Fr. Bernard Healy Last week Fr Tony Flannery attracted the attention of The Irish Times with a blogpost entitled ‘How Much of Church Doctrine do we Really Believe?’ The Church’s credibility problem in Ireland, he argues, rests on something deeper than recent scandals. He argues that “[s]ome of the very basic doctrines of the Church no longer…
Albania is a regional Church that Archbishop Brown gets to sculpt When it was announced that our Papal Nuncio was being dispatched to Albania, there was shock that firstly the nuncio was leaving after only five years and secondly, Albania! Some in Church circles saw Machiavellian motivations behind the appointment by the Vatican. There is…
Niall Guinan Archbishop Charles Brown was an encouraging presence in Ireland, particularly for young people, writes Niall Guinan The 37th chapter of Ezekiel contains the famous description of the prophet placed in a “valley of dry bones,” a scene of total despair and desolation. There could hardly be a more fitting image for the environment…
Cardinal Raymond Burke once again has promised to “correct the situation” over what he believes to be confusion surrounding Pope Francis’ controversial 2016 document on marriage and the family, Amoris Laetitia. The American cardinal was speaking during a Q&A session after a presentation at Saint Raymond of Peñafort parish in Springfield, Virginia in the US.…
Pope Francis has approved the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of two of the shepherd children who saw Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, thus paving the way for their canonisation. Pope Francis signed the decree for the causes of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto during a meeting March 23 with Cardinal…
While documentation regarding an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Oscar Romero is being studied at the Vatican, there is no date scheduled for his canonisation, the archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, said. “I must say, in all sincerity, that there is no date. And we understand it well because it involves…
Dear Editor, Thank you so much for your article ‘Children of the Famine’ (IC 23/03/2017) about the mindset that sustained the networks of social control independent Ireland inherited and developed from the British. Too often commentators act as though our clergy and religious were Vatican shock troops parachuted into Ireland, despite these supposed agents of…
Michele Howe Aging is difficult and caring for our elders is a skill many people are never taught, writes Michele Howe In all honesty, the first time our family was suddenly made responsible for caring for someone we loved, we didn’t do a very good job. We did, however, learn a lot. Some years later,…
Lucy Wolfe I am a sleep consultant and mum of four children. I work with families and children from birth to six years of age to establish positive sleep associations in the early days and to address frustrating sleep problems from six months onwards – without leaving a child alone to cry. First of all,…
Stations of the Cross Then and Now by Denis McBride (Redemptorist Publications, £15.00) As Easter approaches Denis McBride’s new book is perhaps the sort of contemplative book which many Christians will want to read, in which the Via Dolorosa is explored and exemplified in modern terms, though it would be true to say that the…