Family activities Anne O’Connell If a grandparent has a skill which they can pass on to their grandchild, February is a good month to do so: there are still many long, dark evenings ahead. It can be any skill from tying shoelaces to whistling, to skimming a flat stone across the water! Think of…
Health Matters Dr Andrea Fitzgerald Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurological disabilities that start in early childhood and are life-long. ASD encompasses a range of disorders, the commonest of which are Autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Symptoms are characterised by difficulties in communication, social interaction, and behaviour. ASD seems to be on…
Editor’s Comment Garry O’Sullivan Prophetic voices are often lauded in the abstract but when they appear in reality they are more likely to be ignored, sidelined and generally scoffed at. The retiring Dean of St Patrick’s was one of those few prophetic voices in any of the Christian churches on this island —…
Religion and culture must be in respectful dialogue so both may inform each other, the head of the Catholic Schools Partnership has said. Fr Michael Drumm was speaking this week at the annual Greenhills Ecumenical Conference. ‘There will always be a certain tension between religious faith and culture,’ he said, noting that ‘some people…
The funeral has taken place of Very Rev. Frank Bergin, a priest of the Diocese of Killaloe for the past 64 years. Born in Kinnitty, Co. Offaly in 1922, Frank Bergin was ordained in 1948 before travelling to the Diocese of Nottingham in England. Returning to Killaoe in 1950, he served variously in Cloughjordan,…
People who use the phrase ‘Ireland is a republic’ need to be clear on what they mean by the word, writes Fr Alan Hilliard Shopping in the local shop many years ago left little room for choice. A tin of beans meant that you got whatever brand of beans was on the shelf. There…
Irish Catholic actor Liam Neeson tells Cindy Pearlman about life after the death of his wife ‘I love that expression, ‘How do you make God laugh?’,” Liam Neeson says. ”The answer: ‘You just tell him your plans and then watch as fate takes you in a different direction.’ You think your life is…
A gay reader shares some uncomfortable questions aroundthe Church and a gay lifestyle. As a practising gay Catholic (practising both my faith and my sexual orientation) one gets used, not entirely comfortably, to coping with ambiguity. The Catholic Church could never be described as a welcoming place for gay Catholics; this is despite…
Dr Andrea Fitzgerald Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, with approximately 50 per cent of women breastfeeding when they leave hospital, compared to, for example, 99pc in Norway and 84pc in Britain. On the whole, Irish mums also stop breastfeeding far earlier than their European counterparts. Research is yet to…
Paddy Monaghan describes how theAlpha course is growing in Ireland Pope Benedict XVI, announcing the forthcoming Synod on New Evangelisation, stated that ”the Church exists to evangelise”. But how do we evangelise? The Alpha course is certainly one way. It is a 10-week course on the basic truths of Christianity. It brings people…