Congratulations to Kathleen Magennis from Dublin, who won our Christmas crossword competition. The first prize is a fully inclusive pilgrimage for two to Lourdes in 2016 with Pilgrimages Abroad. The three runners-up who will receive a copy of The Francis Effect DVD are: Mrs P. Gray, Dublin 9; Kathleen Murray, Co. Cork; Margaret McNulty, Limerick.…
A friendly spirit is a constant in a congress of contradictions, writes Fr Bernard Healy On arrival at Mactan-Cebu Airport, the Irish Pilgrimage to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress was greeted with a warm Filipino welcome as Congress volunteers placed decorative necklaces around the necks of the pilgrims and shepherded us through customs. That welcome…
The Eucharist demands our commitment to a just world and calls for a global war on poverty, the Pope’s personal envoy to the International Eucharistic Congress has said. Preaching at the opening Mass of the congress in the Philippine city of Cebu, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo said “in an unequal and uncaring world, the Eucharist…
Satellite photos reveal monastic devastation Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery has been destroyed by ISIS, it has been revealed. Satellite images have confirmed that Deir Mar Elia – or St Elijah’s – a 1,400-year-old monastery outside Mosul, has been destroyed by the jihadist militants. It is believed the monastery was demolished between August and September 2014, shortly after Mosul was…
The Holy Thursday foot-washing ritual will no longer be limited to men, the Vatican has ruled, but can include “all members of the people of God”. The announcement from Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, follows a December 2014 letter from Pope Francis to the congregation. In his…
Dear Editor, I write in response to your article in last week’s paper (IC 21//01/2016) which suggests that the Archdiocese of Dublin could face a 70% drop in the number of its priests by the year 2030. The research paper concludes that the optimal solution to the priest shortage in the diocese “is probably a…
Members of Tullamore Junior Parish Pastoral Council explain their work In 2006 the Junior Parish Pastoral Council (JPPC) was founded in Tullamore parish, Co. Offaly as a way of giving young people a voice in the Church. The JPPC is made up exclusively of secondary school students. Pupils first hear about it in sixth class…
Jim Noonan OCD The Eighth Day, selected writings of Christian Bobin translated by Pauline Matarasso (Darton, Longman & Todd, £12.99) An inspirational French author, Christian Bobin is a prolific writer, producing over 50 books, in more than 30 years, and has been a bestseller (his books have sold over 200,000 copies per edition) in France for many…
Silence and Thomas Merton The Powerball Lottery in the USA has been much in the news recently, partly because of the huge prize on offer to the lucky winner, or it seems, winners: $1.6 billion. Just think of that in terms of aid for famine and flood victims. What could an individual not do with…
“Alpha fills you with a sense of belonging and changes you through the power of the Holy Spirit”, writes John Quinn I began working with the Presentation Brothers in September 2015, taking up my appointment as their Evangelisation Officer. After four years of working as a youth minister in a busy South-London parish, I was…