Following a vigil that attracted more than 1,000 people on Sunday August 27 in Clonmel, the funerals of the four young victims of the Clonmel crash take place today, Friday and Saturday. Bishop Phonsie Cullinan urged prayer at the vigil and that people would “find a strength” in supporting one another. Also speaking at the…
You cannot will yourself to faithfulness, writes Bert Ghezzi I gave up ‘trying’ to pray daily many years ago. I discovered that if I did not build praying into my routine, then I routinely replaced it with lesser priorities. Willpower does not account for my faithfulness. My will is not strong enough to get me…
Brett Salkeld I don’t own a smartphone. Well, that’s not quite true. I have an old phone that could technically access the internet, but I have never set it up to do so. I use it to call my wife when I am traveling and, very occasionally, to text. I have taken a small handful…
David Mills An internationally best-selling novelist who might have won the Nobel Prize in literature, a patriotic Pole, a devout Catholic, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka was also an ardent anti-semite. And she is a model for us – not despite her bigotry but because of it. “Our feeling toward the Jews has not changed,” she wrote in…
Q: We’ve been wondering about the wording in the prayer used for those who attend Sunday Mass virtually. The phrases: “Come AT LEAST spiritually into my heart” and “I love You AS IF You were already there” don’t reflect good theology. Don’t we believe that the Bible and our faith assure us of God’s constant…
The government of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, August 23, revoked the legal personhood of the Society of Jesus and ordered the transfer of all its assets to the state. The move by the dictatorship takes place amid a growing wave of harassment against the religious order. According to ministerial agreement 105-2023-OSFL, published August 23…
In times of deep crisis in Church and State in the past, God raised up heroic visionaries, writes Msgr Dan O’Connor St Benedict, Patron of Europe, and his twin sister Scholastica lived at a time of civil unrest and upheaval in the Church. They became lights of hope for Christ’s people, through their monastic foundations…
Deacon Greg Kandra September 3 Jer 20:7-9 Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 Rom 12:1-2 Mt 16:21-27 It’s probably the last thing Peter ever expected to hear. There, in that moment, Jesus Christ was speaking of suffering and death, how he would be killed and yet be raised. What Jesus was describing was shocking. Peter, hearing…
Dear Editor, A World Youth Day hosted in Ireland will most certainly revitalise and strengthen the Faith. The recent experiences of Irish bishops at World Youth Day in Lisbon have highlighted the transformative power such an event can have. The impact of witnessing more than 1.5 million young Catholics gather in Lisbon, united in their…
Pope Francis has announced that he is writing a second part to his 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si’. Speaking off-the-cuff at an audience with lawyers on Monday, the Pope said that he is updating the document to cover current issues. The Holy See Press Office Director, Matteo Bruni, confirmed that “the Pope is working on a…