A top official with Catholic Relief Services, visiting northern Iraq, said new life is evident for those who suffered the injustices and atrocities of the so-called Islamic State invasion of their ancestral lands but some grave challenges remain. “I see the hope of the Resurrection, while still the experience of the Cross is the reality…
A new poll shows that 73% of respondents who identified as Catholic said they would be attending church for Easter, with 53% of all Americans saying they planned to attend church services on Easter Sunday. Among respondents who said they were practicing Catholics, 95% said they planned to go to Easter Mass. For Good Friday,…
Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, “we need to ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to build the culture of love, respect and peace to which the Gospel calls us”, US bishops have said. In reflecting on Rev. King’s life and work, “what are we being asked to…
Catholic officials in El Salvador expressed outrage and sadness after the assassination of a 31-year-old priest during Holy Week, in what some suspect may be a gang killing. Authorities said Fr Walter Vasquez Jimenez was traveling with parishioners to officiate a Holy Thursday Mass in San Miguel when their car was stopped by an armed…
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has agreed that party members who are not in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment can use party funds to print campaign literature. Fine Gael will not pay for posters as well as television, radio or newspaper advertising, in addition the party press office are not issuing comments in favour of either…
A camp of your choosing! The approaching summer means that children will soon be out of school and itching to make the most of the sunny days. The Kids Guide Summer Fair is designed with this desire in mind, which offers information on a wide selection of more than 50 of the best camps in…
God is Stranger: What Happens When God Turns Up? by Krish Kandiah (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99) Emily Keyes When people suffer tragedies, they often do one of two things with their faith: they either turn to it for comfort, meaning and healing, or they abandon it, saying they can no longer believe in or have a…
Personal Profile Jake Trant speaks about a university Catholic society The Dublin University Laurentian Society which takes its name from St Laurence O’Toole, Archbishop of Dublin, was founded in 1953 to provide a meeting place for the growing number of Catholics attending Trinity College. It was one of several societies formed in the period…
Olivia Elliot The ninth World Meeting of Families, celebrating the joy of being part of God’s family of families, will be opened in Cathedrals throughout Ireland in less than five months’ time. The countdown is underway and the excitement is really tangible. In the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore we are in preparation mode. On…
Dear Editor, Every baptised person has a duty to proclaim the kerygma, the Good News of the Gospel. God Himself commanded us: “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that we have, but to do it with gentleness and care” (1 Pet 3:15).…