The blessing of throats on February 3, the Feast of St Blaise, continues to be observed by the faithful in Ireland. It is one of those traditions that you remember from childhood when you went to have your throat blessed on this day each year. St Blaise was a fourth-century Bishop of Sebastea in what…
When we engage in conversation about addiction, there is a good chance that unless we have suffered from serious addiction ourselves, we will see ourselves apart from the group of people who have become enslaved to drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography and the like. However, it is closer to the truth that all of us suffer…
St Anthony of Padua is one of the most beloved saints of the Church whose feast day is celebrated each year on June 13. He is often confused with his namesake, St Anthony of the Desert, whose feast day we celebrate this Saturday, January 17. This earlier Anthony is considered to be the father of…
I doubt if many of us have a devotion to St Hilary of Poitiers and yet, we are indebted to him for being Christians today. Hilary was born in France at the beginning of the fourth century and was elected Bishop of Poitiers in 350 AD. His time as bishop was marked by controversy and…
The gift of friendship and what it means to be blessed with a friend, has taken a new meaning with the explosion of social media. We might have many virtual friends, but no virtual friendship can ever replace the gift of a real friend in life. The sad irony is that despite us being connected…
On this New Year’s Day and on this ‘World Day of Peace’, I join with my fellow columnists in The Irish Catholic by wishing you all a very happy New Year. I hope and pray that 2026 may be a year of peace for everyone and for our troubled world. On this day, we again dare to…
I write these words in Rome on the first day of my new appointment as an official of the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Holy See. It is a privilege to be here in this city that has so much history, culture and global significance, attracting millions of pilgrims and tourists from all over…
There is evidence that Ireland is becoming more cruel and less kind. Hardly a week goes by without some horrific case of domestic abuse, street assaults and attacks on IPAS centres that terrify people and put lives in danger. Hostile exchanges on social media are making matters worse. By way of response, the first thing…
I once knew a widowed lady who was the mother of two unmarried sons. Both lived with her until the day she died in her nineties. Since they were infants, their mother did everything possible for them. She cooked their food, washed their clothes and did for adult men what they should have learned to…
Last Sunday, September 7, Pope Leo XIV canonised Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati as saints in Rome. There is an Italian phrase associated with Pier Giorgio Frassati that has taken on a deeper significance over time. ‘Verso l’alto’ translates as ‘towards the heights’. It was scribbled by him on a photograph in 1925 and…