Three Irish nuns who stopped receiving pension payments from Portugal for six months after returning home were assisted by the Ombudsman who sorted the payment issue. The nuns had returned to Ireland after spending decades in Portugal providing education and care to disadvantaged people when the payments stopped. The religious congregation in Ireland explained to…
Bishop Francis Duffy has called for public submissions on the future of the Church in the Diocese of Ardagh & Clonmacnois. Following a meeting last month, Bishop Duffy has begun a consultation to learn people’s views on the future of the local Church. “For the listening process to be robust I am now inviting views…
Saints are people who recognised their need for God’s help, who took risks to discover God’s will and to help others and who nurtured a habit of thanksgiving, according to Pope Francis. “The culmination of the journey of faith is to live a life of continual thanksgiving. Let us ask ourselves: Do we, as people…
The Cockroach by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape, £7.99/€11.00) Felix M. Larkin Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, it often seems that events have overtaken satire – indeed, have made satire redundant. However, the distinguished author of such contemporary masterpieces as Atonement and Amsterdam, Ian McEwan has produced a novella which will stand as the definitive…
Dear Editor, In attempting to shed light on Ireland’s vocation numbers (Letters, IC 3/10/2019), it seems that Canon Paul Ferrer has drawn attention to just how much fog and confusion bedevil this subject. The term ‘pre-seminary’ never appears in the Holy See’s 2016 Ratio Fundamentalis on priestly formation, he says, highlighting how the document identifies propaedeutic formation…
Cardinal Newman – Special Supplement Newman speaks as clearly to us today as to his peers in the 19th Century, writes Bishop Fintan Monahan “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often” – John Henry Newman John Henry Newman will be canonised as a new saint of the Catholic…
Cardinal Newman – Special Supplement John Henry Newman wasn’t always an obvious friend of this country, writes Fr Bernard Healy When we look at the beginning of John Henry Newman’s public life, it would be hard to imagine a less likely friend of the Irish. In 1829, he was an up-and-coming Oxford academic and Anglican…
Cardinal Newman – Special Supplement Newman left Ireland three wonderful gifts, writes Prof. Teresa Iglesias From the age of 50 to 57, Newman tirelessly laboured for a “great undertaking” in Dublin, the establishment of the Catholic University of Ireland. These were the years 1851 to 1858, which as regards personal powers and dedication he describes…
Cardinal Newman – Special Supplement Newman’s legacy is alive and well at Dublin’s University Church, writes Fr Bill Dailey I can recall vividly the time that I visited Assisi: I knew from my first steps in the city that I was walking in a place where undeniably holy people – towering saints, Francis and Clare…
Cardinal Newman – Special Supplement St John Henry Newman’s first Catholic sermon was in a celebrated Irish church in Rome, writes Fr Míchéal MacCraith As the date for Blessed John Henry Newman’s canonisation on October 13 draws near, it is opportune to recall that he preached his first sermon as a Roman Catholic in the…