France’s Catholic bishops have published a report on measures to combat sexual abuse by clergy, listing data on criminal charges and efforts by a new anti-abuse commission. “The journey to zero tolerance has begun in a firm and visible way,” Bishop Luc Crepy of Le Puy-en-Velay, head of the French Church’s permanent commission for fighting…
Peter Casey may have tapped into disaffection gaining some 23% of the voters at the presidential election, but he is decidedly out of touch when it comes to the broadcast of the Angelus on RTÉ. The station’s exit poll following the election found that 68% of people supported the national broadcaster continuing to broadcast the…
Galway’s former Magdalene laundry is to be converted to a service to help women and children who have experienced domestic abuse. Renamed ‘ModhEile’ – ‘another way’ – in the hope that it will inspire women suffering from domestic abuse to find a way to rebuild their lives and create a better future for their families,…
The High Court in India’s Jharkhand state has rejected the latest bail plea of a Missionaries of Charity nun accused of selling babies from a congregation-run home for unwed mothers. Sr Concilia was arrested on July 4 at Nirmal Hriday, the home she managed for unmarried mothers in the state capital Ranchi. She was initially remanded in…
From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland by Donnacha ó Beacháin (Manchester University Press, £75.00 hb / £22.99 pb) Peter Hegarty Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Associate Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government at DCU, begins and ends his book with discussions of the Ulster question’s affronts to democracy. Partition, he tells us, was an…
Poland’s bishops marked their country’s centenary of independence by warning freedom could be lost again if Poles abandon their Catholic Faith. In a pastoral letter for the November 11 centenary, the bishops said love of homeland was a divine command and was expressed through “daily civic honesty, readiness to serve and dedication to the common…
The International Astronomical Union has voted in favor of a recommendation to rename the Hubble law the Hubble-Lemaître law, to acknowledge the contributions of the Belgian priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître to the scientific theory of the expansion of the universe. “To honour the intellectual integrity and the supremely significant discovery by Georges Lemaître, the…
Dear Editor, Archbishop Eamon Martin’s call for a ‘listening Church’ (IC 1/11/2018) is a brave suggestion, though it’s hard not to feel that there’s a risk that this may be brave in the sense that Sir Humphrey of television’s Yes, Minister might have used the word: who knows what such a proposal might unleash? Back…
A story to remember For those who enjoy jokes, songs and stories, the Sneem International Storytelling & Folklore Festival might just be for you. This Kerry event started off in 2011 as an idea by chairman and local Seanachai Batt Burns, coming to fruition the following year. Since then, the festival has grown year by…
Each week we publish a selection of comments from The Irish Catholic Facebook page. Should Ireland offer asylum to Asia Bibi? Her family needs somewhere safe to recover from the ordeal they have all been through. It would also be a recognition that Christians are persecuted and need refuge. – Bairbre Cahill Can’t see…