The community of Ballyheigue, Kerry, fear a new telecommunications mast near Our Lady’s well and grotto will take away from its spiritual look. The Ballyheigue holy well attracts upwards of 5,000 people for the annual Pattern Festival held in September. Ballyheigue local Brendan Moriarty said that the move “doesn’t make sense” and says the community…
GAA legend and devout Catholic Mickey Harte has stepped down as Tyrone senior football manager after 18 years. Although he was “disappointed” not to lead Tyrone for another season after his request was not granted by the Tyrone management committee, he said he had “immense gratitude for having had the privilege of managing Tyrone at…
Government restrictions on religion are at their highest since tracking began in 2007, the Pew Research Center has said in its new report, finding that 56 countries reached “high” or “very high” levels of restrictions on religion in 2018. “In 2018, the global median level of government restrictions on religion – that is, laws, policies…
Psychiatrist in the Chair: The Official Biography of Anthony Clare by Brendan Kelly and Muiris Houston (Merrion Press, €22.95 / £19.99) Charles Lysaght Anthony Clare (1942-2007) attained, by the age of 40, an eminence in the medical profession in Britain not surpassed by any graduate of an Irish medical school since King George VI’s radiologist Peter…
A Polish cardinal recently sanctioned by the Vatican for sexual abuse has died at the age of 97. Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz died the morning of November 16, the Polish bishops’ conference announced. Earlier this month, the apostolic nunciature in Poland announced disciplinary measures against the cardinal on November 6 as the result of an investigation…
The darkness echoing: exploring Ireland’s places of famine, death and rebellion by Gillian O’Brien (Doubleday, £14.99/€17.99) Felix M. Larkin G.K. Chesterton said of “the great Gaels of Ireland” that “all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad”. Thus did he highlight what Gillian O’Brien identifies as our “fascination with the morbid, the melancholic,…
The U.N. migration agency renewed its call for increased search and rescue efforts after another tragic shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea claimed the lives of 74 migrant men, women and children. According to the U.N. International Organisation for Migration, also known as IOM, a boat carrying more than 120 people capsized off the coast of…
Filipinos appealed for help as a fifth tropical storm or typhoon hit their country in a three-week period. These included the strongest typhoon since 2013 and the biggest floods since 2009. The latest, Typhoon Vamco – or Ulysses as it is known in Philippines – left at least 42 dead and 20 missing. Rescue workers…
Pro-life group Precious Life have criticised health officials for assuming and making plans for up 6,500 abortions per year in Northern Ireland. The figure was found in the notes of a meeting involving officials from Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Board held last December. Health officials discussed how many abortions they would need to…
A video circulating on social media has seen the youth of Ireland pleading for a return to Mass and the sacraments. Posted by the “We need Worship” Facebook page, the video has garnered nearly 8,000 views and expresses the view that religious services are among the safest forms of social activity to participate in. “We…