Is this new or are we just more aware of it? Hatred and contempt are everywhere. They are in our government houses, in our communities, in our churches and in our families. We are struggling, mostly without success, to be civil with each other, let alone to respect each other. Why? Why is this happening…
Tim Pat Coogan, my former boss as editor of the Irish Press, singles out in his book Ireland in the Twentieth Century, Sean Lemass and TK Whitaker as “hinge” figures between the “old” and the “new” Irelands that emerged in the early 1960s. Lemass, one of the original architects of the Fianna Fáil policy…
While praying in our pew after Communion during a recent Sunday Mass, our 6-year-old son decided to administer a pop quiz to his willing little sister. “What was the first tabernacle?” he asked. “I have no idea,” she replied. “Mary, of course! Her tummy held Jesus for the first time,” he answered. “But what was…
Q: How is it possible that the Orthodox practice of the Sacrament of the Eucharist would ever be considered as the true body and blood of Christ from the Catholic perspective simply because of an understanding outside of the unbroken chain of apostolic succession? A: For context, let us review what we mean when we…
1500 years from the death of St Brigid, the legacy of her faith in Jesus and beautiful attitude of mercy is being celebrated and remembered in the cathedral that carries her name in Kildare town. Dean Isobel Jackson talks with Ray Hayden about Brigid’s life story and inspiring leadership in founding her monastery in…
The Irish Medical Council has recently issued a new 9th edition of the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics. This is a very important document for medical doctors, because it is against this code that their professional conduct and practice is measured. Unfortunately, there are “numerous defects” in the new edition of the guide, according…
A spokesperson for the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has welcomed the recently agreed EU Pact on Migration and Asylum but cautioned that there is room for improvement. Speaking at a high-Level meeting between the European Commission and religious leaders on the theme ‘The European Way of Life in times…
Kenya-based Kiltegan missionary Fr Gabriel Dolan SPS who has risked his life to support the poor and vulnerable was awarded a 2023 Presidential Distinguished Service Award by President Michael D. Higgins last week. Following the award, Fr Dolan told The Irish Catholic he was “honoured” and that he believes “it’s a recognition that the Church…
There is no place for wellbeing programmes that “deny” the Catholic Church’s unique understanding of humanity in Catholic schools, a major international conference attended by Ireland’s leading educators has heard. Speaking at the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) conference at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Perth last week, Irish theologian Prof. Eamonn…
The Church’s view of life as a gift informs its view of the practice of surrogacy, writes Maria Wiering “The gift of life which God the Creator and Father has entrusted to man calls him to appreciate the inestimable value of what he has been given and to take responsibility for it.” So begins the…