Iraqi refugees appeal for help and offer Francis a gift of a hand-sewn chasuble Iraqi refugee women who fled Islamic State group violence have appealed to the Pope for help, sending a hand-sewn chasuble and imploring him to pray for them and for peace in their country. “One of the most precious items is the vestment of a priest, bishop or Pope serving at the altar during the…
Nigeria’s plight at the hands of Boko Haram militants has created one of the worst and most neglected humanitarian crises in the world, a leading campaigner has said. Speaking at a conference in Washington DC, Elijah Brown, executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Institute, described the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram as “the most lethal…
Three men have been arrested in relation to a sectarian mob attack on the homes of Coptic Christians in the Egyptian province of Minya. The arrests bring to 14 the number of people arrested since the May 20 attack, in which the most serious incident involved an elderly Coptic woman being stripped naked, abused and…
PWC asked to retain a role in Vatican audit After suspending an external audit led by a leading international firm, the Vatican has signed a new contract asking only that it provide assistance and consulting services. The suspension in April of the external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) “was not due to considerations regarding the integrity or the quality of PwC’s work, nor is…
Dear Editor, A few years ago a priest friend, while on holiday from England, was one of the concelebrants of a funeral Mass for John, who had Down Syndrome. Many of the deceased’s friends and colleagues from the Old Monastery Day Centre, Killarney attended the Mass and gave public expression to their loyalty and deep…
Dear Editor, Compliments on your very informative feature on “Catholicism in England and Wales” (IC 02/06/2016). You won’t mind, I’m sure, if I suggest ways in which an article like this so heavily dependent on statistics could be made more reader-friendly in the future. The verbal and the visual are not brought together in any…
Dear Editor, I find the letter of Mary Stewart in condemnation of Ken Curtin appalling and completely over the top. Surely the man is entitled to have reservations on the Eighth Amendment without been demonised and accused of condoning murder. I also have reservations on the Eighth Amendment and back in 1983 voted against its…
Dear Editor, I am absolutely horrified at the headline in The Irish Catholic (09/06/2016) ‘Pressure on Catholic schools to ban Amnesty International’. It beggars belief that Catholic schools would allow Amnesty address their pupils with their promotion of the killing of babies in the womb. It was hardly too much to expect that, when Amnesty…
Dear Editor, Pope Francis is to take part in an ecumenical service on October 31 this year in Sweden. This is Reformation Day and this year it will begin a year-long commemoration of the 500th anniversary of when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the castle church door at Wittenberg. This was to lead to the…
Pauline Dowd describes a children’s parish-based programme that the Diocese of Down & Connor is making available to parishes across the country
