Despite frequent calls for a return of Christian imagery and symbolism to Irish politics, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s recent use of scriptural allusion to welcome the release of Irish-Israeli Emily Hand, 9, from Gaza has gone over poorly at home and abroad. In a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) that has been seen over 46…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP It felt like there was a seismic shift in Church teaching concerning transgenderism in recent weeks. And that’s because so many headlines got the story wrong. The New York Times, for example, reported: “Pope Francis, who has made reaching out to LGBTQ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy, has made clear…
Jenna Marie Cooper Q: When I was a kid we put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and took it down a day or two after Christmas. As an adult, I put the tree up a day or two after Thanksgiving and left it up until January 2nd. Now as a Catholic, what…
Bishop Robert Barron has said that he is in “frank disagreement” with the final report of the Synod on Synodality’s claim that advances in the sciences require an evolution in the Church’s moral teaching on human sexuality. In a recently published reflection, the US bishop of Winona–Rochester, Minnesota, said it is “troubling” to see how members…
Ngala Killian Chimtom A leading bishop in the Republic of the Congo has warned that an exponential rise in Christian Pentecostalism in the country is posing a stiff challenge to the Catholic Church, drawing people away amid what he described as “guerilla warfare” in the spiritual realm. “They disrupt the faith of Catholics by…
Jem Sullivan Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 1 Cor 1:3-9 Mk 13:33-37 Advent offers us a graced time to recognise that the deepest longings of our heart are for God. The prophet Isaiah shines a bright light on this indwelling desire, etched by God into each human heart. For this reason, Isaiah…
Dear Editor, Effective Catholic education within Ireland is dependent on, amongst other things, the presence of third level theology departments who can provide training for a Catholic laity who are going to be ever more important in the 21st Century Church. In that regard, the ongoing failure to appoint a Head of Theology in Mary…
Catholic couples invited to work in-Tandem Tandem Teams, a programme for recently married or engaged couples devised by Teams of Our Lady, will begin its latest round of meetings on Saturday, December 9 at 3.30pm. The programme is structured around 13 monthly meetings and aims to “offer an occasion to dialogue in-depth with your partner/spouse…
Thomas O’Loughlin This essay is a continuation of the theme of the essay on the breaking bread published here recently. Whilst our common memory of the origin of the Eucharist is that Jesus took “bread and wine” (emphasising distinct materials), by contrast all our early texts notice that he shared “a cup” (the emphasis…
The archbishop of Seoul has said that he wants to invite young North Koreans to the Catholic Church’s next World Youth Day. Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick shared at a peace forum in Seoul this week that he plans to invite a youth delegation from North Korea to the 2027 World Youth Day to take place…