Staff reporter There is no possibility of women being ordained “at the present time” Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has signalled an openness to women priests, though insisted that there is no possibility of women being ordained “at the present time”. Dr McKeown – who was appointed Bishop of Derry by Pope Francis in 2014…
Mary McCarthy, Eilis Costelloe and Kathleen Maher Mary McCarthy, Eilis Costelloe and Kathleen Maher share their experience as Year of Mercy volunteers Following an invitation from the Ossory Adult Faith Development team seeking volunteers for the Year of Mercy to assist pilgrims in Rome last year, we decided to take up the challenge and apply.…
Davog McCafferty Over 50 young people from Cappagh parish, Co. Tyrone led their parishioners into Holy WeeK Last Sunday April 9, over 50 young people from the parish of Cappagh in Co. Tyrone led their parishioners and the wider community into Holy Week with an evening of music and reflection on the ‘Way of the…
Abdi Tari Ali Letter from Somalia I was on my knees fixing IV drips to patients’ arms as they lay on the ground in a makeshift treatment centre in the town of Luuq in Gedo Province, southern Somalia. I have treated cholera before, but I have never seen anything like this in terms of volume…
Dear Editor, I welcome the contribution which The Irish Catholic is making to the mission of the laity with Greg Daly’s article (IC 23/03/2017). It would be good to hear more on the topic of lay-led liturgies. It was pointed out in his well-researched article, it is fraught with difficulties if not approached from a…
Nicole Turner Fourteen-year-old Nicole Turner shares her incredible journey as a paralympian I was born with a disability called hypochondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. At the age of five my parents sent me to have swimming lessons for safety reasons and then I joined a local swimming club in Portarlington, Piranha Swim Club where I…
About Being Normal: My life in Abnormal Circumstances by Desmond Fennell (Somerville Press, €20.20 / £17.00) This memoir provides an interesting account of the life and writings of Desmond Fennell, who has long been a striking voice in modern Ireland. Fennell was born in Belfast in 1929. After attending the Christian Brothers’ O’Connell School and…
Joe Carroll Nothing Is Written In Stone: The Notebooks of Justin Keating Edited by Barbara Hussey and Anna Kealy (Lilliput Press, €20.00) Justin Keating intended to write a autobiography, but died in 2009 on the eve of his 80th birthday leaving eight handwritten notebooks. His second wife, Barbara Hussey, and Anna Kealy have done their…
The World of Books Every summer some 700,000 people come together in the Breton town of Lorient for the Festival Interceltique, which sees a gathering not just of musicians and singers, but also poets, writers, and community leaders from the Celtic fringe of Western Europe, from Galicia to Galloway. But in all this feast of…
The Legacy of Irish Missionaries Lives On by Matt Moran (OnStream, €15.00) With the apparent decline of priestly vocations, the nature of Irish missionary movement has changed. I say apparent because in reality it may be that the call that was responded to in the past still exists, it is merely that the responses to…