The president of the body that represents Catholic second level schools has described as “worrying and unwelcome” Department of Education guidelines that insist that schools must provide alternatives for students who do not wish to participate in religious education. While the circular applies only to Education and Training Board and community schools, Fr Paul Connell…
For more than 50 years, the writings of retired Pope Benedict XVI on the relationship between Faith and politics have insisted that the measure of human freedom is the extent to which each person acknowledges being dependent on the love of God, Pope Francis wrote. The future Pope’s “direct experience of Nazi totalitarianism led him…
A prominent Irish priest has criticised remarks made by a DUP founder concerning Protestant church leaders’ welcome of a papal visit to the North of Ireland this August. The criticism comes after Wallace Thompson, secretary of the Evangelical Protestant Society, told the Belfast Newsletter that a visit to the North by Pope Francis for the…
The ill-judged intervention strengthens the ‘Yes’ side, writes Fr Bill Kemmy It is not possible to let the recent media statement issued by the leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) on the upcoming referendum on the Eight Amendment to go unchallenged. Very briefly, I want to focus on the content and the impact of…
Letter from America Claire Giangravè Not everyone’s got it. For that matter, not all of those previewing the May-October Met exhibit on the Catholic imagination bought the curator’s pitch that the show was building a bridge between culture and faith. Not everyone, but some, looked at the opulent vestments on loan from the…
Eight bishops’ conferences in Latin America have joined efforts to assist Venezuelans in transit through or settling in their home countries with the help of the Migrant and Refugee Section of the Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development,. Called ‘Bridges of Solidarity’, the two-year pastoral program seeks to “find common solutions to…
Spuds and the Spider by Séamus Ó Conaill (Gill Books, €8.99) The President’s Glasses by Peter Donnelly (Gill Books, €9.99) Margaret Gleason Spuds Potsofgold lives an idyllic life with his wife Rose Goodytwoshoes in the cosy surroundings of Toadstool Cottage, except for one nuisance – an eight-legged, hairy and googly-eyed spider called Leggers McWeb, who is in…
Pope Francis asked the bishops of Germany to continue working together to find broader consensus on guidelines for allowing a Protestant married to a Catholic to receive the Eucharist. “Pope Francis appreciates the ecumenical commitment of the German bishops and asks them to find, in a spirit of ecclesial communion, a result as unanimously as…
Inés San Martín Typically, Pope Francis and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich are considered allies. Recently, however, the two men offered contrasting takes on the legacy of one of the modern world’s most influential social and political movements – ironically enough, ‘Marxism.’ While the Bavarian cardinal said in a recent interview that the father of…
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse ; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19) This verse is taken from the last chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Capturing the essence of how the future of the nation of Israel depended on the response of the Jewish people to the Covenant, it underlines the connections between life and blessing. To the nation…