Dear Editor, Perhaps those who engaged in the synod process who had little interest in missionary work should read stories such as the one on your front page [The Irish Catholic – May 4, 2023]. There were lovely images of African women celebrating the Irish sisters who travelled to Cameroon and set up schools, both…
Bikers hold annual memorial service The Annual Bikers Memorial Mass was celebrated in a packed Sacred Heart Church, Clones, Co. Monaghan, on May 5. Fr Stephen Joyce, Scotstown, celebrated Mass in the church with six motorbikes at the foot of the altar. He was joined by Fr Tony Conlon and Fr Jim Moore, while Church…
An investigation by the Spanish newspaper El Pais has revealed that the Spanish Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, who died in 2009, sexually abused as many as 85 boys and adolescents in the 1970s and 1980s and recorded the incidents in a secret diary as “blunders”, and that the Jesuits covered it up. A nephew…
Well-known American actor Chris Pratt has said the example of Christ’s suffering has helped him deal with criticism about his Christian faith. At a screening for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Mr Pratt said that criticism of Christian beliefs is “nothing knew”. “That’s the way it is, nothing new, 2,000 years ago they hated…
Pope Francis carries with him a particular fondness for a Marian devotion that he had encountered in Bavaria, writes Fr Hedwig Lewis SJ ‘Mary Untier of Knots, pray for us’ would be a strange-sounding invocation in the Litany to Our Lady to which we are so accustomed. In fact, devotion to the Blessed Virgin under this…
On the path of these catecheses on old age, today we meet a biblical figure — an old man — named Eleazar, who lived at the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. He is a wonderful character. His character gives us a testimony of the special relationship that exists between the fidelity of old…
Parents should demand to see the content of education on porn, writes Fr Chris Hayden A couple of months ago, an episode of RTÉ’s ‘Upfront’ programme with Katie Hannon caused consternation, with many viewers expressing surprise at how widespread pornography has become, and at how many children are viewing it. The facts are indeed troubling,…
Athanasius I of Alexandria (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Church Father and the 20th Pope of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years (c. June 8, 328– May 2, 373), of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when…
The Department of Education in the North will invest £70 million in building a shared education campus in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim. The “state of the art” education facilities will be shared by Ballycastle High School and Cross and Passion College – a controlled or Protestant ethos school and a Catholic school. The scheme marks a…
A co-responsible Church will only thrive if priests facilitate, nurture and encourage it, writes Bishop Niall Coll The line from Scripture which I chose recently as my episcopal motto springs readily to mind – ‘Christ Jesus our hope’. It is in our shared hope, in our faith as it looks to the future, that we…