For months now, I have been receiving alarming, early-morning text messages from Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The texts are typically sent after this heroic churchman has spent the entire night in a bomb shelter (as he has done many, many times over the past four and a…
Franciscans in the United States urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stop increased attacks against Christians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. According to a statement released July 9, the 12 provincial ministers representing the US Franciscan provinces said they received a response to their June 16 letter following the latest…
The Gerard Manley Hopkins International Festival, at Newbridge, Co. Kildare, will be opened tomorrow evening (Friday, July 24) at 7.30pm in the theatre of Newbridge College by His Excellency David Gill, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany. As Hopkins is one of the most important literary figures in late Victorian times, the festival has…
Marking its 40th anniversary, the Irish Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem celebrated the Investiture Ceremony of three new members at St Patrick’s College Chapel, Maynooth, on July 18. The annual vigil Mass took place on July 17 and was celebrated by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Grand Master of the Order.…
In last week’s edition of the Irish Catholic, I reflected on how St Macrina inspires us to share the faith with our siblings as she did with her brothers and sisters, three of whom became saints. This week, we feature two better known saints who can help grand-parents share the faith with their grandchildren. I…
The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam, by G. W. Bowersock (Oxford University Press, £45.50 / €38.00) We all talk carelessly about “Muslim countries “, which is a way of rewriting the past, and forgetting that places like the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Yemen were not always Muslim. They were, before…
As I write this sacred pause for thought, I have just returned from a beautiful walk along a beach road where summer has finally begun to reveal itself in all its glory. The sea sparkled beneath the evening sun, birds sang joyfully overhead, and wildflowers swayed gently in the warm breeze. For a few moments…
Darkness is only bad because there is light. Sin can only happen if first there is love. Karl Rahner makes a very insightful comment about the text in the Gospels where Jesus is being crucified and says of his executioners: “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do!” Rahner suggests that they knew…
Ernest Hemingway: Flawed Genius, by Aubrey Malone (Fonthill, £ 25.00 / €29.00). The film critic of The Irish Catholic, Aubrey Malone is also steeped in the American literature of the 20th century, dominated by such names as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway – the latter three authors winning the Nobel Prize for…
The kingdom of heaven: a treasure, a pearl, a net The Gospel Matt 13:44 [Jesus said:] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matt 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven…
George Weigel
Peter Costello
Renata Steffens
Fr Ronald Rolheiser