News In Brief The mother of well-known hunger striker Bobby Sands was remembered as a principled and devout woman by her daughter. Rosaleen Sands died last week aged 95 and her funeral was held in St Oliver Plunkett’s Church in Blackrock, Louth. According to The Irish News her daughter, Bernadette Sands-McKevitt said at the…
There are signs that the reality of what repeal would mean in practice is starting to sink in with some politicians, writes Cora Sherlock The Dáil this week completed its preliminary debate on the report of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment. It’s clear at this stage that a majority of TDs will…
A highly-valued longstanding member of St Vincent de Paul has been remembered as a “compassionate, non-judgemental and caring person” by the charity. John Monaghan joined SVP in 1985 and was an active member of his SVP conference in Leixlip and a member of the National Management Council from 1996-2014. He was the media voice and…
A Maronite archbishop in Syria narrowly escaped death by just a few seconds when a shell crashed through his bed as he was preparing for a nap. In an email to supporters Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus said priests cried when they saw him emerge from the ruins. “Providence watches over his poor servant,” the…
The Living Gospel: Daily Devotions for Lent 2018 by Ann M. Garrido (Ave Maria Press / Alban Books, £2.99) The Feast of the Nativity just over, and the New Year hardly begun, then the mind of the Church turns towards Lent, which begins less than three weeks from now, Easter being this year on…
News In Brief The Knights of St Columbanus have asked that Pope Francis send a letter to all Irish Catholics calling for them to “defend the humanity if the unborn”. A motion to make such a request was put forward at a September meeting of the order, with Grand Knight Richard Greene saying that…
Alfie: The Life and Times of Alfie Byrne by Trevor White (Penguin Ireland, €20.00) Almost alone, Alfie Byrne survives in the larger public memory as the quintessential Lord Mayor of Dublin, almost a ‘Mr Dublin’. The chance play of politics meant that he filled the office for a decade, between the three man commission…
Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, Life President & Founder of Focus Ireland explains that while the homelessness crisis is the worst we have ever seen, the situation would be much worse without the work of Focus Ireland. She also explains how the crisis can be ended by returning to more provision of social housing… When I…
WMOF2018 Brenda Drumm As we continue with our preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018, parishes will shortly be offering the first of six parish sessions as part of our Amoris: Let’s Talk Family, Let’s be Family programme. The first theme that parishes will be looking at is ‘The Reality of Family Life…
Society needs to plan for the reality of longer life expectancies and an active older population, writes Catherine McCann We age from the day we are born. Yet when the word ‘ageing’ is used, people assume it refers to the older years. What in fact are the older years? Those who are considered old…