Dear Editor, Many of the reactions to Fr Sheehy’s homilies, including Bishop Browne’s reaction, seem to overlook completely a very important truth, namely, that Jesus Christ preached strongly against sexual sins. In Matthew 5, he warns us that lustful thoughts can lead to damnation and must be avoided even if this involves serious sacrifice. In…
Staff Reporter Plans to reform hate crime laws have sparked widespread opposition, with more than 3,600 submissions from the public, elected representatives, political parties and academics received by Government. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Laois-Offaly Independent Carol Nolan TD said that there are “serious concerns” around the laws. “In particular I am worried about…
French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, former head of the French bishops’ conference, admitted to abusing a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago. The revelation came in a letter from Cardinal Ricard read by Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, president of the bishops’ conference, during a news conference on abuse November 7, during the French bishops’ general assembly. The…
The economic crisis in Cuba continues to impact the population, this time affecting Catholics specifically because the lack of wheat flour has meant that no more Communion hosts can be made. The St. Teresa Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Havana announced the news Wednesday. “We inform all the dioceses that there are no longer hosts for…
Church in Ireland offers partial Gospel for failing faith, writes Dr Tom Finegan Often when Church problems are discussed we hear about declining numbers, shaky finances, and lessening influence. Yet the problems in Irish Catholicism run deeper than any of these. The recent controversy involving Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne’s public rebuke of Fr Sean…
One of the church’s leading experts on safeguarding and clerical sexual abuse has said the exclusion of women from seminary formation needs to change. Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner spoke to more than 200 people at a ‘Stolen Lives’ webinar organised by the Root and Branch lay reform movement in Britain in conjunction with Survivor Voices…
by Eduardo Campos Lima Letter from Brazil After the fiercest presidential campaign in Brazil’s history, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva managed to beat his rival Jair Bolsonaro on October 30 with a narrow margin of only two million votes. As soon as the South American country’s electoral authority proclaimed Lula’s victory, several world…
Bishop Barron outraged by cemetery desecration Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester expressed outrage November 2 over the desecration of several graves and the columbarium at the diocese’s Calvary Cemetery in Rochester “with hateful and obscene graffiti” on Halloween night. He assured his prayers for families “of those whose final resting places were so dishonoured”. The…
by Zelda Caldwell Before a gathering of religious leaders in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, a Catholic bishop from Nigeria gave an account of how his country had become a “cauldron of violence” at the hands of Islamist extremists. Addressing the G20 Religion Forum in Bali on November 3 in advance of the…
The Catholic Church is working to promote healing and rebuild trust with Native American communities in response to revelations about mistreatment of students in church-run boarding schools, a priest working on Native American issues for the US bishops told an Archdiocese of Seattle gathering. “This is heart stuff, not head stuff,” Fr Michael Carson, assistant…