Green Fingers October is usually the time of year that our temperature changes from warm to cooler, if not frost. This in turn signals a change in the look of most gardens, from full-on bursting with foliage and flowers to slimmed down or bare boned, even somewhat skeletal. Don’t be too tidy: leave the big…
St Patrick in his Own Words by Joseph Duffy with a new foreword by the author (Veritas, €12.99) This is not exactly a new book, but a reissue of a book for which there will be a noted demand, by both academics and general readers. It contains, with an appropriate introduction and notes, all the surviving…
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny’s article ‘A little clarification please, Mrs McAleese’ (IC 29/08/19) reminds us all that Mrs McAleese “supported repeal’’, in her own words “with a heart and a half’’. This support for repeal and its drastic consequences was clearly more than a half-hearted and reluctant ‘Yes’ vote. Mrs McAleese’s own words indicate an…
Speaking as a keynote speaker at the Kennedy Summer School in County Wexford on the opening evening of the 2019 Kennedy Summer School today on the role of faith in politics, ArchbishopMartin said “The State.. will struggle if communities, like faith communities, who wish to play a full role in public life while exercising freely…
Marie Cummins The mission of 40 Days for Life is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting and peaceful witness, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favour to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to…
There is a growing risk that the health service may begin to consider cost-saving measures that free up urgently needed beds, writes Dr Norella Broderick Support for euthanasia in Western Europe is growing. The UK-based Guardian reported last month that 93% of the British public now support physician-assisted suicide in the case of terminal…
Pope Francis has announced he will create 13 new cardinals on October 5, choosing prelates from 13 different nations as a sign of “the missionary vocation of the Church that continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all men and women of the earth”. Cardinal-designate Jesuit Fr Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the Section…
Some recently-ordained priests see Holy Orders as a kind of elite caste, but the Pope is determined to change this, writes Fr Declan Marmion SM The dramatic fall-off in vocations in recent decades has led many, including Church authorities themselves, to ask if the current model of priestly formation is fit for purpose. How…
Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry has insisted that Catholic schools must continue to present a message that is counter-cultural, even when this leads to criticism. Speaking at the first diocesan religious education conference – which drew over 800 people – Dr McKeown paid tribute to the passion for Catholic education evident in teachers and other…
The current model of seminary formation is neither as old or as monolithic as is often believed, writes Prof. Salvador Ryan It has often been said that the seminary model of priestly formation, which was first introduced by order of the Council of Trent in the 16th Century, is a monolithic and outdated system…