Fr Gerard Quirke said celebrating Easter Mass at a penal times Mass rock on Achill Island has a “particular resonance” given the legal ban on Masses. Fr Quirke of the Achill parish celebrated 7am Mass at the site which was used during the era of penal laws when Catholics endured restrictions on their civil liberties.…
The memory of the Holocaust has been used by “cynical actors” to campaign and spread conspiracies during the pandemic, according to Israel’s ambassador to Ireland. Speaking at a webinar on Holocaust remembrance, Ambassador Ophir Kariv said it is easy to spot Holocaust denial but far more difficult to recognise Holocaust distortion, which has increased during the…
While a recent massacre in Mozambique has drawn headlines internationally, the country has been dealing with violence for years, which has largely gone unacknowledged in the international community, said leaders of a Catholic charity and peace organisation present in the country. Johan Viljoen, director of Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI), which is an entity of…
While fewer than half of American adults responding to a recent poll said they are members of a Church, synagogue or mosque, the findings do not necessarily mean that people have lost faith in God, a pair of Church observers said. Church membership in 2020 dropped to 47% of the more than 6,100 respondents to…
Indonesia’s Catholic bishops have strongly condemned the Palm Sunday suicide bombing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral on the island of Sulawesi which injured at least 19 people. The two attackers, who both died in the bombing, were believed to have been a part of the local Islamic State affiliated group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah…
Now may be the perfect time to get our legal affairs in order writes solicitor Elaine Byrne The pandemic may have been a time when many of us have reflected on and considered our legal affairs. In this article I would like to look at various matters which may be on our minds and also…
Christians celebrated Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre this year after the storied church remained closed last Easter due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over Palm Sunday Mass on March 28 at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a small group in the church and…
I long for the day when the self-serving, virtue-signallers who jump on bandwagons will be exposed, writes Fr Nicholas Grace To be a social media pariah, or frowned upon by your peers, abused by your enemies, cancelled by your favourite platform, even fired by your employer, are a few of the punishments meted out directly…
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has paid tribute to the Year of St Joseph declared by Pope Francis and urged Catholics to read Francis’ apostolic letter Patris corde, describing it as a simple text “coming from the heart and going to the heart, yet containing such profound depth”. In an interview with the German Catholic weekly newspaper Die Tagespost, the…
You would really have to wonder how public health advice intersects so neatly with secular convenience, writes Paul Brosnan It has been such a difficult year for myself and indeed all other practicing Catholics across Ireland. Government policy has made it impossible to perform our natural obligation as Christians, which is to attend and participate…