WHO leader supports Pope’s call for fair access to vaccine The head of the World Health Organization, which has been strongly advocating rapid, fair, and equitable access to potential Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, has voiced support for Pope Francis’ similar call for global protections. The Pope made appeals both on Twitter and at his weekly general…
Parents to be reimbursed for alternative school transport if students unable to social distance Minister for Education Norma Foley has announced that parents whose children cannot social distance on school buses can be reimbursed for organising alternative transport. The Department of Education has scrapped plans to run buses at full capacity for secondary school students…
Dear Editor, I cannot be alone in noticing a worrisome phenomenon amongst some people who describe themselves as Catholics to reject and denigrate all legitimate authority within the life of the Church. This used to be a phenomenon exclusive to those who would view themselves on the ‘left’ of the Church rejecting such teachings as…
Christians must resist the temptation to be harsh and judgemental, Bishop Donal McKeown has said. Speaking at the weekend, he likened some of the secular behaviour in modern Ireland to that of the religious hypocrites at the time of Christ. “Our secular world is very prone to precisely that Pharisaic desire to label people as…
The Irish Spirit – Issue No. 12 They celebrate the divine presence already in our hearts From the book Treasured and Transformed by Daniel O’Leary It is common, unfortunately, for preachers to talk about the sacraments in terms of offering grace to graceless people. This presumes, to a greater or lesser extent, that those who…
A senior Catholic aid worker said humanitarian conditions are deteriorating in eastern Ukraine and urged Western governments and Churches not to forget the continuing six-year conflict. “We thought we’d overcome war in Europe, but a whole growing generation here now knows only war – teenagers who look like teenagers everywhere, but will tell you how…
The Irish Spirit – Issue No. 12 From the book Beautiful Thoughts for Beautiful Minds by John Scally The late Pope John Paul I was known as the ‘smiling Pope’. Desmond Tutu is the laughing archbishop – a man who wears his humanity on his sleeve. When I was a boy, one of my…
Jesuit Fr James Martin will deliver an invocation at the Democratic National Convention this week where former Vice President Joe Biden will accept his party’s formal nomination for president of the United States. Fr Martin, an editor-at-large at America Magazine and one of the most well-known American priests on social media, will also be joined by a rabbi and an…
Church bells and the Muslim call to prayer sounded on August 11 to mark a minute of silence for those who perished in the explosion devastating much of Beirut and its port a week earlier. The port, badly damaged by a deadly explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, resumed partial operations. But the same…
The “downright rude and uncooperative” behaviour of a small number of Massgoers in Carrick-on-Shannon has been criticised amid ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. A note in the parish bulletin reads that the overall response “of our parishioners has been very positive. It has also enabled us to join with different families from our parish in celebrating anniversary…