The Pope has dubbed the latest attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt as “another act of ferocious violence”. The most recent religious terror attack in the country left 29 dead and about 25 wounded when a bus taking the Christians to a remote monastery was fired upon. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the…
Almost 50 people have been referred for military trial in Egypt for recent bombings that killed and injured over 100 Coptic Catholics. The suspects are thought to be behind the attacks on Cairo’s Coptic Church in December 2016 which killed 25 people, and two further bombings that killed over 45 people in April 2017 in…
Dear Editor, I believe your paper’s coverage of the blasphemy question – most recently in your Book Editor’s comments – misses the point (IC 25/05/2017). Blasphemy is not about passing comments on God, or the beliefs people hold about God; these are already explicitly allowed for in our Constitution and the law itself. Rather blasphemy…
Sr Mary Threadgold RSC Sr Mary Threadgold RSC explores ways of coping with the challenges in later life As a child, the love of my life was my grandfather. From infancy, along with my father and brother, I had lived with extended family which included grandparents, uncles and an aunt. My mother had died shortly…
Jemma Halpin Working outside the school and parish model is a challenge and an opportunity, writes Jemma Halpin Presentation Brothers Youth Ministry (PBYM) is situated in what was previously the Edmund Rice Heritage Centre at Mardyke House, Cork. The centre is now used solely for youth ministry, in line with the Presentation Brothers’ mission of…
Valerie Roche A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura by Eileen Markey (Nation Books, $US 26.99 / £21.00) It is difficult in this era of global communications to imagine what it must have been like for Sr Maura Clarke to leave behind the familiar, stable life in the convent in Ossining, New York and…
Frank Litton Dorothy Day: The world will be saved by beauty, an intimate portrait of my grandmother by Kate Hennessy (Scribner, $27.99) Thérèse by Dorothy Day, foreword by Robert Ellsberg (Christian Classics, Ave Maria Press, £12.99) Cardinal Spellman (1889-1967) and Dorothy Day (1897-1980) were both important figures in the history of north American Catholicism in…
Roger Childs During the nine years I have been in my present role as Genre Head of RTÉ Religious Programmes, the continued broadcasting of Angelus chimes on RTÉ Radio One and RTÉ One television, has been debated a number of times in a number of different settings, from the letters pages of newspapers, to local and national…
Sean Finlay Sean Finlay recounts a once in a lifetime trip to experience Zambian culture The Zambian Immersion Project at St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise, offers 16 students a coveted once in a lifetime opportunity to experience Zambian culture first-hand through deeply enriching work in schools, orphanages and health clinics over an unforgettable two weeks. Our…
John Wyse Jackson Molly Keane: A Life by Sally Phipps (Virago, £20) The writer Molly Keane was born in 1904 in Co. Kildare, a daughter of Moira O’Neill, the poet of the Glens of Antrim. She grew up in a horsey, Protestant family near Ferns, Co. Wexford, in an 18th-Century house that was burned in…