The Vice-President of the European Parliament discussed the future of Europe and her responsibility for dialogue with religions with Pope Francis last weekend in the Vatican. Mairead McGuinness MEP was in Rome for a conference entitled ‘(Re)Thinking Europe – A Christian Contribution to the Future of the European Project’, organised by the Commission of the…
An initiative to offer people an alternative to the hype of the so-called ‘Black Friday’ shopping frenzy is gaining momentum with well-known priest Fr Brian D’Arcy throwing his weight behind it and a Cork parish adjacent to a shopping centre coming on board. The brainchild of spirituality publisher Columba Press, Bright Friday will see musicians,…
Tourism is continuing to boost revenue in Connemara’s Kylemore Abbey, which last year returned profits of over three quarters of a million Euro according to newly released accounts. The Kylemore Trust of the abbey’s Benedictine community announced an excess of income over expenditure of €823,856 for the year ending December 31, 2016, with this being…
On the 50th anniversary since the legalisation of abortion in Britain pro-life campaigners took to the streets outside the British Embassy in Dublin. Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro-Life Campaign said that when the law was first introduced “no one envisaged that a law which appeared restrictive would lead to a situation where one in…
News In Brief The vandalism of a Church of Ireland church is “an attack on all Christians”, Archbishop Michael Neary has said. Commenting on the vandalism of Holy Trinity Church in Errislannan, Clifden, Dr Neary pointed to the desecration of churches in Iraq and the Philippines over the past year, saying such actions “are a…
News In Brief Gospel values demand that we travel safely on roads today, Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan has said. Speaking at a ‘Blessing of the Roads’ ceremony in the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Ennis, Co. Clare, Dr Monahan said: “Road safety awareness is the parable of the Good Samaritan in action within…
News In Brief Cemetery gates in Belfast are believed to have been vandalised by a group of youths who are said to have set fire to traffic cones and a wheelie bin right beside them. “Significant damage” was also caused to the surrounding entrance according to the Diocese of Down and Connor. “This was a…
Merton treasured the word, writes Michael W. Higgins Pope Francis recognised in the monk-poet Thomas Merton a prophetic and moral genius, ranked along with Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln. And he did that in Washington, in a powerful address to the Joint Houses of Congress. Can you imagine that happening now…
Christian leaders in Philippines have banded together to help rebuild Marawi, a Muslim-majority city in southern Philippines damaged by five months of occupation by terrorists. The Christian leaders are calling on smaller Christian groups “and even the monks” to pool their strength toward restoring Marawi, said Jing Henderson, communications and partnership development coordinator of the…
A former head of the Church’s doctrinal watchdog has poured cold water on suggestions that Pope Francis’ exhortation on marriage on the family is contrary to established Catholic teaching. Introducing a collection of essays by the Italian philosopher and onetime collaborator of St John Paul II Rocco Buttiglione, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said Prof. Buttiglione offers…