Matthew Carlson The recent drought in Ireland may have revealed a significant archaeological find – what is thought to be the childhood home of St Oliver Plunkett just outside Oldcastle. The hot weather and lack of rain this summer has exposed the outline of a house on what is now the Loughcrew estate with a…
A prominent pro-life group has said that a new president who defends the right to life could be a powerful voice for those who support pro-life initiatives. The comments come after the apparently unofficial launch of a campaign which would see Fianna Fáil councillor Éamon Ó Cuiv running for the presidential election. Spokesperson for the…
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the College of Cardinals of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and has ordered him to maintain “a life of prayer and penance” until a canonical trial examines accusations that he sexually abused minors. The announcement came first from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and…
Women were ordained as deacons in the past, the question now is will they be in the future, writes Phyllis Zagano Pope Francis arrives in Dublin on August 25 for the World Meeting of Families. That’s the feast of St Louis, the 13th Century French King who left his wife and 11 children at…
If no human act is intrinsically wrong, morality is reduced to a calculus of consequences, writes Fr Vincent Twomey SVD It was 1968. Revolution was in the air. New-found affluence after the austerities of the post World War II era coupled with the sudden, unprecedented burst of scientific and technological creativity in the 1960s…
Public anger is mounting in China after revelations that major vaccine makers violated safety standards. Thousands of faulty vaccines have been administered to children, eroding public trust in essential services and damaging China’s standing overseas as it tries to become a major player in the pharmaceutical industry. A Catholic doctor told a Catholic news provider the case…
Davis Clark and Matthew Carlson The voices of young people singing Party in the USA echoed through the halls of St Catherine’s College in Armagh City last week, marking the final week of the Michaela Foundation hosting their annual summer camps. The charity was set up in memory of Michaela McAreavey who was murdered while on her honeymoon…
Syriac Catholic bishops from around the world, meeting in Lebanon for their annual synod, lamented the plight of their “tormented and persecuted” faithful. In their final statement from the July 23-27 gathering, with Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan presiding, the bishops noted that they have “raised their voices high in front of the…
The top Vatican official who will accompany Pope Francis on his trip to Ireland this month has said he was “shocked” to hear allegations of years of sexual abuse and harassment by his former boss Theodore McCarrick. The Vatican announced at the weekend that Pope Francis had accepted Dr McCarrick’s resignation from the College of…
Column sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland www.acnireland.org At present, Ireland is undergoing a process of cultural cleansing of Catholicism – where even the memory of the Catholic faith is being expunged, save for where a hostile public perception can be catalysed through the media and leveraged for political advantage. The World Meeting…