How is Catholicism to remain relevant in an increasingly secular society? That is the question which the French priest-writer Jean Sulivan (1913-1980) grappled with in his writings, and it lies at the heart of this study of Sulivan by the distinguished Franco-Irish scholar, Eamon Maher. Jean Sulivan was the pseudonym of Joseph Lemarchand, a native…
Our history is full of untold and almost unknown lives. Twenty-five years ago, while researching a book on the Royal Irish Constabulary, I first got to know something about Tom Hughes (b. February 1, 1891). He was one of the constables in Listowel barracks in June 1920 when the British government declared Munster to be…
In his brief life Donal Walsh came to the attention of the nation through an appearance on The Saturday Night Show. Donal was, as he said himself, a sports mad Kerry boy, who was struck by cancer, not once but twice, the second time mortally. He was quite a normal boy, so one is not…
“We are an Easter people.” So began a remarkable day of reflection at St John of God Sisters’ Retreat Centre in Ballyvaloo, Co. Wexford recently. The theme was both simple and challenging: ‘Celebrating the Radical Easter Message of Liberation for Women’. The facilitator was Gráinne Doherty, from Donegal, a woman who brings rare gifts of…
Israel’s finance minister wants to evict the Bedouins from Khan al-Ahmar. Human rights activists fear this will have repercussions across the entire occupied West Bank. And they warn that it could spell the end of the two-state solution. Israeli activists are sounding the alarm following the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that…
Conservative Catholic voices have told this paper that recent episcopal oversight of the Irish Synodal Pathway has transformed what they once feared might be an open-ended discernment exercise into something more structured — and more recognisably Catholic — ahead of the National Synodal Assembly in October. The Irish Synodal Pathway is now in its most…
Pope Leo XIV will address the topic of artificial intelligence in his first universal encyclical, which was signed on Friday, May 15, and will be published on May 25, said the Vatican on Monday. The encyclical, entitled Magnifica humanitas, will discuss the preservation of human dignity in the growing age of AI, an issue that…
A Benemerenti Medal was awarded to the recently retired sacristan of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in Barryroe, Co. Cork. Maura Whelton was awarded by the Pope, but the presentation was made by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Fintan Gavin. Ms Whelton worked in the church for some 30 years, and…
Excitement is growing across the Diocese of Cloyne ahead of its first priestly ordination in nine years, as Whitechurch native Rev. Tiernan Burke prepares to be ordained to the priesthood on the Feast of Pentecost. The ordination will take place in St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, at 3pm on Sunday, May 24, marking a joyful moment…
Julieann Moran, General Secretary of the Synodal Path of the Catholic Church in Ireland, was a guest speaker at the Katholikentag in Wurzburg, Germany, over the weekend. She told participants that there is still great fear among some that things will change, and among others that they won’t. “But Jesus called on people not to…
Peter Costello