Fr Gerry O’Hanlon SJ The second (and final) session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality convenes in Rome next October. Where are we at? Judging by the Irish response to the 2023 synthesis report, ‘Towards October 2024’ (May 2024), we are very much on track. In that…
Ava Westendorf A recent allocation of new beds to Irish hospitals is being called “a game-changer for all hospitals” by Fr John Kelly, the Director of Pastoral Care at Tallaght University Hospital. He claimed that he was “surprised but delighted” by the recent allocation of 196 new beds in the next 24 to 30 months…
Ava Westendorf On June 14, The Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, was the home of an event created to celebrate the publication of the new book Theology and the University (Routledge, 2024). This book, edited by Fáinche Ryan, Josef Quitter and Dirk Ansorge, examines how “intellectual virtues are cultivated, which enable students to live well”. This…
Ava Westendorf The Irish Bishops have asked for people to send their prayers for those affected by the Israel/Hamas war, for hostages to be released, for humanitarian workers and for first responders. The bishops restated Pope Francis’s words by saying that this war is a “catastrophe for humanity” then followed with their own reiterated words,…
Dean Keating These recent elections were not the parting of the fog that many had hoped for or the endorsement of Government that the Taoiseach has claimed. At best, we can see a stagnation for all three major parties and a diversification of the Irish political spectrum, caused by a rejection of the Government’s more…
Theo McDonald Ireland’s hate speech bill has garnered international attention from critics who argue it will impede on free expression and debate. Home to a multitude of big tech headquarters such as Meta and Twitter or X, Irish domestic legislation will have major international repercussions for public participation on the internet and for society as…
Ava Westendorf and Matt Letourneau Lying right outside of Phoenix Park, Mount Sackville Nursing Home is a peaceful, animal-loving, growing community that recently, through the Congregation of Cluny’s donation, built a €1.3 million euro expansion to build a new wing. When I first walked in to Mount Sackville on the morning of June 14, I…
Fr Myron J. Pereira For several decades in the last century, it was taken for granted that secularism was an important component of modernity. This was undoubtedly the inspiration behind the Constituent Assembly declaring in 1950 India a “secular republic” and not a “Hindu rashtra” (nation). How society existed yesterday… Traditionally, most societies have had…
May is a chance to celebrate Mary’s many appearances, writes Gretchen Crowe Seven years ago this May, the Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary to three shepherd children at Fatima. To commemorate the event, Pope Francis visited Portugal, as did thousands upon thousands of pilgrims. Apparitions It was a time of…
Belief in the devil is persistent in the Bible, writes Fr Fintan Lyons OSB The existence of evil in the world is an inescapable fact. This raises such questions as how its nature may be understood and its origin established. The issue of its nature are discussed in Chapters 1 and 2 of my book…