Dear Editor, I wish to commend you on your article, ‘We need a rethink on Communion Services’ [The Irish Catholic – November 9, 2023]. Your suggestion that the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours by parishioners might be a preferable option to ‘Communion Services’ is worthy of serious consideration. The revision of the divine office after…
Bishop Alan McGuckian has called for the release of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and Catholic Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned for nearly three years. The bishop of Raphoe, along with nine other bishops from eight countries, signed a petition calling on the “government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to immediately and unconditionally release…
The Catholic Schools’ Trustee Service (CSTS) has called on people to express their concerns and engage in the Department of Education’s Relationships and Sexuality Education consultation, which will impose ideological views on abortion. The CSTS asked those concerned to respond to the department’s consultation before it closes on November 24. The CSTS believes that the legislation brought…
Christians should be striving for the same ‘unity of life’ Christ embodied, writes Russell Shaw The state or condition called “unity of life” isn’t a virtue in itself. It can even serve bad ends. So what’s it doing as the subject of an article on virtues for people trying to lead good lives out in…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP The year was 1938, and the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain delivered a powerful radio address against antisemitism, as relevant today as it was then. His words, spoken in the shadow of the Holocaust and the rise of Nazi Germany, were a voice of reason and compassion springing from the heart…
What has been happening in Israel and Gaza has horrified the world, writes Prof. Séamus Murphy The world has been following the horrors unfolding in the Middle East after the terrorist attack against Israel by Hamas on October 7 which saw 1,400 people killed, the vast majority being civilians. More than 240 hostages were taken…
Sr Nancy Usselmann Integrating our faith with our media use is a real challenge, particularly as adverse media messages often run so contrary to our values. How can we bring faith into our digital media dialogue without losing who we are as Christians? How can we become holy within a culture that often tempts us…
Dr Thomas O’Loughlin Anyone who sees a loaf of bread and slices it knows that there is something very basic about this foodstuff and this action of dividing it. Bread, so the saying goes, is “the staff of life”. But bread comes to us as loaves, and when we cut them up there is an…
Q: I receive solicitations from many religious organisations with pictures of saints etc. I cannot not afford to give donations to all, so I trash them. I hope it’s not a sin to throw away those pictures of saints? My priority is my contribution to our parish and other areas that the Church gives donations.…
A Chinese bishop who was appointed last April against the wishes of the Vatican has renewed his commitment to implement the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s programme of religious sinicisation in his diocese. Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai made his comments in an interview with the state news agency, China News Service. “Sinicisation is a directional issue:…