Dear Editor, I was very moved by the description of Sr Clare Crockett by the curate from her Derry parish (IC 21/04/2016), following her tragic death in the earthquake in Equador. She sounded like a very inspirational woman who had an interesting faith story and her parish is rightly proud of her example and witness…
Dear Editor, You asked on the front page of The Irish Catholic (21/04/2016): Is it time to consider a female diaconate? In her two-page argument for women deacons in Ireland, Phyllis Zagano stresses that the diaconate is “totally separate from priesthood”. Yet Cathal Barry, in his continuing series on the Catechism of the Catholic Church,…
Dear Editor, Thank goodness the census is now over and hopefully I will no longer have to be exposed to the nonsense about whether or not to tick the box for religion on the form. Is that really the most important thing the media can find to discuss at a time of unprecedented homelessness in…
Participants at a youth gathering in Dublin to celebrate the Year of Mercy describe their experience Last week Dublin’s RDS hosted a gathering of more than 500 Transition Year students from all over the island of Ireland, along with teachers, chaplains, priests, religious and volunteers, who came together to celebrate the Year of Mercy. This…
The Rising. Ireland: Easter 1916 by Fearghal McGarry (Oxford University Press, £20hb) Joe Carroll This is a special ‘centenary edition’ of Dr McGarry’s book which was first published in 2010 and earned the accolade then as “the finest account yet of the 1916 Rising”. Since then, new books on the Rising are almost overflowing from Eason’s bookshop…
Happiness is not an ‘app’ that can be downloaded, while freedom and our true value can never be bought, Pope Francis has reminded thousands of teenagers. In a homily to a crowd of about 100,000 people gathered for a special Year of Mercy event for youths aged 13 to 16, the Pope urged the assembled…
Religion misused in Brazilian standoff Brazilian Christian leaders have expressed concern about how many members of the country’s Chamber of Deputies invoked religion when voting on April 17 to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Carlos Moura, executive secretary of the Brazilian bishops’ Justice and Peace Commission, said the commission experienced “an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment and dissatisfaction over the words…
The Archdiocese of New York has rejected allegations that it had been planning to smear the Catholic journalist Michael Voris. Mr Voris, the editor of ChurchMilitant.com, claimed that the archdiocese had been collecting information about his personal life before he became a Catholic “with the aim of publicly discrediting me, this apostolate and the work…
Britain’s House of Commons has voted to declare that a genocide is underway against Christians, Yazidis and others in Syria and Iraq. The vote, by 278 votes to zero, marks the first time the House of Commons has declared a genocide while it was taking place. The motion, moved by Fiona Bruce MP, recognised that…
The four Missionaries of Charity sisters murdered in Yemen last month were models for all Christians, the Auxiliary Bishop of Nairobi has said. Speaking in the Kenyan capital’s Holy Family Basilica at a requiem mass for the souls of India’s Sr Mary Anselm, Rwanda’s Sr Mary Marguerite and Sr Mary Reginette, and Kenya’s Sr Mary…