The vast crowds filling St Peter’s Square for Pope Leo’s Angelus on Sunday might have suggested a papal election rather than an ordinary weekly blessing. Yet among the thousands gathered were more than 4,000 delegates attending the Jubilee for Synodal Teams — Church representatives from across the world who came to celebrate, reflect, and listen to the…
“Over 200,000 people left the comfort of their own home and spoiled their votes purposefully in order to register a protest against how the presidential election was run” Aontu’s Peadar Tóibín has told this paper In total, he said, “317,000 people either spoiled their votes or voted for a withdrawn candidate. Spoiled votes even “beat…
Adapting to the increasing demand for digital news services, the Irish Bishops’ Conference has introduced a multimedia platform designed to share “not only the Good News but our whole lives as well” (1 Thess 2:8). Titled TheWay, the platform acts as an online network where the audience can browse through written, visual, and audial content…
Passing on the faith is not just the role of priests or bishops”, Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said in a recent pastoral letter. Catechists are people who help others to grow in their faith, the bishop said, and he urged “the people of Ossory” to come forward and begin a time of discernment and…
Ever felt like cutting off all contact with your family? There’s a slew of self-help books currently published which encourage individuals to do just that. These bear such titles as ‘The Power of Parting: Finding Peace and Freedom Through Family Estrangement, by Eamon Dolan; Surviving the Toxic Family by Marina Williams; Rules of Estrangement –…
Last week a judge in Belfast found Soldier F not guilty of the murder of William McKinney or Jim Wray or of five attempted murders on Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972. Some readers will remember Bloody Sunday, 53 years ago, when 13 unarmed Catholic civilians on a civil rights march were killed by soldiers from…
It has been said that the leaders of tomorrow are in today’s classrooms. Assuming this also applies to future leaders in Catholic education then we have a major challenge on our hands. There are growing concerns about the extent to which the culture and ethos of Catholic schools can continue to support and nurture faith…
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese read a short reflection at the Requiem masses for Fr Dermod McCarthy in Dalkey and Ballinamore on October 24 and 25, 2025. Fr McCarthy who died recently aged 83 was the former head of religious programming at RTÉ and a member of the Radharc film crew in the 1960’s…
Fr Brian D’Arcy, who worked with Fr McCarthy on Radharc, remembered him with deep affection. “We worked together quite a lot in the Catholic Communications Institute in the mid-70s, and he was with Radharc at that time,” he told this paper. “He was a man who played the piano accordion exceptionally well. He was a…
“Horror movies can actually help us have the sometimes awkward conversations, but in a safe way,” says Fr Ryan Duns SJ. “That’s my pitch whenever parents get nervous and say, ‘You’re teaching a course on horror at a Catholic school?’ “I tell them, honestly, they’re watching these films anyway. So why not baptise the genre?…
Renata Steffens
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan