Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has announced a major consultation process for every parish in the Diocese of Limerick, inviting parishioners to help shape the future of local faith communities. In a letter read at all Masses last weekend, October 4-5, Bishop Leahy said the Church must find “new ways, new structures, new models” under the guidance…
If Dame Sarah Mullally, the newly-appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, has an Irish surname, it’s because she is married to an Irishman, architect Eamonn Mullally (they have two children, Liam and Grace.) Her appointment as the first woman to lead the Anglican Communion world-wide has been greeted as historic; yet the reaction has been ambivalent, sometimes…
Bishop Martin Hayes has said that Laudato Si’, the late Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical on care for the environment, “is even more relevant today than it was ten years ago,” urging Irish Catholics to treat ecological concern as an expression of faith and moral responsibility. Speaking after attending both the Raising Hope Conference and the Conference of European Bishops’ meeting…
The Irish and UK Catholic Church are stepping up their fight against climate change with an expanding array of initiatives that turn papal words into measurable action. Their commitment was on full display at the ‘Raising Hope for Climate Justice’ international conference, held in Castel Gandolfo just outside Rome from October 1–3 to mark the tenth anniversary…
I’m shopping for a church!” an American once told me. As a cradle Catholic, the notion seemed alien to me. Yet how many of us, followers of Christ, opt to choose and create a Church in our own image and likeness, to suit how we live? “I only believe half of it,” a well-known Catholic…
Patricia Routledge died recently. The much-loved British actor was best known for her portrayal of shameless snob, Hyacinth Bucket, although the character insisted that her surname was pronounced Bouquet. The comedy in the series, Keeping Up Appearances, was based on skewering her pretensions. Mrs Bucket had many catchphrases, including answering the phone (which she insisted…
The growing perception around youth and faith is that young people are slipping away from religion, or simply not engaging with it all. Meanwhile, university Catholic societies such as Newman Society (University College Dublin) and Laurentian Society (Trinity College) are holding steadfast in their faith, creating communities where young Catholics can socialise, voice questions and…
Dr Robert McNamara, lecturer in philosophy and head of department at St Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, first encountered St Edith Stein’s book On the Problem of Empathy while passing it daily on a library shelf. “There was an alluring character to her presence,” he remembers. “I tried to read it but found it impossible…
I attended a priestly ordination recently. The first reading told the story of the young Samuel, under the tutelage of Eli, learning how to discern God’s word. We are told that: “In those days it was rare for the Lord to speak: visions were uncommon” (1 Sam. 2, 1-20). More of this later. This remarkable…
Pope Leo XIV waded into a leadership controversy in the US on September 30, mere hours before the dispute became largely academic. Speaking with journalists as he was departing the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo took a question from an EWTN reporter regarding a decision by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to…
Mary Kenny
Renata Steffens
Martina Purdy
Breda O'Brien