Family News and Events

Lonely scarecrows, grannies, and the Cork puppet festival It’s not every day there’s an opportunity to see a puppet show, especially a professional production involving a lonely but imaginative scarecrow and an unpredictable granny. Merlin Puppet Theatre will bring ‘No One’s Land’ to Cork for the Cork Puppetry Festival 2019 on August 3 at 3pm…

In Brief

Notre-Dame not yet safe to restore – architect  l A French architect says that Notre Dame Cathedral still isn’t safe enough for restoration work to begin, more than three months after a devastating fire nearly destroyed the monument. French television showed the chief architect of France’s historic monuments, Philippe Villeneuve, taking Culture Minister Franck Riester…

Laughter in the Dáil bar at an easy target

Notebook Fr Vincent Sherlock   It’s an old story now – well a few weeks old and that’s history, the way life moves on. The Taoiseach compared the leader of the opposition to being like a priest who speaks against sin while being a sinner himself. It was, in all fairness, a cheap and unnecessary…

Sri Lankan church re-consecrated after terrorist bombings

One of the churches in Sri Lanka damaged in attacks on Easter was re-consecrated on Sunday. During the ceremony, the Archbishop of Colombo criticised the government’s investigation of the attacks. St Sebastian’s parish in Negombo, nearly 25 miles north of Colombo, was re-consecrated on July 21 by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. The church was one of…

No apologies for Westminster’s fantasy politics

Pol O Muiri C.S. Lewis, Belfast man and writer, is probably best known for his fiction and his Christian apologetics. His works on Narnia have enthralled children for decades while works like Mere Christianity, have provided solace and guidance for adult readers. Narnia is, of course, a mythical and mysterious place where wondrous and unexpected…

Academics clash in science versus religion row

A row has broken out between two leading scientists over whether science and religion are compatible.  Prof. David McConnell, Pro-Chancellor at Trinity College Dublin, a former lecturer in genetics, has said that science has “made it difficult for many people to believe in dogmatic religion”. The honorary president of the Humanist Association of Ireland wrote…

Venezuelan bishops call for Maduro to step down

The Venezuelan bishops asked last Thursday that president Nicolas Maduro resign from the office which he “illegitimately” exercises and that a new president be elected in the shortest time possible. “In face of the reality of an illegitimate and failed government, Venezuela is crying out for a change of direction, a return to the Constitution.…