A gift in your Will can bring that same hope and healing to other families facing childhood cancer and other serious illnesses. Please consider leaving a gift in your Will to help children like Harry. Harry’s Mam Doireann remembers the moment everything changed for her family. It began so simply. 6 year old Harry had…
The title of the upcoming Catholic retreat in Co. Antrim made me smile. ‘The Music of Leonard Cohen: A Window to the Divine’. When I was a teenager in Toronto, my pals did not share my love of Leonard Cohen’s work. They called it: ‘‘Let’s all jump out the window music’”. But even then, I…
Most of us rarely sit down and ask ourselves how we will be remembered. It is not something we are encouraged to dwell on and, for many, it feels uncomfortable. And yet, at certain points in life, after the loss of a loved one, when making a will, or during a quiet moment of reflection,…
“A rising tide raises all boats,” so the saying goes. In 2025, that surge arrived most notably in the form of Tipperary’s exceptional under-20 crop, who stormed to All-Ireland glory at the end of May to secure the county’s twelfth title at the grade under the stewardship of the great Brendan Cummins. Fast forward six…
One of the dangers – and privileges – of writing a column is that, over time, it reveals rather more about your identity than you intended. Anyone who has endured my words over the past few months will know that I am a mother, a musician, a Catholic educator and somebody who probably romanticises the…
The role of the President of Ireland is supposed to be gloriously vague. Catherine Connolly should cut ribbons, plant trees and release bland statements that offend nobody. The whole point of the office is that it hovers serenely above the daily madness of Irish political life like a constitutional swan. Which is precisely why it…
The 44th annual traditional pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres brought together some 20,000 pilgrims over the Pentecost weekend, May 23-25 for a 60-mile walk centred on the theme of “the mission.” On May 25, a public holiday in France, US Cardinal Raymond L. Burke celebrated the closing Mass in the thousand-year-old Chartres Cathedral. Organised by…
In an anxious age, to stand confidently with Christ is a glorious act of non-conformity, writes Fr Chris Hayden The capacity for fear is an aspect of our God-given human nature. If I am unable to feel fear, I will not respond to threat or danger, as they will simply have no effect on me.…
After a year and a half, one of the masterminds behind the tragic killing of Catholic environmental activist Juan López – which occurred in September 2024 in Honduras – was finally charged and detained by authorities, giving the local Church hope that justice will be served. Adán Fúnez, formerly the mayor of the municipality of…
The Catholic Diocese of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has issued preventive measures to all Catholic parishes and communities following the declaration of an Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever outbreak as a “health emergency.” In a communiqué issued May 18, the chancellor of the diocese said Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele had directed that…
Martina Purdy