In the last year or two, there has been a great deal of coverage of a political gender divide opening between younger men and women, with young men drifting more to the right and young women moving firmly to the left. John Burns-Murdoch of the Financial Times was one of the first to note that…
The Bishop of Down and Connor has urged pilgrims to ponder the Sacred Heart of Jesus and what his ascension means for humanity. Bishop Alan McGuckian was speaking to around 300 pilgrims at St Patrick’s Monument at Slieve Patrick, where the annual pilgrim mass was celebrated on Ascension Sunday. Speaking on June 1, a short…
Missionaries need prayer, but they also need much more than that. Because of that, Apostolic Work were created. They are groups of laypeople who work to provide financial and material support for Irish missionaries abroad, a completely volunteer group, and The Irish Catholic talked to Mary Lee, president of Elphin Diocese’s Apostolic Work group. Ms…
A parish priest in the Gaza Strip talks about his pastoral work among the war In the background happy cries are heard of children dancing to the sound of very rhythmic music. Then suddenly sounds of gunfire and shouts “is our daily surrealism,” Fr Gabriel Romanelli, the Catholic parish priest of the Gaza Strip,…
Paolo Affatato He is a man who has skilfully woven the threads of dialogue throughout his apostolic ministry as bishop and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. Today, 80-year-old Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Emeritus of Mumbai – one of 37 Asian cardinals who took part in the General Congregations before the Conclave and…
A: I assume by “St Michael prayer,” you mean the prayer that usually begins: “St Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle…” My own thought is that, since this is technically a devotional prayer and not part of the liturgy strictly speaking, if the St Michael prayer is prayed in connection with a Mass, then…
It is better for you that I go away” These are some of Jesus’ parting words on the night before he died. How can it be better for us when someone we love deeply goes away? That would make sense only if the relationship is dysfunctional or abusive. But how can that be true in…
Sport, when rightly ordered, can point towards God. Lived with integrity, sport cultivates virtues our world desperately needs, writes Fr Barry White Sunday, May 11, I was in Croke Park for two gripping Leinster finals. Meath, heartbreakingly, lost both the men’s and ladies’ matches, but football was the real winner that day. The games were…
With the feasts of the Holy Spirit and the Sacred Heart coming up, both celebrations of the Love of God, we can ask the perennial question: what is love? What does it mean to say ‘God is Love’? And what clues can love, as we know it, give us about the nature of God? There’s…
Meeting this hunger for God requires youth leaders who are themselves nourished, connected, and renewed in their mission, writes Paula Mckeown In recent weeks there has been a sense of hope within the Church – the large numbers of adults coming forward for Baptism at Easter, a new Pope who amasses a 13 million following…
Breda O'Brien
Renata Steffens
Fr Ronald Rolheiser