English Countess, Irish Earl: the social world of Frances, Countess of Clanricard, 1567–1632, by Bernadette Cunningham (Four Courts Press, €39.95 / £35.00). his biographical investigation of one woman’s life reveals a very great deal about the dangers, personal, social, political and religious that affected even the lives of the great in a “glorious” period…
Q: I’m divorced and remarried, and have recently felt called to return to the Catholic faith. I just submitted my annulment paperwork to the tribunal, but they said the whole process can take at least a year. My parish priest said I could do something called the “brother-sister process” in the meantime to start receiving Communion again right…
Pope Leo XIV marked the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States on Saturday, with a letter extending his “heartfelt congratulations to all Americans” on the occasion and urging citizens to work together “toward a more perfect union” in the present. Entrusting the country to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of…
Voluntary children’s care providers are calling for a comprehensive overhaul of Ireland’s care system in a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality on July 9, warning that years of short-term decision-making have left the sector responding to crises rather than planning for the future. CRAVA, which represents Ireland’s voluntary residential care and…
Back-to-back ordinations in the Diocese of Down and Connor have signalled hope for vocations, with nine seminarians now in formation, according to diocesan vocations director Fr Conor McGrath. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr McGrath said the ordination of Fr Thomas Hampton in Downpatrick on Sunday, June 28, followed by the ordination of Fr Esteban…
A pastor of a prominent underground church who was detained in China in October has been released, less than two months after US President Donald Trump brought up his case when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, his family and rights advocates said Saturday. Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri arrived in Los Angeles and “is…
I generally try to be sensitive to using politically correct language, though sometimes that can be exasperating because of various hyper-sensitivities where people are too easily offended. Simply put, someone can take offense at almost any word. However, despite our occasional exasperation with those who are too easily offended, we must admit that in the…
Letter from America 1946-2004, by Alistair Cooke (Allen Lane / Penguin Books, €14.99pb / £25.00 hb) Here is a most enthralling book that echoes the great days of radio, when a human voice, albeit of a great journalist, could engage people with current affairs in a way that our snippy-snappy media does not in our…
On July 2 the Holy See formally declared the bishops of a breakaway traditionalist order to be in schism and excommunicated. The declaration came from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, just one day after the group illicitly made four men bishops without papal approval and in defiance of repeated warnings from senior…
The 2026 Reek Sunday pilgrimage up Croagh Patrick falls on July 26, with the announced theme being ‘Road Safety’. Fr John Kenny, Administrator of Westport parish, which includes the territory of Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo, made a statement to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, saying “Accordingly, and on behalf of the Croagh Patrick stakeholders’…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser