Northern Catholics respond to David Trimble and Kate Hoey Fr Joe McVeigh “We want the Irish government to pursue the whole thing about the border poll which is part of the Good Friday Agreement and Trimble was one of the people who negotiated that and accepted that.” “…The whole momentum is going towards Irish…
The View Martin Mansergh We live in a world where moral authority often seems to be scarce or diminished, and largely unheeded. One or two issues can dominate and distract attention from others. While practical considerations are always important, the ethical dimension has also to be weighed in the balance. It is paradoxical that…
Declaring that the Catholic Church is unafraid of history, Pope Francis announced that documents in the Vatican Secret Archives relating to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII will be open to scholars in 2020. Researchers, particularly those interested in Catholic-Jewish relations, have pressed the Vatican to open the archives and allow a full study…
Christopher White A new report by one of the nation’s leading organisations promoting best practices in leadership within the Catholic Church chronicles the “twin crises” within the Catholic Church, that of sexual abuse and its cover-up. The report, released on Friday by Leadership Roundtable, comes just days after Pope Francis’s historic meeting with the…
South Sudan’s peace deal is fatally flawed, the country’s bishops said as they committed the Church to helping forge new negotiations. They also recommended a series of measures to end the conflict. “We urge all stakeholders and friends of South Sudan to collaborate to seek a new model” for peace, the bishops said in a…
The Missouri House of Representatives has passed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, an omnibus bill that bans abortion when the heartbeat of an unborn child can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks “depending on the method used”. The measure, also limits late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy; declares…
A major gathering of the United Methodist Church has reaffirmed its teaching on homosexuality, rejecting same-sex unions and the ordination of sexually active homosexuals, prompting predictions that some American congregations who reject this teaching will leave the denomination. The international gathering, called a Special Session of the General Conference of the UMC, drew over 800…
The Church must find ways to help young people share the Christian message, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh has said. Speaking to around 8,500 young people at the Flame 2019 conference in London, the Primate of All-Ireland described how in Rome last year at the synod on young people he admitted that he finds it…
Sweet Treats Laura Anderson Fruit buns like these were and remain a familiar sight in many Irish homes, and with a cup of tea in the evening these humble sweet treats cannot be beaten. They are so easy and fast to whip up, perfect for the most beginner of bakers or for making with…
Saint Patrick: An Ancient Saint for Modern Times by Edmond Grace SJ (Sacred Heart Messenger, €4.95) At this time of the year we Irish tend to think of St Patrick as ‘our saint’, but Edmund Grace begins his brief book with a very insightful encounter far from Ireland. In St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York he…