSA The religious habit is like a flame in the fog of modern life, where so…
In our largely Christian country, you might think that an act of forgiveness wouldn’t be that noteworthy, but maybe our residual faith has left the concept lagging behind. And so it was that on Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, Thursday) I first heard the story of the court case in which stabbing victim and army chaplain…
One of the most famous quips that Bernadette Devlin – as a young and fiery Member of Parliament at Westminster – ever made was: “There’ll be no rioting in the golf clubs!” She was responding to concerns about civil unrest in Northern Ireland, which arose to confront the discrimination that prevailed in its governance.…
T.P. O’Mahony The Councils of the Church: A Short History, by Norman P. Tanner SJ (Herder & Herder, £14.99 / €20.00) The debate within the Catholic Church about conciliarism has waxed and waned since the 15th to the 19th centuries. The central question – where does ultimate authority in the Church reside, with…
Q: How could Jesus’ death ‘cleanse us from our sins’ and ‘assure our entrance into Heaven’? If that is the case, why do we need confession? A: First, since it pertains to some of the deepest mysteries of our faith, I think the exact ‘mechanics’ of how Jesus’ passion and death redeemed the fallen human race…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Mary Kenny