I am thinking of preparing a leaflet to help couples considering marrying in church. It would need a catchy title, to attract notice. How about: “Thinking of a Catholic Mass for your wedding? Think again!” As I see it, many couples who seek to marry in church are unfamiliar with the Mass. They’re not at…
No One Was Paying Any Attention to the Sky: Flannery O’Connor and Modernity, by Damian Ference (Wiseblood books, US$11.00 / €9.50) Flannery O’Connor was a remarkable writer, who was born and passed her short life in the state of Georgia, a region beset by its “Southern Gothic” heritage, a history of slavery and passionate division,…
Drawn not Driven: Pilgrim of Life’s Beckonings, by Warren Ford (Red Feather Publishing, 2025). This is a fascinating autobiography, a wide ranging account of an Australian . The author, Warren Ford, was born in Western Australia on 23 January 1942. He attended the elementary convent school of St Aloysius conducted by the Mercy Sisters…
The news in the Philippines these days is focused on impeachment, changing the Constitution, and other mundane political matters. The public, Congress and government agencies are far from addressing the needs of children who are sexually and physically abused by relatives, human traffickers and online predators, and the seeming social acceptance that allows the abuse…
Archaeologists working on a small island in the Persian Gulf have discovered an artifact attesting a Christian monastic presence on the island some 1400 years ago. The site is located on Sir Bani Yas, an island some 110 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and has been known to…
Sr Briege McKenna has urged Catholics to stop criticising priests, warning that negative attitudes are discouraging young men from pursuing vocations and leaving many clergy deeply wounded. The Irish-born nun, now based in Florida, has spent decades ministering to priests worldwide through retreats, healing, and evangelisation. She recently returned to Ireland to lead the 50th…
Former Premier League and Ireland International player Keith Fahey has warned of the huge “problems with commitment” nowadays and how he managed to find Faith “in my brokenness”. Mr Fahey, who now lives in Spain, will be speaking at a conference in Dublin organised by the Legion of Mary at the end of the month.…
Fr Frank O’Loughlin, an Irish-born priest and former seminarian of All Hallows College in Dublin, led a Mass outside the Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center last week, marking his 60th jubilee while protesting US. immigration policies. The 83-year-old priest, long known for his work with migrant communities in Florida, drew more than 100 supporters to the…
“I’m packing for Poland,” Sr Briege McKenna tells me down the phone, pronouncing on prayer, priesthood and Pope Leo. The globe-trotting nun, with a gift for healing and evangelisation, recently returned to Ireland for the fiftieth anniversary of Intercession for Priests, a mission founded in Dublin by the late Fr Kevin Scallon to heal and restore…
Tetiana Metyk Ukrainian refugees carry deep spiritual wounds that, with God’s help, need healing. In the small chapel at Summerhill College in Sligo, around twenty parishioners are gathered for the Sunday Liturgy. Most are young or middle-aged, attending with their families. Little girls in bright dresses, fidgety boys occasionally dashing into the college corridor to…
Martina Purdy
Chai Brady