Dear Editor, I write in response to the recent article discussing the unjust sentencing of Bishop Rolando Álvarez in Nicaragua [The Irish Catholic – August 10, 2023]. The primate’s call for the release of Bishop Álvarez from prison is not only a matter of humanitarian concern, but also a reflection of the core values that…
Jem Sullivan August 27 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 22:19-23 Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8 Rom 11:33-36 Mt 16:13-20 Artificial intelligence and language processing tools like ChatGPT are changing the face of education today. Teachers are finding new ways to evaluate what their students truly know. Instead of superficial questions that can be answered easily by…
Chai Brady and Jason Osborne Ireland hosting a major international Catholic event like World Youth Day could be a key moment in renewing and reforming the Church here, bishops have told The Irish Catholic. A dozen Irish bishops have just returned from the global youth event in Lisbon where more than 1.5 million young Catholics…
Pope Francis appointed to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles four new auxiliary bishops July 18, one of whom is assigned to the San Gabriel region filling the role following the murder of Irish-born Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell in February of this year. Bishop-elect Brian Nunes said he could never “replace” Bishop O’Connell but that he…
A senior figure in Catholic education in Ireland has warned of a “challenging” academic year ahead due especially to the lack of substitute teachers in Ireland. This comes as the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland warned that schools are under “enormous strain” with hundreds of teaching posts still unfilled ahead of the new term.…
The fact that Ireland is mission territory is underlined by the latest clerical changes in the Diocese of Clogher which includes the appointment of five African priests. The late Cardinal Tómas Ó Fiaich of Armagh’s prediction that African missionaries would eventually bring the Faith back to Ireland, a proposition that was met with mirth and…
Representatives from Ireland’s 26 dioceses will come together with pieces of a cross, each with a separate diocesan name, to build a dedicated ‘Cross for Vocations’ in Knock shrine today. A prayer ceremony on August 17 marks both the current ‘Year for Vocation to the Diocesan Priesthood’, as well as the centrality of the Marian…
The vicar forane of Maui and Lanai has hailed as “miraculous” the survival of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina, Hawaii in the wake of the devastating wildfires that have swept the region. At least 99 deaths had been reported as of the time this paper went to print, making the disaster the deadliest wildfire…
St Pope John Paul II’s insightful encyclical has yet to be studied and implemented as it should be, writes Carl Olson August 6 marked the 30th anniversary of St John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendour of Truth”). It is the first and only papal encyclical focused on moral theology. Its continued importance cannot…
Fr Patrick Briscoe OP As I stood at the bars of the chilling confines of St Maximilian Kolbe‘s cell within the walls of Auschwitz, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by an inexplicable mix of emotions. The gravity of the place and the memory it held were inescapable. And yet, at the same time, a…