It was the grin that got me. From a former St Dominic’s Catholic schoolgirl who is now Lord Mayor of Belfast. Róis-Máire Donnelly was about to endorse a decision to illuminate City Hall to mark “safe” abortion day on September 28. She caught someone’s eye and smiled. Perhaps it was a thoughtless moment, but given…
“An emerging Church of co-responsible action depends on relationships of genuine trust,” said Bishop Ger Nash in his homily at his Installation ceremony as Bishop of Ossory, on Sunday, September 13, in St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny. The now Bishop of Ferns and Ossory spoke about synodality and how the “The Synodal Pathway calls us to…
Ardens missionaries have begun work at University College Cork, continuing the campus ministry developed by FOCUS over the past three years. The new Europe-based Catholic apostolate includes 17 missionaries previously trained by FOCUS and is deploying teams to Cork, Belfast, Passau and Vienna. Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross welcomed the new missionaries during…
The Catholic Mothers Ireland received families from across the island of Ireland at their annual National Mass and Family Day, which, this year, took place in Termonbacca, Co. Derry. As the organisation is composed of small groups in local parishes, the annual Mass is thought to be a moment for all members to come together…
The Catholic Education Partnership (CEP) has published a new vision document setting out the identity and mission of the Catholic school in Ireland, describing such schools as offering a “unique, vibrant, nurturing environment” for students, families, the Church and wider society. The vision document will be launched on October 16. The document, A Vision for…
“Contracts or memoranda of understanding covering formation, gender equality, remuneration and the administration of assets.” This is strikingly business-like language, and not what one expects to find in the headline of a Vatican press release, as was the case when the Vatican issued a report from one of the study groups running parallel to the…
Northern Catholics of my parents’ generation had an image of Belfast City Hall as a citadel of hardline unionism. It was an imposing presence at the centre of the city and seemed to symbolise the dominance of a culture with which they felt little in common. They would hardly have envisaged that, within most of…
The trial of Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts for strangling her three small children in 2023 ended two weeks ago with a hung jury and a verdict of mistrial. The case attracted a high level of media interest and a very polarised debate between those who see Lindsay herself as a victim and those who, in the…
Even if you have never watched Star Trek, you have definitely heard of Captain Kirk and Spock, the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the Starship Enterprise. Star Trek is now celebrating its 60th anniversary, which is incredible for a show that was cancelled after just three seasons and 79 episodes. The fact that the main characters…
Though Seán Farrell has worked in war zones, it is Ebola which still frightens him in a different way. In 2014, the Trócaire CEO led the organisation’s response to the outbreak in Sierra Leone, spending weeks in communities where despite households under quarantine, the virus was rapidly spreading. “It was one of the scariest things…
Martina Purdy
Renata Steffens
David Quinn