Dear Editor, Over the last few decades, the status of the Catholic Church in Ireland has changed enormously. Catholicism lost its relevancy for many teenagers, young adults, and middle-aged people when they stopped believing or thinking about God and no longer saw the need to attend Church services in a growing materialistic environment. Faith no…
Cost of HSE cyberattack may exceed €100 million HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid has told that the cost of the cyberattack on the HSE’s IT systems may end up exceeding €100 million. Mr Reid told a media briefing that he had previously said the restoration efforts could cost in the tens of millions. However, he…
Hong Kong churches to commemorate Tiananmen victims Seven churches in Hong Kong will offer candlelight vigil Masses on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre this June. The Diocese of Hong Kong’s Justice and Peace Commission has announced that the churches will each offer a Mass for the Dead on the night of June 4.…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a celebration of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eucharist. It is an astounding belief. We would not dare to hold this belief except that it is based on the very words of Jesus himself.…
On the 20th of April this year, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) launched our Freedom of Religion in the World Report. This biannual report looks at the state of religious freedom in all 196 countries in the world during the 2018-2020 period. The situation for religious freedom across the world is dire, with…
The View Niamh Uí Bhriain Just three months into the supposedly progressive and compassionate abortion regime established by Simon Harris after the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, the unthinkable happened. A preborn baby boy was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 in the National Maternity Hospital. His parents said that they were not afraid to care for…
The Catholic Lawyers Corporation of Argentina filed a writ of amparo on May 18 contending that recent health regulations decreed during the Covid-19 pandemic “flagrantly violate” the free exercise of worship and religion. An increase of coronavirus cases in April, especially in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, which accounts for 40% of the country’s population,…
Some 400 people attended, Germany’s Third Ecumenical Convention in Frankfurt including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that concluded May 16, but Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, head of the Catholic bishops’ commission on ecumenical relations, told the website katholisch.de that he could not see that the convention gave a particular boost to ecumenism. In terms of…
An “avalanche” of baptisms is due in the Traveller community of Dublin archdiocese due to the Baptism ban. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Fr Paul O’Driscoll of the Parish of the Travelling People said the large number of coming baptisms is because “Traveller families tend to be larger than general”. As well as this,…
The newly appointed bishop of Hong Kong gave a press conference Tuesday in which he said he believed that prudence and dialogue were a way forward in the challenges facing his diocese. Bishop-elect Stephen Chow Sau-yan told journalists May 18 that he did not think it would be wise to comment on especially controversial issues,…