Two Catholic churches in Co. Westmeath were targeted in suspected arson attacks in the early hours of Friday, March 6. The first incident occurred shortly before 2am at St James’ Church in Kilbeggan, where cloths soaked in diesel were placed across the front door and set alight. Parish priest Fr Brendan Corrigan responded after a…
As Ireland prepares to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, Nigerian priests serving in Irish parishes say the country’s patron saint remains an important figure in the story of the Church in Nigeria. For many Nigerian Catholics, the link between St Patrick and their own faith comes through the work of Irish missionaries who helped establish the…
There is a special link between Ireland and Ethiopia, sealed, at the end of 2024, by a visit from a significant number of representatives from the Irish Bishops Conference, on a trip organised by Trócaire, their overseas aid agency. The delegation included Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA of Cashel and Emly,…
Trócaire has condemned the acts of war in the Middle East, as the war between Israel and Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah is in its second week. A UN agency said on Monday that the hostilities have forced nearly 700,000 people to flee their homes in Lebanon. “This systemic failure of global diplomacy…
“Everyone should care about the freedom and safety of women and girls in Ireland,” said barrister and The Countess founder Laoise de Brun at a recent press conference regarding the Women’s Coalition on Immigration, which launched in late 2025. The press conference, which outlined the coalition’s demand for the Government to “release disaggregated crime statistics…
St Pauls Ireland has opened a new bookshop in the Franciscan Friary, Merchant’s Quay. The Bookshop is called St Paul’s Bookshop, and the inauguration and formal blessing will be by Archbishop Dermot Farrell on March 13. Overjoyed with the news, the Killarney Franciscans said, “The opening of this bookshop is a blessing for many people,…
A new video series about St Patrick’s life was recently launched. The Way of St Patrick is a three-part series made by Scripture Union Ireland in partnership with Jesus Film Project. The series shows St Patrick as “a real person who faced real suffering, and how life can be a lot like that and the…
What is Critical Thinking? A useful way to approach that question is to ponder what uncritical thinking looks like. To think uncritically is to swallow things whole; to accept without question the ideas presented to us. Of course, many a barstool atheist will want to say, ‘Aha, so faith is uncritical thinking, because believers accept…
Around 500 people poured out of St Patrick’s Church, Dungiven, Co. Derry, last Friday to commemorate the first flame lit by Ireland’s apostle on the Hill of Slane in 433AD. The parish priest, Fr Gerry Sweeney, lit a symbolic fire of faith, hope and love outside the church as hundreds gathered after a week-long Lenten retreat…
In the musical Les Misérables, there’s a particularly haunting song, sung by a dying woman (Fantine) who has been crushed by virtually every unfairness life can deal a person. Abandoned by her husband, sexually harassed by her employer, caught in abject poverty, physically ill and dying, even as her main anxiety is about what will…
Renata Steffens
Martina Purdy
Fr Ronald Rolheiser