Vatican diplomat embroiled in child pornography case A member of the Vatican diplomatic corps serving in Washington has been recalled to the Vatican as he is involved in a criminal investigation regarding child pornography, the Vatican said. The Vatican was informed by the US State Department “of a possible violation of laws relating to child…
Belgium’s Brothers of Charity Group, which runs 15 centres for psychiatric patients, has rejected a Vatican order to stop offering euthanasia. The organisation said that it “always took into account shifts and evolutions within society”, and “emphatically believed” its euthanasia program was consistent with the doctrine of the Catholic Church. “We take unbearable and hopeless…
The UK’s Labour party are creating a new group in order to reach out to the country’s Catholics. Nine MPs are launching a ‘Catholics for Labour’ group this Sunday which will focus on social justice and will be guided by Catholic social teaching. Labour politician Mike Kane MP, currently shadow schools minister, said there are…
Peadar Laighléis As long as I can remember, attracting young people to the Church has been a hot topic. There have been many trials: folk Masses, youth festivals and Taizé evenings, for example. None have proved to be a magic bullet. I don’t believe there is a single answer to this problem, but we could…
Fr Andrew McMahon For those aware of the recent storm engulfing Newstalk radio’s George Hook, but unfamiliar with its origins, let’s recall the basic facts: at the start of his High Noon programme on September 8, the broadcaster was drawing attention to stories in the news. One was a British court case in which a…
A policeman who was the most senior Catholic in the RUC has spoken of an IRA plot to kill him during Mass. Former high ranking RUC, subsequently PSNI, policeman Peter Sheridan said he was told by gardaí during the height of the Troubles that his life was in serious danger. “I use to attend Mass…
The Irish Capuchins’ Year of Vocation, launched last weekend at Knock, is a “natural progression” from how the order was in the national spotlight last year in connection with their 400th anniversary in Ireland and the centenary of the Easter Rising, the order’s vocations promoter has said. “It’s a year to actively promote the Capuchin…
Ireland has enough Catholic schools and doesn’t need more, the head of Ireland’s largest teaching union has said. Mr John Boyle, president of the INTO, later said he was referring only to Catholic primary schools. Mr Boyle also said that despite what the Archbishop of Dublin has said about divestment he doesn’t believe a large…
A Loreto sister originally from Co. Antrim has received the highest honour granted by the Peruvian state in recognition of her contribution to education. Sr Patricia McLaughlin, who has been ministering in Peru since 2000, has been presented with the 2017 Palmas Magisteriales Award on behalf of the Fe y Alegria School where she is…
An Underground Theatre: Major Playwrights in the Irish Language 1930-1980 Philip O’Leary (University College Dublin Press, €50.00) Anthony Roche This important book is not a history of Irish language drama; that already exists in Pádraig Ó Siadhail’s 1993 Stair Dhrámaoícht na Gaeilge 1900-1970. Rather, Philip O’Leary critically highlights five significant playwriting careers in Irish: Mairéad Ní Ghráda;…