Archbishop Eamon Martin has launched the 2018 online Advent Calendar, which will go live on www.catholicbishops.ie on the first Sunday of Advent, December 2 next. The 2018 Advent calendar will provide a special focus on family as part of ongoing reflections following the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families…
The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said he was leaving the bishops’ autumn general assembly more hopeful than when the meeting began. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said in remarks closing the assembly that his hope was primarily grounded in Christ as well as realising that the body of bishops was on…
With the new series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here hitting TV screens Sunday last, most viewers expected to see spiders, snakes and cockroaches, but not someone praying the Rosary. This week, Anne Hegerty [pictured], who shot to fame as a Chaser in the ITV game show The Chase, was seen praying the…
The Philippines’ bishops’ conference has announced it will dedicate 2019 as the ‘Year of the Youth’. The year-long celebration which will start on the first Sunday of Advent on December 2, will carry the theme ‘Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered’. Its observance, which the bishops described as part of the “nine-year journey for New…
Lonely Mystic: A new portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwen by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, $16.95 / £12.99) Anthony Redmond What is the reason for the enduring appeal of Henri Nouwen? This Dutch Catholic priest and celebrated spiritual writer died in 1996 at the age of 64. His appeal, for me, is his vulnerability, openness, sensitivity and…
Labour leader Brendan Howlin has vowed to keep up pressure on the Government to grant asylum to persecuted Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi and her family. Mrs Bibi is being held at a secret location in Pakistan after she was freed from prison when her conviction for blasphemy was overturned and she was spared the death…
Youth Space Challenging discussions can enrich our Faith, writes Rachel Sherlock Doom and gloom is the typical tone when it comes to talking about young people in the Catholic Church. From parish pulpits to Vatican synods, there are endless calls to reach out to a demographic that seems more and more to be moving…
Relics of St Brigid to be venerated at ‘Red Wednesday’ Aid to the Church in need invites parishioners to set aside Wednesday, November 28 to light up churches and wear something red to remember Christian martyrs and those who have died for their faith. On that day, St Malachy’s Church, Armagh will be lit up red and people are asked to wear something red…
Antrim parish to hold ‘Prayers Matter’ to deepen Faith An Antrim parish will hold its sixth annual round table gathering on ‘Prayers Matter’ with speakers including Baroness Nuala O’Loan, Sr Elaine Kelly from the Adoration Convent in Belfast and PP Fr Patrick Delargy. The event takes place in All Saints’ Parish Centre, Cushendall Road, Ballymena, on Saturday, December 1 from 2-5.30pm. Sr Elaine…
Dear Editor, In the course of the last week, it emerged that the HSE, at the behest of the Department of Health, had offered €450 (around twice the normal delivery) to GPs, for each abortion (assassination) they performed. This stunning news was hardly mentioned in any newspaper. It was stunning, because of the value placed…