Dear Editor, I was surprised to see so little coverage in The Irish Catholic of how people from Drogheda walked to Tallaght on August 29 to present the Dominican HQ with a petition signed by 22,000 people objecting to the impending departure of the town’s Dominican community. Surprised, but not heartbroken. Isn’t it time to…
Courtney McGrail
Is 520 the best we can do?
Dear Editor, It is encouraging to hear that parishioners across Ireland are making plans to welcome refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, and encouraging too to hear of bishops attempting to coordinate this response. Unfortunately, you report the Department of Justice as saying that a mere 520 migrants will have refugee status, with…
Constantine – the first Christian Emperor
Constantine The Emperor by David Potter (Oxford University Press, £14.99 pb)
Recent books in brief
Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter your Soul by Bill Hybels (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99) The author is an American minister, but what he recommends in this little book has universal application. Though couched in the language of modern self-help, at the heart of what he puts forward is a recognition of the importance of making…
Varied views of James Joyce and his city
Jackson Voices on Joyce Edited by Anne Fogarty & Fran O’Rourke (UCD Press €50.00 hb)
The Gospel truth… or perhaps not
As far as Andrew Bernhard, author of the Other Early Christian Gospels, is concerned, it’s time to put to bed the debate about the so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife. Writing a guest post at ntweblog.blogspot.com, he says that “for nearly three years, there has been considerable controversy and confusion about whether a business-card sized papyrus…
Don’t let emotion kill Middle Eastern Christianity, warns Chaldean Church leader
The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church has advised European countries against letting sentiment guide their reactions to the crisis in the Middle East, and asked them not to prioritise Christians when accepting refugees. The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Raphael I, has warned in an interview that there is a real risk of the…
Planned Parenthood under scrutiny
The US Congress has begun an investigation into Planned Parenthood, with the House Judiciary Committee being the first of three committees scheduled to consider the beleaguered abortion-providers. The investigation comes in the aftermath of the publication by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) of a report into instances where Planned Parenthood has been accused…
Lost in translation
Dear Editor, Perhaps Archbishop Diarmuid Martin did confuse a handful of people during the referendum campaign, as Fr Andrew McMahon relates (IC 10/09/2015), but it is striking that those he quotes as examples of such confusion were an English deacon and an American website. Is it possible that something has been lost in translation, that…
Defiant Iraqi Christians open museum in Basra
Although persecution and instability has reduced Basra’s Christian population to just 10% of the 3,000 Christian families who were there before the 2003 invasion, the city’s Chaldean Catholic archdiocese has opened southern Iraq’s first Christian museum. The museum contains over 200 religious artefacts, documents, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture dating back to the 17th Century,…