Taking Vatican II to America’s peripheries

Fr Jeffrey Kirby Last weekend and at the start of this week, the Catholic community swarmed the city of Orlando. The US Bishops’ Conference called together approximately 3,000 leaders from every sector of the Church’s life in order to listen and talk about the surprising topic of evangelisation. It might catch some folks off guard…

Religion should be taught outside schools

Dear Editor, Here in Ireland, up to relatively recently, children absorbed the faith of their parents in the home, where religion, in all its forms, was part of living. What happened in school was simply a reinforcement of that same religious ethos. In such a climate, it was only natural that the schools should prepare…

Finding a friend in God

I grew up in a Catholic home with my parents, my two younger brothers and my younger sister. For most of my teenage years, my faith didn’t mean anything to me. I thought Mass was very boring and I didn’t see the point in going. I went every Sunday but only to please my parents.…

Priests never thanked for professionalism

Fr Bernard Cotter Why is it that undertakers are nearly always thanked for their ‘professionalism’ while clergy are never praised in this way? I’m referring to those acknowledgement notices placed in newspapers some time after a funeral, which contain a kind of general ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped, but which usually name people whose…

Happy memories of Rathfarnam Abbey

Conor Donnelly In this memoir two sisters give an hilarious and poignant account of boarding school life in Ireland in the 1960s – echoes of  the ever popular Mallory Towers perhaps, but this is a true tale of Irish education; and for once a happy enough education too. The authors are both scientists. Valerie has…

On the pilgrims’ path

Participants from the Diocese of Elphin and the Parish of Kilnamanagh-Castleview (Dublin) who walked the Camino from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, Spain led by Bishop Kevin Doran and Fr Michael Murphy Adm. Kilnamanagh-Castleview.

Recent books in brief

Exploring Amoris Laetia: Opening the Pope’s Love Letter to Families edited by Breda  O’Brien (Veritas, €12.99) With preparations well under way in Dublin for The World Meeting of Families in August, this collection of essays edited by Irish Catholic columnist Breda O’Brien is very timely. Some nine established Catholic communicators share their insights into the…