Marriage counsellors wanted as Accord launches recruitment drive Accord, the Catholic Marriage Care Service, has urged counsellors to enrol in their Certificate in Counselling. The course will run from October 2019 through June 2020 and will be run in conjunction with the Pontifical University in Maynooth. Executive administrator Harry Casey said marriage counsellors are in demand more than ever. “Marriage and families…
Human race needs green space The great outdoors may be one of the cheapest therapies for children, a new study from Denmark shows. Kids who grow up surrounded by nature have up to 55% less risk of developing various mental disorders later in life, according to the paper from Aarhus University in Denmark, published in the…
The Notebook Donal McMahon In all fine old cities there are the obligatory sights of the guidebooks and tour buses but also the little discoveries that you make for yourself. The first are always well worth the visit but it’s the second unpredictable ones that often linger just as much or even more in…
Simon Caldwell The professional body for doctors in the U.K. has dropped its traditional opposition to assisted suicide, despite a poll that found a majority of its members remain opposed to the practice. The Royal College of Physicians has declared it has adopted a policy of neutrality, although a majority of doctors said they…
Pope Francis has expressed his grief for the loss of life caused by the sinking of a ferry in the Tigris River near the Iraqi city of Mosul. In a telegramme signed on his behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope said he is deeply saddened to learn of the accident and expressed his prayerful…
Only faith can speak in the darkness of immense tragedy, Archbishop Eamon Martin has told the requiem Mass of Morgan Bernard this morning (Friday). Morgan (17), Lauren Bullock (17) and Connor Currie (16) died outside a St Patrick’s Day event at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown following a crush. The tragedy, Archbishop Eamon told mourners, remind us…
Jonathan Luxmoore A close aide to St John Paul II has vigorously defended the late Pope’s handling of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and denied accusations that he ignored the problem during his 27-year pontificate. “Emerging opinions that John Paul II was sluggish in guiding the Church’s response to sexual abuse of minors by…
A pro-life group in Dublin’s Trinity College has criticised the visit of former Planned Parenthood Federation President, Cecile Richards, after she was invited to the university to receive an award for her pro-choice activism. Ms Richards was invited by the Philosophical Society to speak on campus and receive their Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage on…
Letter from America Elise Harris Catholicism’s ongoing clerical abuse scandals have provoked wide reactions, not the least of which has been a push both within the Church and from outside it for tough norms and policies to provide accountability for both the crime and the cover-up. However, according to a leading member of a…
Church agencies have rallied together to help more than half-a-million people in dire need after a cyclone hit Southern Africa last week. It’s estimated that at least 1,000 people have died in Cyclone Idai which hit Mozambique on March 15, making landfall near the port city of Beira on Thursday with winds of up to…