One of Ireland’s most popular singers has launched a charity single for the Christmas market after making a 20,000km round-trip to record it. Multi-award winning Tommy Fleming travelled to Rwanda to record ‘Give A Little Bit’ – the 1977 hit by Supertramp – with local teenagers in support of Irish aid agency Bóthar’s Christmas appeal.…
Following Monday’s shock announcement that the Vatican has requested the US Catholic Bishops to delay voting on new standards for bishop accountability, survivors of sexual abuse and bishop accountability activists decried the move as “totally unacceptable”. Terence McKiernan, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, called the move a “pre-emptive strike” by the Vatican against US bishops as they…
Politicians must act to assist workers as technology continues to transform jobs across Europe, said a committee of the European Union bishops’ commission. Work is sustainable only “if it does not harm or destroy the livelihood of others and if it uses generously and equitably the gifts of creation”, said the social affairs commission of…
Michael Sainsbury Although China and the Vatican signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops in September, persecution of Chinese Catholics continues. Some believe there is considerable pushback against the Vatican-China deal from inside China’s United Front Work Department, the Communist Party-controlled religious bureaucracy, especially at a more localised level. “Many officials at…
The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing by Gerald Dawe (Irish Academic Press, €22.95) Derek Hand Gerald Dawe’s collection of essays offers a very engaging assessment of Irish writing in the last 100 years. His survey of the scene, filtered through the lens of his being a lecturer and poet, brings enthusiasm to the task,…
The abortion bill is being rammed through the Oireachtas heedless of the views of huge numbers of voters, writes Denise Kelly Last week, the Government’s abortion Bill progressed with alarming speed through one of the most crucial stages of the parliamentary process, Committee Stage. It now returns to the Dáil where a significant proportion…
Refugees are “very scared” as they face been uprooted from their community or even being made homeless according to a representative of the centre’s residents. Naima Chaudhry, who is from Pakistan and has spent two years in the asylum process, said that the residents of Clondalkin Towers direct provision centre are fearful of the future,…
Midnight Mass was a top choice among the public when asked for favourite Christmas traditions to feature on this year’s Christmas stamps, according to An Post. Out of six traditions picked by the public through polls and messages shared online, there were “two very strong religious images” according to Anna McHugh, An Post’s head of…
The Archbishop of Armagh has said the suffering endured by the Irish – Catholic and Protestant – during WWI should act as an impetus for political leaders today to build a just and lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Archbishop Eamon Martin became the first senior Catholic leader to speak at an Armistice Remembrance Service when…
The new umbrella group, Suma de Actores Sociales (SUMAS), is calling Mexican citizens to stand up against efforts by president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to legalise abortion, euthanasia and marijuana. SUMAS was launched in Mexico City and unites 700 organisations around the country. Juan Dabdoub Giacoman, a founding member, said the new group seeks “to…