Last week, Pope Francis embarked on his 45th and most ambitious trip of his papacy, both in terms of distance and duration. It was a 12-day, four-country, two-continent odyssey; with stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore. The trip, which enabled Catholics in remote regions to see the Pope in the flesh prompted…
Hannah Brockhaus Pope Francis landed in Dili, the capital city of East Timor, on Monday last in the third stop on a September 2–13 trip to four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania. One of the world’s newest nations — it became a sovereign state in 2002 — the majority-Catholic country is on a journey…
Alan Hynes If there is one genre of engagement with education policy in Ireland that is likely to prompt a unity of weary groans from all working within schools, it is politicians or campaigning groups ‘calling on’ schools to address some social ill through education. These generally fall into two broad categories: 1) calling on…
St Bernadette gives hope to young people facing the challenge of discerning their future, says Fr Barry White Lourdes has always been a place of prayer and healing in my family, especially during times of suffering and illness. My journey with Lourdes began in childhood, inspired by books and the 1943 film The Song of…
Assuming that only atoms and forces exist, you’ll miss out on things like beauty, truth and love says Br Guy Consolmagno “What do I do if science tells me one thing, but religion tells me another thing? Which do I believe?” There’s a false assumption at the centre of that question, because neither science nor…
Kenneth Craycraft The Book of Genesis explains that God created the universe by His word alone, speaking the world into existence. As we read throughout the first chapter of Genesis, “God said, ‘Let there be … ‘” And as God reflected on the six days of creation, He looked upon his work, and “found it…
Bishop Martin Hayes Each year, from September 1 to October 4, starting with World Day of Prayer for Creation the first day of September, the ecumenical family celebrates the ‘Season of Creation’. This is an annual opportunity to pause and reflect on how we care for the gift of creation. It is a special Church season…
Sr Hosea Rupprecht One day, I was at the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a bright, sunny day and the ocean was sparkling. On my way home, I spotted a few empty parking spots along the side of the road and, totally on a whim, pulled into one. I rolled up that window but kept…
Tyler Arnold Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich praised the boldness and the faithfulness of the Catholic Church in Africa after a pilgrimage the prelate took to the west African country Benin last week, particularly after the continent spoke out against the Vatican’s decision to bless same-sex couples last December. “The Church in Africa is a Church that…
Courtney Mares Pope Francis commended an American chaplain’s work with death row inmates as a ministry that reflects the “deepest reality of the Gospel” in a new book preface on the death penalty. The Pope personally penned the introduction to “A Christian on Death Row: My Commitment to Those Condemned” by Dale Recinella, a lawyer…