Irish Cervical Cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has been tapped to receive the Fitzgerald Bible Award for her role in the CervicalCheck scandal. Ms Phelan settled a High Court action against a US lab after her cancer was missed in a smear test. Chairman of the Fitzgerald Bible Bruff Award group Paul Dennehy said the award…
The World Meeting of Families was “overshadowed” and “hijacked” by claims that Pope Francis had long been aware of sexual misconduct concerns about former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Armagh’s Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. Speaking to Cruxnow.com, the Primate of All-Ireland praised the event as a Church event of “great joy and participation”, and said…
Dramatic changes to Mass times in Clogher diocese are already starting to pay dividends in terms of worshippers’ experience, diocesan administrator Msgr Joseph McGuinness has said. Noting that the changes, rolled out across the diocese earlier this month in response to declining numbers of clergy have been generally well received, Msgr McGuinness said it is…
De Valera. Rule: 1932-1975 by David McCullagh (Gill Books, €24.99) Peter Hegarty Irish memories tend to associate De Valera with the dismal drift of the 1950s rather than the dynamism and reforms of the 1930s. The man who triumphantly assumed power in March 1932 had a clear idea of the direction in which he wanted to take…
Patrick Ussher Through the pain and suffering of hardship and illness, there can emerge a beam of light. Over time, that light can become increasingly brighter until, eventually, it can illuminate your life in a wholly new way. Illness does not have to define us. We can be ill, yet whole. When I was a…
A well-known social media influencer has become pro-life after watching a movie which details the gruesome reality of late-term abortions. Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, which was released this month, is an American drama film about Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who killed at least seven infants born alive during abortion procedures. Speaking about the…
Governmental advisers did not believe Pope Francis had been fully briefed on key hot-button issues ahead of his trip to Ireland, it has been revealed. Documents received by the Sunday Independent have shown that while crafting her brief message to the Pope about the Tuam Mother and Babies home, Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone was advised…
In a timely commemoration at the NCH earlier this month the RTÉ NSO, under the assiduous direction of Belfast-born Kenneth Montgomery, celebrated the centenary of composer AJ Potter. In a riveting performance of his sinfonia de Profundis in a new edition by his amanuensis Sarah Burn, the work refocused attention on someone whom the late…
A Christian creation care organisation is setting up Northern Ireland’s first community-owned farm to promote the importance of environmental stewardship. Established last year, Jubilee is a cooperative enterprise to practice and promote care farming, community-supported agriculture as well as conservation education and engagement in a manner which inspires change within local churches and communities to…
Fr vincent Sherlock In life we meet joy and sorrow. Recently I shared sorrow with a family whose baby died in his fourth day. I walked into the hospital and the father came to meet me. I was amazed at the strength of character displayed. He asked me if I’d baptise their son. “Have you…