When the Bishops of Ireland launched the Synodal pathway in March 2021, the key question proposed was: “What does God want from the Church in Ireland at this time?”. Since then, this foundational question has been like a base note in a symphony played by an orchestra made up of many members collaborating over the…
A leaflet dropped through my door the other day. The Belfast councillor Donal Lyons was promoting a new scheme to recycle glass bottles. Commendable. Except Cllr Lyons represents the SDLP which has proved a major disappointment. I would like to vote for Donal Lyons. Originally from Dublin, he seems like a decent, gentle person. But…
I think I should start this article with a ‘bad language’ trigger warning because at least two rude words, neither of my own making, are in there among the jumble of thoughts clamouring for expression on this page. I was pleased when a friend offered me two tickets to attend The Rest is Politics (TRIP)…
Seamus Mulconry in conversation with Education Nation This week’s guest on the Education Nation podcast is Seamus Mulconry, the CEO of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA), a key stakeholder in Irish education and the national body supporting the Boards of Management and leaders of almost 3,000 Catholic primary schools across the country. Originally…
Ten years after Pope Francis issued a controversial document on families, Pope Leo XIV will meet with bishops from around the world to discuss the text’s application for today. Amoris Laetitia, Francis’ apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family, followed two contentious synods at the Vatican dominated by debate over divorce. Pope Leo on Thursday…
We are a little less than a year away from the death of Pope Francis. Usually, distance is needed to assure perspective. It is difficult to fully appreciate a painting, for instance, when you are standing too close to it. So too, I would have thought, when writing an account of a papacy, especially one…
Apologetics: the missing dimension of evangelisation Dear Editor, One necessary dimension of evangelisation seems absent from the articles of Fr Eamonn Conway and Fr Billy Swan in The Irish Catholic (March 12) – that of apologetics. Two scenarios indicate its necessity. Firstly, one quotation from Nicholas Cuddihy’s article (p. 17) concerning schools designated as Catholic:…
The three days leading up to Easter Sunday are known as the Sacred Paschal Triduum, and the liturgical ceremonies that mark these days are the richest, most solemn and most dramatic of the entire liturgical year. The curtain raises on Holy Thursday evening, with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. This opening scene of…
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said last week that “the manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit in this time.” The cardinal was commenting in response to the words of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who quoted Psalm 144 during…
Icelandic police have confirmed that they are examining comments made by a Catholic priest about homosexuality that may violate the country’s laws against conversion therapy. The Reykjavik police said they would investigate the remarks made by Fr Jakob Rolland to Icelandic state broadcaster RÚV in early March, to determine whether criminal proceedings should be opened…
Martina Purdy
Senator Ronan Mullen