Dear Editor,I have read with much interest the article regarding bishops giving the green light for celebration of the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation [IC 05/08/2021]. This is a praiseworthy and needed concern on the part of the seven bishops. I congratulate them and thank them for their courageous leadership at this difficult…
Bishops are to continue with First Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies this month despite the Government renewing an appeal that the ceremonies be delayed. It was revealed last week that bishops in Waterford & Lismore, Elphin, Raphoe, and Killaloe had given priests the green light to proceed with Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies if they…
If Catholics wants to attract more people to the Gospel they must radiate joy rather than come across as downcast, the Archbishop of Dublin has warned. Dr Dermot Farrell was speaking at Mass on Monday to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of St Dominic in the church named for the founder of the…
A Rwandan immigrant awaiting trial for the arson of the cathedral in Nantes turned himself in to police for killing the French provincial of the Montfort Missionaries. Emmanuel Abayisenga, 40, a Catholic, had been released on bail earlier this year for the 2020 arson at Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral in Nantes. Montfort Father Olivier…
The Church leaves the question of whether Our Lady actually died open, writes Daniel Holmes In recent days a Catholic journalist whom I greatly respect, in referring to Our Lady’s Assumption into heaven, used the phrase “After her death”. For the first time, that phrase urged me to become more conscious of what the Church…
With Covid-19 still taking a toll across Europe, Catholic bishops are backing vaccination campaigns, while also counselling against coercion. In Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has warned of tougher restrictions on those refusing jabs, the president of the bishops’ conference said in late July that vaccination should be a personal choice, but he urged…
Macra na Feirme has insisted that young farmers are key in tackling agricultural sector emissions reductions targets. Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report this week, the rural youth organisation said that young farmers right across the country have already demonstrated a willingness to engage in measures that both reduce emissions and…
Rare letters from Cardinal John Henry Newman are among items up for sale in an upcoming auction of the contents of Howth Castle. The 24 letters described as “extremely rare” by auctioneers were written by the saint between the period 1863-1878. The letters are addressed to Thomas Gaisford, eldest son of the late Dean of…
Philosophy should be understood as a manner of living and not just an exercise done in an armchair or a classroom writes Dr Philip Gonzales It is often said that philosophy deals with the deepest human realities such as birth and death and this is, indeed, true. Moreover, it is also true, as Socrates famously…
Frozen in time, like a “musical Pompeii,” the 221 remaining original organ pipes from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem may fill a gap of knowledge of more than three centuries in the history of the organ and its cultural context, medieval church culture, music and technology. “This organ dates from the 12th century…